I didn't quite know what to say when I heard that Teena Marie passed last week. A tribute seemed in order, but others did a much better job than I could have (I strongly recommend Carlos Mena's mini-mix).

Then this popped up, from the incomparable duo of Mark de Clive-Lowe and vocalist Sy Smith, who describes the recording session on Mashi's bandcamp page:

I looked up the lyrics and just started making mental notes as to how I would structure of the song. I really liked the idea of starting with "When the push comes to shove" because that phrase was one of my favorites in the original. I always loved when Teena would just "speak" lines, ya know? So I had the basic structure completed, in my head. I was ready to rock. When Grant returned, I barely let him eat his food before I was like "pull up this track, I wanna record something else!" (Sorry Grant. I know I can be a workaholic. Please forgive me. I promise to take more breaks in the future.) Grant passed me some french fries because I guess I, too, need to eat. He pulled up the track and we began recording...

And this creation - Mark de Clive-Lowe presents Sy Smith's "Teena" (Lovergirl Syberized) - is the result:

Download link for WAV version.

Stream:

MdCL presents Sy Smith - Teena (Lovergirl Syberized) by mashibeats

Produced by Mark de Clive-Lowe
Vocal Arrangement/Production by Sy Smith
All Vocals - Sy Smith
Trumpet - Grant Nicholas
Horn Arrangement - Grant Nicholas
All other instruments - Mark de Clive-Lowe
Mixed by Grant Nicholas + Mark de Clive-Lowe

Many thanks to MdCL for sending it on!