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::TV NEWS::
LE Newsletter -
November 5, 2009
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Teena Marie Is 'Unsung' Sunday
Source:
www.eurweb.com
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By Kenya M. Yarbrough
(October 30, 2009) The singer said that there wasn’t anything
that she didn’t want to talk about_small.jpg)
on the show, although, the episode doesn’t go into her
painkiller addiction. And even though the star did discuss her
battle with drugs, there was apparently not enough time to fit
it into the hour-long episode.
*New episodes of TV One’s hit series “UnSung”
begin Sunday. The show, now entering its second season,
according tom the network's website, profiles some of the most
influential, talented yet forgotten R&B, Soul and Gospel artists
of the 1970s, '80s and '90s.
The season premieres
with an episode chronicling the career of songbird
Teena Marie.
“It was awesome. I’m
really excited,” the singer said of the series premier,
“especially because everybody that I know really came forward to
do it for me.”
The show features
interviews and commentary from Motown founder Berry Gordy,
legendary singer Smokey Robinson, Faith Evans, music executive
Larkin Arnold, her life long friends and of course, her family.
“My daughter, my mother…,” she continued, “it was really
beautiful. I was just really, really happy.”
Though clearly satisfied
with the final cut, the singer confessed to EUR’s Lee Bailey
that when she watched previous episodes of the acclaimed series,
she wasn’t too sure it was for her.
“The ones I saw were
really sad, so it was kind of hard for me to go by,” she said.
“My life hasn’t really been sad like that. My piece is a lot
more uplifting. It’s fun. It’s really funny.”
Marie, a.k.a. Lady T,
said that she’d seen the “UnSung” episode on Phyllis Hyman who
struggled with bipolar disorder and depression and tragically
took her own life at age 45.
“After I watched Phyllis
Hyman’s piece, I was depressed and I told my friend, ‘Why would
you show me this and want me to do this show?’” she said, “but
after I had the first meeting with them they said, ‘We’re not
really trying to show all the sad things in people’s lives. They
said they were trying to move in another direction.”
She said that many of her fans have cried out about her being
featured on the series – that she’s not “unsung” or
underappreciated. She said that she’s had to encourage her fans
to wait and see how different the “UnSung” piece on her is.
“Because of the content
of some of the other shows, some of the fans have looked at it
like it’s a bad thing. I was really, really happy in certain
ways,” she described, “but obviously when I talk about Rick
[James], I get a little sad.”
A protégé of funkster
James, and romantically involved with the legendary singer for a
brief moment, Marie took his death in 2004 very hard.
“That part of it is
sad,” she said of the show, “but I can’t focus on that too much
other than I have to think about the music and what we did while
he was here. That part was hard for me. He’s not in the
documentary. It would’ve been nice if he was one of the people
up there talking.”
The singer said that
there wasn’t anything that she didn’t want to discuss on the
show, but the episode doesn’t go into her painkiller addiction.
And even though the star did talk about her battle with drugs,
there was apparently not enough time to fit it into the
hour-long episode.
“I really don’t have problems talking about pretty much anything
in my life. I try to be honest and I always have. I always feel
if I can help somebody with some of the bad stuff, then it’s
good for me to talk about it. If it can help somebody else who
has an addiction to pain killers, then that’s a good thing.”
“I’ve talked about it in
other forms,” she continued. “I talk about it quite often. They
didn’t need it this time. There was just so much other stuff.
There were even so many other people that they were going to
have and at a certain point it just became overkill because it
would have taken away from the whole story.”
Marie was very happy words from Berry Gordy made it into the
show. The hitmaker commented on the fact that while she could’ve
crossed over easily to pop, urban music was her true calling.
“He said he felt that I
could have done a lot of crossover music because my voice is
awesome. I thought it was very poignant the way he said it. I
really liked that part,” Marie said. “He really hit the nail
right on the head. He gets it that I was really doing what I was
here to do.”
She said that she had
written a few tracks that had a crossover feel, but never
released the songs because they just didn’t truly fit her style.
Now she’s sharing those tracks with her daughter Alia, who is
recording her music under the name Rose Le Beau.
“After Minnie Riperton
died I wrote this ballad called ‘Come Back Lover’ and it’s kind
of a rock-bluesy kind of like Led Zeppelin kind of ballad and it
really didn’t fit in my career. I was playing it on my guitar
and my daughter heard it and asked, ‘What album is that on?’”
Marie gladly gave the song to her daughter.
Check out Teena Marie’s story on “UnSung” on TV One, Sunday,
November 1 at 8 pm and again at 11 pm ET. This season will also
spotlight Bootsy Collins, Klymaxx, and ZAPP.
To find out more about
Teena Marie and her latest project, visit her official website
at
www.ivoryqueenofsoul.com. |
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::LANGFIELD
ENTERTAINMENT:: ENTERTAINMENT NEWS WITH A CANADIAN TWIST::
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