Soul, funk and R&B legend Teena Marie died suddenly on Boxing Day aged 54. Signed by Berry Gordy when she was aged 20 to the legendary Motown Records, she was one of the few white artists to ever ink a contract with the label.

She was taken under the wing of Superfreak star Rick James there, who masterminded her 1979 debut Wild and Peaceful. After a spectacular falling out with Motown who refused to release her records in 1982, she went to court to be released from her contract and won.

Signing with Epic, she scored a number of US and UK chart hits over her career, and perhaps most memorably for more casual music fans, had her songs used in the soundtracks to hit 80s movies such as ‘Lead Me On’ in Top Gun and ‘14k’ in The Goonies.

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