Tina Turner Was The Ultimate Live Performer Who Mesmerised People For Decades

By Sushil Kutty

Everybody over 50-60-even 70 will have a picture of Tina Turner in the head shaking things up inside there, leaving the grey cells in an almighty disarray with songs that rock all the way to wherever. Yeah, wherever, ‘cause Tina Turner took off for ’Wherever’ May 24, at 83, which is 17 short of a century. She should have stayed; especially after making such an impact. Somebody in the media called Tina the “earthshaking singer” with “rasping vocals, sexual magnetism and explosive energy”.

Alright, that is part of the Tina Turner story, or shall we say, “part of the Tina Turner song”? People won’t and can’t forget Tina. They cannot even if they tried. Tina Turner will force her way in, into their very beings. Just like she did with ‘What’s Love Got To Do With It”. Tina Turner was the ultimate live performer. Unforgettable. And a top-notch recording artist.

Tina Turner died in Küsnacht, Switzerland, a couple of oceans away from Tennessee in America, where she was born. Nobody, other than some people who were close to her, know the cause of the death, but it is how she lived that most people would recall. Tina didn’t have roses all the way. She battled hardships, and one of hardest ships was her first husband Ike Turner and how he turned her into a singing sensation and then her life into a living Hell.

That Tina turned her life back from the abyss is the remaining part of her success story. Ike went his way; to Kingdom Come early in this century. It is hardly likely Tina must be with Ike in ‘Wherever’. Tina Turner’s half-century singing career started when she was in high school. And then, Ike turned it over. Over the years she has been described variously as “occasional performer” to “star attraction”, to making “an instant impression”.

At the height of her career, Tina Turner was top draw on both sides of the Atlantic. If America danced to her tune, Europe couldn’t have enough Tina belting their favourite Turner numbers. Her version of “Proud Mary” fetched a Grammy for best R&B vocal performance by a group. People remember Tina Turner in Rio de Janeiro ‘cause Tina Turner made them “so happy”. That concert set a record — 182,000 people paid to see the performance. She took the tour to 25 countries. Yeah, like somebody else said, Tina was working her a$$ off.

Unreal. Tina Turner — leather fringe; and mini skirt. Sweating. Tina in her element. Tina was singing “Better Be Good To Me”. She was 48 years old. And loads of people continue to regret not seeing Tina Turner perform live. Millions of Indians among them. Those who listened to Tina stomp ‘What’s Love Got To Do With It’. For many years this was the number which sent Indian youth of the 1980s into a crazy frenzy.

To be one of “those screaming Tina Turner’s name… Tina! Tina! Tina! Tina!” was normal. People loved Tina Turner. Journalists loved Tina Turner. And to think that “What’s Love Got to Do With It” was also made into a movie — a biopic of Tina Turner with Ike, and then with no Ike to spoil the biggest show on planet earth — Life! Tina Turner’s life was painful. And the pain shaped her music. Fortunately, Tina Turner turned her life around. She became a survivor. There are a billion and more stories of domestic abuse, but not many as that of Tina Turner’s.

Escaping Ike Turner’s overbearing presence with all its abuse was liberation for Tina Turner. Tina’s association with Ike Turner had nothing to do with love. That’s why ‘What’s Love Got To Do With it’ became such a rage and Tina Turner’s signature song, almost epochal. People can’t get enough of ‘What’s Love Got Do With It’ even today. After all, like Tina belted it out, love is nothing but “a second hand emotion.” And this from somebody who picked cotton for a living when she was a “girl”. Is there cotton in the ’Wherever’ Tina Turner has gone to? Perhaps, pure Silk, pure and pristine! (IPA Service)

IPA Special