You know how you might not care for a particular song when it’s popular, but years later, you hear it somewhere and realize that now you really like it? Maybe musical tastes change a bit in the time between, but that’s how it went with Teena Marie’s “Lovergirl.”

I don’t know why I didn’t dig “Lovergirl” when it was big in 1984. It’s female and funky, and definitely quite Prince-y. And I sure did love his Purple Rain period — when Wendy & Lisa had his back and Apollonia was along for the ride — still going strong when Teena Marie was taking aim at the pop charts.

Whether you call her Lady T, the “Ivory Queen of Soul,” or the “#1 Honorary Soul Sista” — Teena Marie was known by all of these names — she was quite revolutionary in her own regard, a white singer with serious R&B cred. Signed to Motown Records in 1976, mentored by Rick James, and most importantly, wholly embraced by black audiences. Back singing, recording, and touring after taking a break for motherhood in the 1990s, Teena Marie died suddenly on December 26 at age 54, from what appears to have been natural causes.

By 1982, Teena Marie and Motown were on the outs. The singer-songwriter had recorded new material that wasn’t being released, so she took the venerable label to court. The judgment in her favor became what’s known as the Brockert Initiative, which makes it more difficult for record labels to keep artists under exclusive contracts. (Brockert was Teena Marie’s surname.) Perhaps even more so than her music, because the ruling favors artists of all stripes, the case is Marie’s major legacy.

With that bit of legal wrangling resolved, Teena Marie signed with Epic, where she had more R&B hits, but also enjoyed her biggest, and really only, crossover success of her career. “Lovergirl” debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 on December 15, 1984, and reached #4 on March 30, 1985. Teena Marie put it out there, pleading, but tell me again why she didn’t rock my world the first time around?

Check out Teena Marie’s “Square Biz,” too, a #3 R&B hit from 1981 that I embarrassingly admit I only discovered a couple of years ago after Shazam-ing it while the song played overhead at a McDonald’s.

Purchase Teena Marie – “Lovergirl” via iTunes, Amazon MP3.