"Lady Tee" Teena Marie passes at 54

News broke Sunday night that veteran R&B singer Teena Marie passed away in her home. Details are sparse at this time, but Huffington Post reports that the singer was found by her daughter and had a medical history of unspecified seizures.

I first heard Teen Marie's music back in '79 or '80, when she was part of Rick James' stable of talent at Motown. James produced several of her hits, including "It Must Be Magic" (featuring backup vocals by The Temptations), "Square Biz", "Portuguese Love" and  "Fire and Desire" (a duet with Rick James). But Marie scored her biggest hit after leaving Motown with 1984's "Lovergirl".

The four-time Grammy nominee never achieved the super stardom of her contemporaries, Donna Summer and Gloria Gaynor, but every time I here her music, I remember partying the night away with my friends at our favorite DC night spots The Lost and Found, Mr, P's and The Frat House, during the last days of Disco.

Teena Marie stood "less than five foot-one", but she could belt out a song with the best of them. R.I.P. Lady Tee.