Watching Tina Turner perform is something you never forget – a combination of joy and chutzpah with an almost spiritual rush of emotion. Or as lifelong fan Oprah Winfrey recalls of her reaction to Tina’s early break-out shows: “Whatever that is … I want some of that. I got the spirit, no different to being in a church and you are moved.”
It wasn’t just the songs – powerful punchy rock anthems that swim around your head – but Tina’s incredible energy, a fountain of undiluted girl power that seemed to come from somewhere deep inside. And Tina bristled with a searing authenticity, too, her battle scars on show as she built the finest part of her career as a middle-aged woman with the courage to overcome the traumas and abuse of her past. This was something special.
Tina’s journey from a troubled little girl in Nutbush, Tennessee, to musical partner and wife of the talented and abusive Ike Turner, to solo rock goddess, is certainly awe-inspiring. And seeing that story breaking box office records in famous theatres around the world in Tina – The Tina Turner Musical has been a profound experience for her.
“It has given me new-found peace about my early life, which I didn’t expect when I agreed to making the musical,” she tells The Weekly from her home in Switzerland. “Bringing it all together has made it whole and given me harmony. I wish Ike and my mother had been able to see the show.”
That Tina at 83 invokes the two people who hurt
