Teena Marie: Behind the Groove (1980)

Wild and Peaceful album cover.

Originally, Berry didn’t know what to do with this signee, at first he would get her to record countless unreleased songs under different names or different styles hoping that something marketable would stick. Sometime in 1976, Rick James heard her sound and was wowed by this young 20-year old. He offered to produce her first album. This brilliant album Wild and Peaceful was originally supposed to be released under the name Teena Tryson, as a way to slyly sneak in the R&B market. Mary, instead chose the stage name Teena Marie, combining her nickname and firstname. The album yielded the massive urban radio hit of “I’m a Sucker for Your Love“, a hit that entirely surprised people at first. Most people assumed she was a Black artist, her album cover purposely didn’t show her image, it wasn’t until you flipped to the other side you’d see she was this young woman. You can imagine how many people flipped when they first saw her perform in living color on Soul Train.

“Behind the Groove” single.

With Richard in hand, Teena took the first step towards launching herself as her own producer, arranger and artist. Simply listen to the co-produced track “Behind the Groove”. Playing nearly all the parts herself, Teena creates a slice of post-disco that still sounds far ahead of its time. The rest of the album itself holds great original takes on modern R&B that owe a lot to the first strains of hybrid soul that Minnie Riperton created. However, by the end of this album the “Ivory Queen of Soul” was born and her next album she’d have the full confidence to do everything herself. As you can see from the confident classy visage of Teena gracing Lady T, she would do things her way from now on. I’ll come back to her soon enough, but for now check out some of the magic that Richard Rudolph and Teena Marie captured in Minnie’s memory, during this time, there’s something about Minnie’s memory that keeps calling us back…