However, when Tisdel discovered that Teena had been assigned female at birth,
Tisdel's ex-boyfriend raped and murdered him.
He also provided hits for other stars and worked with some of them,
most notably R&B songstress Teena Marie, with whom he recorded the sultry classic"Fire and Desire.".
Having been expelled from school, turned away from the army,
and facing an arrest warrant for forging checks, Teena decided to flee to Humboldt, Nebraska at age 21.