Today in 1985, Tina Turner was celebrating because “What’s Love Got To Do With It” had just won Song of the Year and Record of the Year at the Grammy’s which was held on the 26th of February 1985. The song was Ms Turner’s most successful single and the second-biggest US single of 1984 and 17th biggest UK single.
Credit: Tina Turner Official YouTube
Today in 2018, Ms Turner has remained an icon and is one of the strongest influences among singers today. Rebecca O’Connor, herself a Tina Turner fan, will be performing a Tina Turner tribute show at the Redcliffe Cultural Centre on 2nd of March 2018 at 8:00 p.m.
Ms O’Connor is back in Australia from a sold-out European tour where she also belted out Tina Turner’s greatest hits. She also had a sold-out “standing room only” concert tour of South Africa and Botswana prior to the upcoming show in Redcliffe. Some may already know Ms O’Connor for her unique renditions of “Nutbush City Limits”, “River Deep”, “Private Dancer”, and “Simply the Best”.
Ms O’Connor was introduced by her parents to Tina Turner’s songs when she was just a young girl. “When I first heard Tina it was like a volcano went off inside me. I knew then this amazing woman would influence me forever,” she recalled.
She had been singing Ms Turner’s songs whilst growing up in Ireland. It was one of Ms Turner’s songs that made her win a local Karaoke competition and eventually a bigger competition, the European Stars in Their Eyes. The rest, so they say, is history.
On several occasions, Ms Turner herself watched as Ms O’Connor performs. ”Rebecca is so good, she’s scary… If I had her energy, I would still be touring today,” the music icon said of Ms O’Connor. Ms Turner herself had started her singing career in about the same age as when Ms O’Connor belted her songs.
There is no doubt that Ms O’Connor sounded like Tina Turner when performing her hits. However, Ms O’Connor remained adamant that she could never come close to the real thing.
“There is only one Tina turner, she is absolutely amazing and I admire and respect her so much and I hope that I can bring her power, energy and magic to each and every show I perform…Most performers don’t have what she has, and never will have”.
For more information about the Tina Turner tribute show at the Redcliffe Community Centre, please click here.