So I see you did the Tom Joyner Fantastic Voyage Cruise?

Teena Marie: Yes. Its was good until I found out I couldn’t take my daughter.

How old is your daughter?

Teena Marie: She’s 14. And I’ve never been without her. Yeah, we had brought the tickets and everything. We’d been talking for 8 months and right up until a week and a half before, they said I couldn’t bring her. It was hard because I had never been without her before.

How do you combine your industry life with motherhood?

Teena Marie: Lately I’ve been wondering. Most of the time I’m pretty good but lately I’m a little shaky.

Why is that?

Teena Marie: I don’t know why. Maybe it’s my age.

So you’re saying you can’t do it because you’re older? 

Teena Marie: Well, hormonally. And she’s getting older so…both of us.

Is she giving you attitude yet?

Teena Marie: Oh yes definitely. All my friends are like get used to it. It lasts about 4 years.

Your new album is out. How’d you put that album together?

Teena Marie: It was great. I was kind of working through my pain so it was wonderful to be able to have that outlet. It’s such a blessing to put everything that you’re going through into words. I’m happy that it didn’t come out sounding depressed. It’s a happy upbeat kind of an album.

What did you want your audience to know about your experiences?

Teena Marie: Just that I’m really really honest and truthful person. I’m very passionate about what I do. I think that’s why people still like it. They can feel the honesty and the passion.

Compared to when you first came out where audiences consider those days ‘real albums’; how does today’s music measure up?

Teena Marie: I like some of the artists. For awhile I didn’t. For awhile I was like, where living in a funky period. But now with the resurgence of the true R&B Music with people like Alicia Keys, I love Beyonce, I love Rihanna. I love Keyshia Cole…so we’ve got some good music out there.

Interested in working with any of those artists at all?

Teena Marie: I sure would like to do a duet with Keyshia Cole. I’ve been on the road with Beyonce and Destiny’ Child.

That must have been incredible for them to meet you?

Teena Marie: Yeah their really sweet girls.

So you’re traveling and promoting your new album. What’s new now?

Teena Marie: I’m leaving for Florida tomorrow. I have a show on Friday. And I come back and play LA. I’m just in and out. I’m doing a whole lot of interviews.

Are you questioning your age and abilities because of Rick James passing?

Teena Marie: Naw. I’m going through some stuff that I’ve never had to deal with before…lol.

What’s a typical day like for you and your daughter?

Teena Marie: She just graduated from middle school so this is only her 3^rd day out of school. She’s been sleeping in a lot. And I’ve been letting her because its summer. And we have a really great relationship. And she sings too. She did a lot of the backgrounds with me on my album. She’s on the last track of my CD; where doing a duet. It’s called Resilience.

She must have been excited to sing in the studio with you?

Teena Marie: She just wants to get paid. She’s a Capricorn. So I say you want to get down on some vocals with me? She said yeah, how much am I going to get paid? And she did most of the vocals with me on my album. It’s really awesome because when we sing harmony you can’t tell who’s singing which part.

That’s wonderful. It’s like being able to sing with yourself.

Do you think today’s music is more commercial?

Teena Marie: I think there is a lot of good music and a lot of garbage. I’m sick of every single song being about the VIP. I’m very appreciative of artists coming along that are really writing from the heart. Like the John Legends’ and the Kanye West. Some of that stuff is just like…oh my god.  Different day, different voice but they’re all writing about the same thing. Their all in the VIP. It’s like oh my god. I’ll be glad when that passes. Eventually it’s gonna have to pass.

When you made previous albums, it was during a time where a lot of time was invested in making the final product.

Teena Marie: Actually I did my first 4 albums in 2 years. So I was putting them out real fast. When I got to CBS I was probably doing an album about every year and a half. And I did 5 albums on CBS. And I stopped for awhile to raise my daughter. I wanted to be hands on in her life. I didn’t want somebody else to raise her so I stopped recording and touring for about 4 years.

Where you ever approached to change your style along with the changing times?

Teena Marie: I don’t work with producers. I produce my own albums.

So you don’t experience people trying to change you?

Teena Marie: No. Only one song I did with Cash Money and that was ‘Still in Love’ and we didn’t even work together in the studio. They just sent me the track and told me I could do whatever I wanted to do with it. So I went into the studio and wrote the melody and the lyrics and put all the backgrounds on it; mixed it. And sent it back. The majority of my stuff…from the second album on, I have produced myself so the appeal to be with Cash Money in the first place was they wanted me to continue to do what I do.

Were there more opportunities in the industry when you started out or has it gotten better with time?

Teena Marie: I think for me it was just a really exciting time. I got to be on a label that I wanted to be on since I was a child. I got to sing at Motown Records. So I got to walk down the hall with Stevie Wonder and Diana Ross and The Commodores and Debarge and Rick James and Smokey Robinson…we had all these great artists around us and all of us were really supportive of each other. I don’t think that they get to feel that now.

What was it like working with Rick James?

Teena Marie: We did the first album together. He produced the first album. He’s amazing. He was a brilliant composer, genius, writer, and producer. I learned a lot from him in the studio, being around the guys. I was the baby so I was very protected. They all looked out for me. Cause I was a good 10 years younger than everybody else.

Were you impressionable at such a young age?

Teena Marie: For others, I’m sure it is. But because I was able to be around it and see what it was doing, it didn’t have any appeal to me. I was like…ok…ya’ll real crazy. I never wanted to get involved with the drugs and all that kind of stuff. And they kept that from me so I can’t really compare myself with somebody who might have been out there. I’m sure it was probably a whole different thing for somebody else.

What has been the best part of your career so far?

Teena Marie; Live concert performances. I’ve been performing professionally since I was 8 years old so…I love being on stage, that’s just a way of life for me. I don’t remember life before that.

What do you miss most about Rick James?

Teena Marie: I miss his antics and his jokes. His bad boy antics…like one time we were on a plane going to Hawaii and I was choking. And he said here baby, drink this. He handed me a glass of water. Or what I thought was a glass of water. It was a glass of Vodka. They just busted out laughing and then I was really choking. He said oh oh I’m sorry. So then he handed me some Cranberry Juice and said drink this. He was a bad boy. He was a very compassionate person. Very spiritual. I miss him and a lot of our talks.

Most fans remember you with him. You done so many great things in your career I don’t remember you ever having a bad time with things?

Teena Marie: You wouldn’t know. I definitely did. We all do. The money doesn’t mean a thing basically, if you’re not a happy person.