Dead at 54, 'Ivory Queen of Soul' is Also Known for Recording Contract Law Clarification
A rare success on the rhythm and blues charts as a white woman singing for Motown Records, Teena Marie died yesterday at her California home, apparently of natural causes. She was 54 years old.
In addition to popular and critically acclaimed songs such as Square Biz, released in 1981, and I’m Still in Love, which was nominated for a 2005 Grammy, she is particularly known among her fellow musicians for a lawsuit against Motown in the early 1980s concerning nonpayment of royalties, reports the New York Times.
It resulted in what is known as the Brockert initiative (her given name was Mary Christine Brockert) or the Teena Marie Law, which clarified that California law doesn’t favor a recording company keeping a singer under exclusive contract while refusing to release her music, according to the Times and the Associated Press.
Addititional coverage:
Pop & Hiss (Los Angeles Times): “Appreciating Teena Marie: ‘The Ivory Queen of Soul’ made R&B colorless”
Updated at 12:11 p.m. to include day of her death.
