When the Motown label signed Teena Marie everyone assumed she was black - Motown
had no white acts at the time and her records were so full of soul, it came as a
shock when she started making personal appearances. Ironically, though, her
biggest successes came after she'd left Motown to join the Epic label and her
international reputation was cemented by the 1984 album Starchild, which
launched her signature hit Lovergirl. The fourth of five children raised in
Santa Monica, California from a mixed Portuguese/Italian/Irish/Native American
background, she revealed her singing talen...