R.I.P. Lady T

Mary Christine Brockert, better known as R&B/funk diva Teena Marie, passed away yesterday at her California home. She was 54. Her 1979 debut album Wild and Peaceful, purposefully did not include a photo of the white singer, and as a result, many listeners (my mom included) and DJs believed the singer to be black.

Teena Marie, a protegee of the late Rick James and "Motown's first white act"* is not only one of the greatest funk vocalists, but a multi-instrumentalist (she played guitar, congas and keys) and a producer and arranger who was also responsible for what is known as "The Brockert Initiative," a landmark music law that made it illegal for a record company to keep an artist under contract without releasing any new material. The law, which arose from a legal battle Marie was fighting with Berry Gordy and Motown, helped other Motown acts like Mary Jane Girls and Luther Vandross leave the company and seek out supportive labels to work with.

After an almost 15 year hiatus, the creator of amazing funk love anthems like "Lovergirl," "Fire and Desire" (one of her duets with James), "Ooo La La La" (which was of course sampled by the Fugees) and the gorgeous multi-layered "Portuguese Love" reemerged with the Grammy nominated La Doña in 2004, and continued to release music up until her passing, with last year's Congo Square, her 13th album. A true diva, innovator, and soul filled legend, she will be missed, but somewhere in Heaven, she and Rick are having a ball.







* not technically true, as Rare Earth preceded her and the little known rock act The Rustix, who provided no hits for the label preceded them

TDOS Obituaries: Uriel Jones

The last living drummer from the Funk Brothers, Uriel Jones, passed yesterday at the age of 74, due to complications following a heart attack. He was one of the chief session musicians at Motown for two decades.

Originally Marvin Gaye's tour drummer, Jones began filling in for Benny Benjamin as his drug and alcohol use worsened. Jones went on to use his Art Blakey inspired, hard hitting and crisp style on Motown classics like Marvin and Tammi's "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," (and Diana's 1970 cover too) and Stevie's "For Once in My Life." He was also known for his extremely funky work, which was best displayed during the label's foray into the psychedelic, like with the Temps' "Cloud Nine."

Jones still played regularly with his fellow Funk Brothers and lamented missing a recent show last month. If you haven't seen Standing in the Shadows of Motown, it would behoove you to do so.

He is survived by his wife and three kids.

We here at TDOS will miss him greatly.

After the jump, a clip from Standing in the Shadows of Motown (embedding was disabled, unfortunately). Joan Osborne straight kills the Jimmy Ruffin gem, "What Becomes of the Broken Hearted,"which Jones originally recorded. You can see him playing with the late "Pistol" Allen, next to a picture of Benny Benjamin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA0GcXV2njY




Versatile Motown drummer Uriel Jones dies at 74 [AP]

All The Cutie Pies, They All Know, They Can Always L-A-Y On My Pillow.

[arts + entertainment]
RAPHAEL SAADIQ
By ISABELLE DAVIS


A venerable J Dilla of R&B, Raphael Saadiq has been shaping the contemporary soul movement for the last 20 years. Be it his role as a new jack swing pioneer in Tony! Toni! Toné!, his short-lived but sincerely missed Lucy Pearl (his email response to my wishful request for a reunion was "NO (wink)," so here's hoping), his "gospel-delic" solo work or his endless producer credits, the man has cemented himself in the annals of R&B history. With his latest record, The Way I See It, Saadiq takes several of Cholly Atkins' choreographed steps back to 1960s Detroit and gives us a record that could definitely pass Berry Gordy's "quality control" department.

His current tour includes snappy suits, sharp footwork and vocals reminiscent of David Ruffin, former member of Saadiq's favorite Motown act, The Temptations: "The harmony was so amazing and rich all the time. Then there were so many great lead vocal personalities to choose from. At any moment another voice would jump out and grab you."

And the nod to popular music's greatest musical stable was a natural choice. "I felt it was time for me to have the second wave of the sound that's been around me since I could remember. But with all original songs, this was really important for me, their songs were always too great for me to try and cover." But considering that he had Stevie Wonder and Funk Brother Jack Ashford on his record, I think it would be allowed if he tried.



[Raphael Saadiq. Thu 3.19.09. Paradise Rock Club, 987 Comm. Ave., Boston. 617.562.8800. 8pm/18+/$26.50. thedise.com]

music: Raphael Saadiq [Weekly Dig]

The TDOS Stimulus Package for Top 40 Radio

We want to propose two provisions to save pop radio from itself: 1) Increased use of foot stomps for percussion (and I'm talking real feet on hard wood here, not some prerecorded Pro Tools business), and 2) a healthy amount of "doo-langs" and "she-doops." Even through the terrible sound quality in the above clip, this song sounds about 1000 times more vital than anything on the radio today.

The Velvettes - Needle in a Haystack [youtube]

Crate Digging: The Supremes Sing Holland-Dozier-Holland

I picked this up over the weekend at Dusty Groove, the consummate soul, R&B, funk, hip-hop and jazz record super store. I luckily live a stone's throw from the Chicago locale, which is like how all the addicts on Vh1's Sober House live up the hill from all their dealers in Hollywood.

Released in 1967, this album is superb. Now, I am not crazy about Diana Ross or her thin, reedy vocals, but I am crazy about Holland-Dozier-Holland and this was a truly golden find. Side one alone is home to two of my all time favorite songs: "You Keep Me Hangin' On" (best driving guitar line ever, Lamont Dozier was inspired by a news-flash radio signal and decided to use the Morse code like sound in the song) and "Love is Here and Now You're Gone." Side two kicks off with "It's the Same Old Song" and ends with "Love is Like a Heat Wave," but the lesser known gems are what truly round out this record. The somber and beautiful "You're Gone (But Always in My Heart)" and the lovely and twinkling "I Guess I'll Always Love You" are wonderful. But really, every song on this album is fantastic and some of the greatest pop song writing and studio instrumentation of all time is exhibited here.

Different Meaning Since You Been Gone: Levi Stubbs, R.I.P.

Levi Stubbs, lead singer of the Four Tops, passed away today. He was 72. One of the most iconic voices of the crossover soul movement headed up by Motown, Stubbs will always be a singular voice in pop music.

There's not much to be said in this space that hasn't been said already in obituaries all over the place. The New York Times has a particularly good one--did you know that the Four Tops originally signed to Chess Records in 1954, as jazz singers rather than the pop group they became when they were signed to Motown? It was there that Berry Gordy put them to work with the Holland-Dozier-Holland songwriting team and the group we know today took shape.

A soul music legend will be greatly missed.

Because YouTube didn't have any decent "Bernadette" videos: