There was so much I didn't know about this song when it was released and made it to #4 in 1984. I didn't know who Teena was at the time. She was born Mary Christine Brockert, although she was known as Tina. If you bought the 45, you knew she was on Motown Records. But being a 14 year old white kid from a small town, I couldn't have possibly known her history behind being on that label.
She was the first white woman to be signed to Motown. She started off recording in 1976, but didn't put out her first album until 1979. It was produced by Rick James, who gave up producing a Diana Ross album to work with her. He gave her the signature name (although it was almost Teena Tryson) and her first R&B hit, the #8 I'm a Sucker For Your Love. She wound up having seven top 40 R&B hits leading up to this one.
This song became only her second top 40 hit, with I Need Your Lovin' being the first in 1980. And I loved it from the first time I heard it. The video on MTV showed Teena playing guitar, a hook I really enjoy. She also wrote and produced it. It's not a synth song, or your typical pop song. It's almost a rock song. Which is probably why it charted higher on the pop charts at #4 than on the R&B charts at #9.
Teena died in 2010. It is believed she had a grand mal seizure that may have been brought on by a hit on the head she suffered in 2004 when a picture frame fell while she was lying in bed. She never married, although she did have a child in 1991. She is the godmother to Nonya Gaye, and has also cared for Rick James son Rick Jr., and took in Lenny Kravitz early in his career. She will truly be missed for her talent, and her caring.
Selection B12 is an instrumental... sort of. It still has some vocals, just not all of them. But seriously, couldn't they do better than this for a B side?
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