Teairra Marí Thomas (born December 2, 1987) is an American singer-songwriter, dancer, and actress. At the age of 16, Jay-Z signed her to Def Jam and she released her first album, '' Roc-A-Fella Records Presents Teairra Marí''. After disappointing sales, she was let go from her recording contract in the middle of production for her second album ''Second Round''. In 2008, she returned to the music scene with the

Pleasure P Marcus Ramone Cooper Sr, (born December 27, 1984), better known by his stage name Pleasure P, is an American R&B singer-songwriter, who experienced success as a member of the group Pretty Ricky before embarking on a solo career in 2007. H ...

-assisted single "Hunt 4 U". After constant leaks, she re-recorded a second attempt at her second album titled ''At That Point'', which was later shelved. In 2010, she starred in the film ''

Lottery Ticket A lottery is a form of gambling that involves the drawing of numbers at random for a prize. Some governments outlaw lotteries, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing a national or state lottery. It is common to find some degree of ...

'' alongside rappers Bow Wow and Ice Cube. Since 2010, she has released several mixtapes including features from

Nicki Minaj Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty (; born December 8, 1982), known professionally as Nicki Minaj ( ), is a Trinidadian-born rapper based in the United States. She is known for her musical versatility, animated Flow (rapping), flow in her rapping, alter e ...

, Soulja Boy, and

Gucci Mane Radric Delantic Davis (born February 12, 1980), known professionally as Gucci Mane, is an American rapper and record executive. He helped pioneer the hip hop subgenre of trap music alongside fellow Atlanta-based rappers T.I. and Young Jeezy, ...

Career

Early life and career beginnings

After Antonio "L.A." Reid heard Marí perform live, he offered her a contract. According to VP A&R at Island Def Jam Music Group Shakir Stewart, in an interview with HitQuarters, "Teairra was a star when she walked into the room. She captured the room when she did her audition. We fell in love with her from day one."

2004–2006: ''Teairra Marí''

Marí worked with Jay-Z in his first collaboration project since becoming president of Def Jam Records, to create " Make Her Feel Good" along with producer

Sean Garrett Garrett Robin Hamler, known professionally as Sean Garrett, is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is responsible for a series of chart-topping compositions, most notably Usher's " Yeah!" which ranks second on the ''Billboa ...

, the lead single from her debut album on Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam that reached number 35 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #9 on the R&B charts. It was heavily played on

BET Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los ...

but barely on MTV. The second single " No Daddy" had a video that led to commercial success on MTV. The video spent sixteen days on

Total Request Live ''Total Request Live'' (known commonly as ''TRL'') was an American television program broadcast on MTV that premiered on September 14, 1998. TRL featured popular music videos played during its countdown, and was also used as a promotion tool by ...

, reaching number four. Shortly after her third single "

Phone Booth A telephone booth, telephone kiosk, telephone call box, telephone box or public call box is a tiny structure furnished with a payphone and designed for a telephone user's convenience; usually the user steps into the booth and closes the booth ...

" was only sent to radio outlets and received a lukewarm response due to it not having a video and no promotion, she also made cameo appearances in various videos such as

Biggie Christopher George Latore Wallace (May 21, 1972 – March 9, 1997), better known by his stage names the Notorious B.I.G., Biggie Smalls, or simply Biggie, was an American rapper. Rooted in East Coast hip hop and particularly gangsta ...

("Nasty Girl"),

3LW 3LW (initialism of "3 Lil Women") was an American girl group formed in 1999 by Adrienne Bailon, Kiely Williams, and Naturi Naughton. Jessica Benson later replaced Naughton after she left the group in 2002. 3LW was signed to the label Epic Reco ...

("Feelin You") Jay-Z ("Show Me What You Got") and played the leading lady in

Sammie Sammie Lee Bush, Jr. (born March 1, 1987), known by the mononym Sammie, is an American singer and songwriter. He is best known for his 1999 hit single, " I Like It", from his debut album, ''From the Bottom to the Top'' (2000). He returned with ...

's video for "You Should Be My Girl". Teairra Marí's first album, Roc-A-Fella Records Presents Teairra Marí, was released on August 2, 2005 and was produced by Brian Michael Cox,

Darkchild Rodney Roy Jerkins (born July 29, 1977), also known by his stage name Darkchild, is an American record producer, rapper, and songwriter. He has collaborated with a broad range of popular artists. Jerkins has won multiple Grammy Awards. Among hi ...

Cool And Dre Cool & Dre are a record production and songwriting duo from North Miami, Florida, consisting of Marcello "Cool" Antonio Valenzano and Andre "Dre" Christopher Lyon. The duo are best known for their work with Terror Squad (group), Terror Squad fo ...

, Blackout Movement, The Trackboyz, Kwame and was co-executive produced by

. The album reached No. 5 on the Billboard 200 albums chart and No. 2 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart while modeling and doing ads for the Roca Wear campaign. The album sold 248,000 copies according to Nielsen Soundscan, as of November 11, 2009. Teairra started work on her second album entitled ''Second Round'' in 2006. The first single "Play Me" was scheduled to be released in the fall but production was stopped in the middle of the album. She received a phone call from her label before her high school graduation to inform her that she was being dropped.

2007–2010: ''At That Point'' and mixtapes

In 2008, Marí signed a lucrative deal with Violator but decided to split and landed a new development deal with Fo' Reel under the wing of Cudda Love (the man responsible for Nelly's success). She was working on a new album titled ''At That Point'' with producers

Rico Love Richard Preston Butler Jr. (born December 3, 1982), better known by his stage name Rico Love, is an American record producer, songwriter, singer, and rapper. He was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, but split his childhood between Milwaukee, Wiscon ...

, The Runners, The Underdogs and more. Featured on the album were

, Flo Rida,

, Soulja Boy,

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and fashion designer. Born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, West gained recognition as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records in the ea ...

& Rick Ross. On January 12, 2009 Teairra Marí released a Benny Boom-directed music video for " Hunt 4 U", which features Pleasure P. The second official single released from ''At That Point'' is "Cause a Scene" featuring Flo Rida. It was produced by The Runners. The third official single from the album " Sponsor" featuring

& Soulja Boy was released digitally on February 2, 2010 and the video was shot at a mansion in Los Angeles and was released on March 8, 2010. The album ''At That Point'' was scheduled to release the summer of 2010 but was eventually shelved due to so many tracks getting leaked online. She decided to reenter the studio to re-record the album with a new title. Late 2009, Teairra Marí released her first mixtape '' Don't Make Me Cause a Scene'', hosted by DJ Papa Smurf. Besides throwing all her singles on there she released before she released "Sponsor", plus adding "Diamonds" (with

), and "Automatic" (with

), and remixing, "Birthday Sex" (

Jeremih Jeremy Phillip Felton (born July 17, 1987), known professionally as Jeremih ( ), is an American singer, songwriter and record producer. In 2009, he signed a record deal with Def Jam Recordings. Jeremih's commercial debut single, "Birthday Sex", ...

), "Turn My Swagg On" ( Soulja Boy), "Blame It" (

Jamie Foxx Eric Marlon Bishop (born December 13, 1967), known professionally as Jamie Foxx, is an American actor, comedian, and singer. He became widely known for his portrayal of Ray Charles in the 2004 biographical film ''Ray'', for which he won the A ...

, T-Pain), "Turning Me Off" (

Keri Hilson Keri Lynn Hilson (born December 5, 1982) is an American R&B singer, songwriter and actress. She was born and raised in Decatur, Georgia and spent most of her youth working with producer Anthony Dent as a songwriter and background vocalist for ...

), and "Best I Ever Had" (

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals * A male duck People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family name * Drake (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * ...

). It also features an official remix to "Cause A Scene", featuring rappers Flo' Rida, and Rick Ross. She released her second mixtape entitled ''

Point of No Return The point of no return (PNR or PONR) is the point beyond which one must continue on one's current course of action because turning back is dangerous, physically impossible or difficult, or prohibitively expensive. The point of no return can be a ...

'', hosted by DJ Drama on August 7, 2010. The mixtape contained leak songs like "I Know It's You", "Coins", "Find My Way Back", "Holla", and a song intended for the album called "Lights Go Down". She released 4 music videos to some of the songs she covered for the project. Usher's "Daddy's Home", covers to

's songs "Over" and his song "

Find Your Love "Find Your Love" is a song by Canadian rapper Drake. The song was written by Drake, Patrick Reynolds, Jeff Bhasker and Kanye West and produced by the latter two and No I.D. It serves as the second single from his debut album, ''Thank Me Later'' ( ...

" titled "My Lovin'", and "Super High", a Rick Ross cover featuring a rapper named Cardan. On August 17, 2010 she released ''Sincerely Yours'', a digital EP released via iTunes, featuring the single "Sponsor", and new songs like "Body", and "Stranger". It also features songs made for ''At That Point'' that had not leaked, "Emergency", "Operator", and "Might Get Lucky". She released music videos to "Body" and "Stranger". She performed "Body" on the Mo'Nique show. She released her third mixtape entitled ''The Night Before X-MAS'' on Christmas Eve 2010. It features a remix to "Devil in a New Dress" by

with the help of Rick Ross and also Mr. Vegas's ballroom reggae song "Boy Shorts" with him on it, covers to Chris Brown's "Deuces" featuring fellow recording artist

Dondria Dondria Nicole Fields (born January 6, 1987), better known by her stage name Dondria Nicole, is an American R&B singer, currently signed to So So Def Recordings. Before getting signed, Dondria was known to post YouTube videos singing cover songs. ...

, her rendition of the

Wiz Khalifa Cameron Jibril Thomaz (born September 8, 1987), better known by his stage name Wiz Khalifa, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and actor. He released his debut album, ''Show and Prove'', in 2006 and signed to Warner Bros. Records in 20 ...

song "

Black and Yellow "Black and Yellow" is a song by American rapper Wiz Khalifa from his third studio album, ''Rolling Papers''. It was released on September 14, 2010, as the lead single from the album. The song was written by Khalifa, along with Stargate, who pro ...

" titled "U Know What It Is", a cover to Rick Ross's song "Aston Martin Music",

Diddy – Dirty Money Diddy – Dirty Money was a musical duo consisting of singer-songwriters and dancers Dawn Richard and Kalenna Harper in 2009; both artists having been signed to Bad Boy Entertainment.Sherwin, Adam (2010)Preview: Hello, Good Morning from Diddy ...

's "Loving You No More", and other songs such as "Stay", "Round And Round", and "Back It Up" featuring rapper YG. She made videos to "U Know What It Is" and "Stay".

2011–2012: ''Sex on the Radio'' and Division1

Teairra went into the studio with

, executive producer of the album, in early March 2011 to work on new music for her album. A snippet of a song is heard in a clip of them recording the first single from the album, "That's All Me", which features

. The song samples one of Diddy's early hits, ''It's All About the Benjamins''. "That's All Me" is a single on DJ T. Neal's album ''Not Your Average DJ'', which features Rico Love and was also set to be included on Marí's album. Marí performed the new song for the first time at R&B Live in Hollywood, and later revealed on the set of the video that she had departed from Warner Bros and had signed a deal with

's label Division1. Due to the large amount of leftover material from the album, Marí released a fourth mixtape titled ''Now or Never'' on May 30, 2011. "U Did That" was later released as the new first single from Teairra's second album, and was written and produced by Rico Love and co-produced by D-Town. Marí said that the single would be going for radio adds sometime in January 2012. Marí then released a video of her and Rico Love in the studio and talking about the new album. "It's absolutely amazing the chemistry that Rico and I share. I couldn't ask for another partner in crime. ..There are a lot of talented songwriters out there, but for me, my chemistry is with Rico and I haven't had a chemistry like this with anybody else. Everybody has their match and I think Rico is definitely my musical match." The song was later remixed featuring rapper

2 Chainz Tauheed K. Epps (born September 12, 1977), known professionally as 2 Chainz (or Tity Boi), is an American rapper. Born and raised in College Park, Georgia, he initially gained recognition as one-half of the Southern hip hop duo Playaz Circle, a ...

, and the music video was shot. Marí described the reasoning for the title of the album by saying "It's reminiscent of a new jack swing, like '90s R&B, bedroom music but with a bounce."

Acting career

In 2009 she appeared in ''The Magnificent Cooly-T'', followed in 2010's ''Lottery Ticket'' playing opposite Bow Wow. During 2013, the cable network UP premiered her in "The Dempsey Sisters" with

Lynn Whitfield Lynn Whitfield ('' née'' Smith; born February 15, 1953) is an American actress. She began her acting career in television and theatre before progressing to supporting roles in film. She won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a ...

, Denyce Lawton and

Clifton Powell Clifton Powell (born March 16, 1956) is an American actor who primarily plays supporting roles in films, such as in ''Ray'' (2004), for which he received an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture nomination. Care ...

Reality television

From 2011 to 2012, she had a supporting role on season two of the VH1 hit reality show '' Love & Hip Hop: New York''. In 2014, she appeared in a main role on the ''Love & Hip Hop'' spinoff '' Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood''.

Discography

* '' Roc-A-Fella Records Presents Teairra Marí'' (2005)

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mari, Teairra 1987 births Living people 20th-century African-American women singers African-American female dancers American female dancers American dancers African-American dancers 21st-century American singers American contemporary R&B singers Asylum Records artists Midwest hip hop musicians American hip hop singers Interscope Records artists People from Holland, Michigan Roc-A-Fella Records artists Universal Music Group artists Warner Records artists Singers from Detroit Participants in American reality television series 21st-century American women singers 21st-century African-American women singers