Teena Marie, 'Lovegirl' singer, who died at 54, pushed the boundaries of R&B by being herself

Mary Christine Brockert, who died at her home the morning after Christmas, didn't always have an easy time of it. She fought with her record companies, sometimes over her insistence she control her music. She was hospitalized for six months after a severe fall on stage in 1988.

She was just 54 when she died, reportedly after suffering a seizure. But Lady T left an army of fans, black and white, who saw both her and her music as simply honest.

Not to mention danceable.Her only real hit on pop radio was the 1984 "Lovergirl," which reached No. 4. On black radio, she had six top-10 hits over a dozen years, also including "I'm A Sucker For Your Love," "I Need Your Lovin'," "Square Biz," "Work It" and "If I Were a Bell."

She was known as a protégé of Rick James and she definitely had a funky side, expressed in her songs and in the way she played rhythm guitar, keyboards and percussion.But a lot of her music was pure rhythm and blues.

"That's what I grew up on," she said in a 1985 interview. "I listened to black radio and black musicians. That's what spoke to me and when I started making my own music, that's what came out."