''Robbery'' is the fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter

Teena Marie Mary Christine Brockert (March 5, 1956 – December 26, 2010), known professionally as Teena Marie, was an American singer-songwriter, musician, composer, arranger, and producer. She was known by her childhood nickname Tina before taking the sta ...

, released in September 18, 1983. It is her first album for Epic Records, following her acrimonious departure from

Motown Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''mot ...

the previous year. The album was written and produced by Marie herself and features contributions from

Patrice Rushen Patrice Louise Rushen (born September 30, 1954) is an American jazz pianist and R&B singer. She is also a composer, record producer, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and music director. Her 1982 single " Forget Me Nots" received a Grammy Awa ...

, Paulinho da Costa, and

Steve Ferrone Steve Ferrone (born 25 April 1950) is an English drummer. He is known as a member of the rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers from 1994 to 2017, replacing original drummer Stan Lynch, and as part of the "classic lineup" of the Average Wh ...

among others. However, the album did not repeat the success of her last Motown release ''

It Must Be Magic ''It Must Be Magic'' is the fourth studio album by Teena Marie, released on May 14, 1981. It was her last album for Motown and the highest-selling of Marie's tenure with Motown. The album peaked at No. 2 on the US Black Albums chart and No. 23 on ...

'' (1981) stalling at number 13 on the Black Albums chart and only reaching number 119 on the ''Billboard Albums'' chart. The album placed three singles on the US Black Singles chart" "Fix It", peaking at #21, followed by "Midnight Magnet" (#31) and "Dear Lover" (#77). In 2012, the album was re-released in a remastered and expanded CD edition containing four additional tracks.

Cassanova Brown

Included on this album is the infamous song, "Cassanova Brown". After meeting

Rick James James Ambrose Johnson Jr. (February 1, 1948 – August 6, 2004), better known by his stage name Rick James, was an American singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. Born and raised in Buffalo, New York, James began his musical career in ...

in the '70s and being signed to the same label, James and Marie began a relationship, first professional, progressing (according to Marie) to a romantic one, and finally leading to an engagement. Although James himself denied ever having a romantic involvement with Marie, she said they were engaged for a few weeks. When James' alleged infidelities came to light, Marie realized that she ''herself'' was a mistress; James had a girlfriend, Alfie Davidson, who would later substantiate that James and Marie were once an item, while she was his girlfriend. After the breakup, their relationship waned to a tumultuous friendship. The lyrics are very thinly veiled in her contempt for the situation.

Track listing

All songs written by

. #"Robbery" - 5:23 #"Playboy" - 5:23 #"Shadow Boxing" - 6:49 #"Midnight Magnet" - 6:02 #"Fix It" - 4:44 #"Ask Your Momma" - 5:25 #"Dear Lover" - 5:18 #"Stop the World" - 4:16 #"Cassanova Brown" - 5:58 Bonus tracks - 2012 SoulMusic reissue #"Playboy" (US 12" Remix) - 5:51 (Expanded edition) #"Fix It" (US 12" Remix) - 6:30 (Expanded edition) #"Fix It" (Instrumental)(US 12" Remix) - 8:16 (Expanded edition) #"Midnight Magnet" (US 12" Instrumental) - 6:00 (Expanded edition)

Personnel

Credits for ''Robbery'' adapted from

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...

*Keith Alexander - guitar *James Allen- clapping, backing vocals *Steven Berkowitz - A&R *Harry Bluestone - concertmaster *John A. Bokowski, Jr. - Fender Rhodes, piano, synthesizer *Anthony Boyce - backing vocals *Stacey Boyle - A&R, artist coordination *Anthony Allan Brockert - monologue *Robert Brooks - engineer, mixing *Nick Brown - guitar *Nick Ceroli - drums *Brian Chin - liner notes *

Stanley Clarke Stanley Clarke (born June 30, 1951) is an American bassist, film composer and founding member of Return to Forever, one of the first jazz fusion bands. Clarke gave the bass guitar a prominence it lacked in jazz-related music. He is the first jaz ...

- upright bass *

Todd Cochran Todd Cochran (born September 3, 1951) is an American pianist, composer, keyboardist, essayist and conceptual artist. Early in his career he was also professionally known as Bayeté. Cochran started his career as a teenager with saxophonist John H ...

- synthesizer * Paulinho Da Costa - percussion *

Nathan East Nathan Harrell East (born December 8, 1955) is an American jazz, R&B, and rock bass player and vocalist. With more than 2,000 recordings, East is one of the most recorded bass players in the history of music. East holds a Bachelor of Arts deg ...

- bass, synthesizer bass *Charles Fearing - guitar *

- drums *

Chuck Findley Charles B. Findley (born December 13, 1947 in Johnstown, Pennsylvania) is an American trumpet player known for his diverse work as a session musician. He also plays other brass instruments such as flugelhorn and trombone. His technical abilities ...

- trumpet *Howard Fritzson - art direction *

Lynn Goldsmith Lynn Goldsmith (born 1948) is an American recording artist, film director, celebrity portrait photographer, and rock and roll photographer. She has also made fine art photography with conceptual images and with her painting. Books of her wor ...

- photography *Gary Grant - trumpet *Jo Hay - design *Mickey Hearn - monologue *

Marlo Henderson Marlo Henderson was an American guitarist and saxophonist, who played in mainly blues and R&B genres. As a session musician he played on albums such as ''Off the Wall'' by Michael Jackson, '' Them Changes'' by Buddy Miles, '' Face to Face'' by ...

- guitar *Gary Herbig - tenor saxophone *Paul Hines - drums *Jeremy Holiday - A&R, artist coordination * Dick Hyde - trombone * Anthony Jackson - bass *

Paul Jackson Jr. Paul Milton Jackson Jr. (born December 30, 1959) is an American fusion/urban jazz composer, arranger, producer and guitarist. He was born and raised in Los Angeles. Jackson knew by the age of fifteen that he wanted to become a professional mus ...

- guitar, soloist *Car Johnson - backing vocals *

Abraham Laboriel Abraham Laboriel López Sr. (born July 17, 1947) is a Mexican-American bassist who has played on over 4,000 recordings and soundtracks. ''Guitar Player'' magazine called him "the most widely used session bassist of our time". Laboriel is the f ...

- bass *

Ricky Lawson William Riser III (November 8, 1954 – December 23, 2013), better known as Ricky Lawson, was an American drummer and composer. A native of Detroit, Michigan, he worked extensively as a session musician, collaborating with Stevie Wonder, Mich ...

- drums *Daniel LeMelle - saxophone, soloist *Charles Loper - trombone *Teena Marie - arranger, horn arrangements, monologue, rhythm arrangements, string arrangements, synthesizer, synthesizer arrangements, vocal arrangement, backing vocals *Patti Matheny - A&R, artist coordination *Fred Mirza - horn arrangements, string arrangements *Joy Gilbert Monfried - project director *Eric O'Neal - synthesizer, synthesizer arrangements *Joseph M. Palmaccio - mastering *Recco Philmore - backing vocals *Darryl Phinnessee - backing vocals *Greg Poree - acoustic guitar *

Paul Riser Paul Riser (born September 11, 1943) is an American trombonist and Motown musical arranger who was responsible for co-writing and arranging dozens of top ten hit records. His legacy as one of the "Funk Brothers" is similar to that of most of th ...

- conductor, horn arrangements, string arrangements, string conductor *

John Robinson John Robinson may refer to: Academics *John Thomas Romney Robinson (1792–1882), Irish astronomer and physicist *John J. Robinson (1918–1996), historian and author of ''Born in Blood'' *John Talbot Robinson (1923–2001), paleontologist *John ...

- drums, Simmons drums *

- synthesizer *Leo Sacks - reissue producer *Darren Salmieri - A&R, artist coordination *Ron Slenzak - cover photo, photography *Dianne Spoto - packaging manager *Sweet Baby Note - backing vocals *Carmen Twillie - backing vocals *

Ernie Watts Ernest James Watts (born October 23, 1945) is an American jazz and rhythm and blues saxophonist who plays soprano, alto, and tenor saxophone. He has worked with Charlie Haden's Quartet West and toured with the Rolling Stones. On Frank Za ...

- alto saxophone *

Nathan Watts Nathan or Natan may refer to: People *Nathan (given name), including a list of people and characters with this name *Nathan (surname) * Nathan (prophet), a person in the Hebrew Bible * Nathan (son of David), biblical figure, son of King David a ...

- bass, rhythm arrangements *Dwayne Wedlaw - synthesizer arrangements *Julia Tillman Waters - backing vocals *Maxine Willard Waters - backing vocals

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robbery (Teena Marie Album) Teena Marie albums 1983 albums Albums arranged by Paul Riser Epic Records albums