Teena Marie

Mary Christine Brockert (March 5, 1956 – December 26, 2010), better known by her stage name Teena Marie, was an American singer–songwriter, and producer. She was known by her childhood nickname Tina before taking the stage name Teena Marie and later acquired the nickname Lady Tee (sometimes spelled Lady T), given to her by her collaborator and friend, Rick James.

She was known for her distinctive soulful vocals, which caused many listeners to believe she was African American. Her success in R&B and soul music, and loyalty to these genres would earn her the title Ivory Queen of Soul. She played rhythm guitar, keyboards, and congas, and wrote, produced, sang, and arranged virtually all of her songs since her 1980 release, Irons in the Fire, which she later said was her favorite album.

Early life (1956–1978)

Mary Christine, or Tina as she was called, was the daughter of construction worker Thomas Leslie Brockert and his wife, home renovator Mary Anne. She spent her early childhood in Mission Hills. Her ethnic heritage was Portuguese, Italian, Irish, and Native American. In 2005, while visiting Louisiana, she had discovered that her paternal ancestors once lived in New Orleans. She took to singing naturally, performing Harry Belafonte's Banana Boat Song by age two. She also developed a fondness for singing Motown songs, and her self-professed "gift from God" would become fine-tuned as the years progressed.

Paris

Paris (UK: /ˈpærɪs/ PARR-iss; US: ⁱ/ˈpɛərɪs/ PAIR-iss; French: [paʁi]) is the capital and most populous city of France. Situated on the Seine River, in the north of the country, it is in the centre of the Île-de-France region, also known as the région parisienne, "Paris Region". The City of Paris has an area of 105 km² (41 mi²) and a population of 2,241,346 (2014 estimate) within its administrative borders essentially unchanged since 1860.

Since the 19th century, the built-up area of Paris has grown far beyond its administrative borders; together with its suburbs, the whole agglomeration has a population of 10,550,350 (Jan. 2012 census).Paris' metropolitan area spans most of the Paris region and has a population of 12,341,418 (Jan. 2012 census), or one-fifth of the population of France. The administrative region covers 12,012 km² (4,638 mi²), with approximately 12 million inhabitants as of 2014, and has its own regional council and president.

Paris was founded in the 3rd century BC by a Celtic people called the Parisii, who gave the city its name. By the 12th century, Paris was the largest city in the western world, a prosperous trading centre, and the home of the University of Paris, one of the first in Europe. In the 18th century, it was the centre stage for the French Revolution, and became an important centre of finance, commerce, fashion, science, and the arts, a position it still retains today.

Square Biz

"Square Biz" is a song by American R&B singer, Teena Marie. The song was released as a single in 1981 from the album It Must Be Magic. It would go on to become one of Marie's signature songs.

The song interpolates a rap verse from the Sugar Hill Gang hit Rapper's Delight.

Cover versions and appearances in media

In 2002, a new version of this song, titled "Hollywood Square Biz", was used as the theme to the popular game show Hollywood Squares from 2002 to 2004.

In 2002, En Vogue performed a cover of the song on their concert DVD, "Live in the USA".

Missy Elliott uses an interpolation of a verse from Square Biz in Ciara's 2004 hit single, "1, 2 Step".

The Firm's "Firm Biz" contains a sample based on the song featuring En Vogue's Dawn Robinson from groups 1997 album The Album.

Master P Featuring Sera-Lynn "Real Love" 2002

In January 2011, The Foreign Exchange performed a piece of the song during their Authenticity Tour in Europe.

Chart performance

The song managed to peak at #3 on Billboard's Black Singles, becoming Marie's highest peak on the chart at the time. The song managed to peak at #12 on Billboard's Club Play Singles, while performing moderately on Billboard's Pop Singles, peaking only at #50, becoming her second single to chart on the Pop Singles chart.

Teena

Teena is a cartoon panel series and comic strip about a teenage girl, created by Hilda Terry. It ran from 1944 to 1966, distributed by King Features Syndicate. It evolved from Terry's earlier Sunday feature, It's a Girl's Life, a collection of gag cartoons which first appeared in newspapers on Sunday, December 7, 1941. The format displayed six panels about the reactions of teenage girls to World War II. Comics historian Don Markstein noted:

In Denmark, the strip was known as Tina.

See also

References

External links

Marie

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(middle name)

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