born, March 5, 1956 in Santa Monica, California. She was the Motown protégé of the 1970s and '80s whose writing, production, and singing adroitly combined many genres (funk, rock, pop, R&B). Sadley passed away on December 26, 2010 in Pasadena, CA.
Teena Marie, whose big, robust vocals. Many of her listeners wondered if she was a light-skinned African-American. Marie grew up in west Los Angeles in a neighborhood. The singer/songwriter/producer was in her early twenties when, around 1977, she landed a job at Motown Records. It was at Motown that she met her mentor and paramour-to-be, Rick James, who ended up doing all of the writing and producing for her debut album of 1979. Switching to Epic in 1983, Marie recorded her fifth album, Robbery, and had a hit with "Fix It." In 1984, Marie recorded her sixth album, Starchild, and had her biggest pop hit ever with "Lovergirl."