The legendary, Grammy-award winning, multi-platinum singer and dancer, Tina Turner, died this week in her home in Switzerland. She was 83 years old.
Turner's final concert was on May 5, 2009 at Sheffield Arena which has also hosted the likes of One Direction, Green Day, and the Arctic Monkeys, to name a few.
"We had the greatest show," she told the BBC afterwards of the last stop of her Tina! 50th Anniversary Tour that had stops in the US, Canada, and a dozen countries in Europe.
"It was really wonderful. But the next day me, my husband Erwin and my cook got on the plane and I took a deep breath and said, 'this is it, I’m not going back for anything.”
On that memorable night in England, the curtains parted revealing a 70-year old Turner high atop a tall perch in glittery top and matching sparkling pants cut off at the knee.
As the riser lowered, she kicked off her 22-song set with "Steamy Windows" from her 7th solo album Foreign Affair, an album that produced six singles, most notably "(Simply) The Best." Tina opened her shows with "Steamy Windows" on her tours in 1990, 1993, 2008 and 2009.
Going to a Tina Turner show meant you'd be treated to her unique versions of British invasion tunes. Her last experience was no exception. Before the lights dimmed, the PA blasted a recording of the Fab Four's "Get Back," and later she performed a soulful, passionate version of "Help!"
Tina belted out The Who classic "Won't Get Fooled Again" and "The Acid Queen" (which she embodied on the Tommy rock opera in 1969. She'd go on to perform it over 400 times on stage.
Later in the set took a few pages from The Rolling Stones' songbook: "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and "It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (but I Like It"). The Stones and she had been friends since the '60s, beginning when the band invited Ike & Tina to open for them in 1966 in the UK for a dozen dates.
In '69 when the Stones toured the US to support the Beggars Banquet album, they asked Ike & Tina again to open. "Jumpin Jack Flash" was on Beggars, which meant Tina probably heard it a lot that year. Oddly she only fully incorporated it into her show the last two years of her career.
Her friendship with Mick Jagger, though continued the rest of her life. Who can forget their duet together at Live Aid when they performed "State Of Shock" and "It's Only Rock 'n' Roll" together?
Tina blessed the fans with her biggest hits like "What's Love Got To Do With It," "Private Dancer," and "River Deep, Mountain High."
And she ended her set with her James Bond masterpiece "GoldenEye," the Robert Palmer cover "Addicted to Love," the aforementioned Bonnie Tyler cover "The Best," and a tune she owned so strongly John Fogerty had to remind people he wrote it in Creedence Clearwater Revival: "Proud Mary."
After a short break Tina came out and delivered two tunes for her encore. The first was nostalgic but true to her career. The tune "Nutbush City Limits" is named after the small, unincorporated town in Tennessee where she and her two sisters picked cotton at an early age.
On stage the Ike & Tina dancers (The Ikettes) would introduce themselves by noting where they were from. Tina would conclude the intros by saying "and I'm Tina and I'm from Nutbush City Limits."
If the guitar riff sounds like Marc Bolan of T-Rex, that's because it just might be. Bolan dated Gloria Jones, an Ikette at the time of the recording and was in LA at the time Ike and Tina laid down the tune she would go on to perform over 1,000 times.
Tina Turner's final number that night was the heartwrenching "Be Tender With Me Baby" from Foreign Affair which was written by Holly Knight who also penned "(Simply) The Best" and "Better Be Good to Me."
After it was announced that Tina had passed, she received countless tweets of gratitude from fans and admirers.
Rod Stewart:
U2:
And even the US Embassy in Australia
