RIP The Legendary Tina Turner

[80sChav]

Tina Turner - the 1960s singer who started out singing with her Husband ike and then became a massive, massive solo Artist in the 1980s and 1990s with Private Dancer, Steamy Windows etc sadly passed away recently aged 83 years old

RIP Tina Turner - a great singer indeed

[George 1978]

Tina Turner was, no pun intended, "simply the best" - who else would be singing over the staff photograph montage during the final minutes of TV-am's last ever broadcast on New Year's Eve 1992? One thinks of Turner and the stereotypical phrase: "mutton dressed as lamb" comes to mind, but it was part of who she was.

She was always a prime target for impersonators on shows like Stars in their Eyes because of looking younger when she was actually a lot older - I know that Turner was first impersonated on that show in 1991 during the Crowther era by Carmel Hunter, singing What's Love Got to Do With It? and again by Hunter in the Christmas special that year with Dancing in the Street. Turner next "appeared" on the show three times in 2002 courtesy of Rebecca O'Connor, winning her heat edition with The Best (Simply The Best was the name of Turner's album), and making it into that year's final coming second, and then in October that year, taking first in the European Championships, coming first.

Antonia Okonma of Bad Girls fame (remember Darlene Cake?) was the next to impersonate Turner on a "celebrity" edition of the show in April 2006 with Nutbush City Limits, and Cylvian Flynn had a go in 2015 under Harry Hill's tenure also with The Best. So, four different people appeared as Turner on Stars in their Eyes, and appeared seven times, although I almost felt that someone did her at least once every series!

And it wasn't just women who impersonated her either - I am sure that Bobby Davro also did the same on one of his TVS comedy shows in the late 1980s.

[Richard1978]

I remember Little & Large dressed up as her & Rod Stewart!

[George 1978]

Yes, I bet that she was the most impersonated (and parodied) female popstar on comedy programmes, and it wasn't just women who had impersonated her, and I am thinking about male entertainers who often used to play female characters - did Kenny Everett do her as well? Dustin Gee, perhaps? And possibly even one of the Grumbleweeds?

[George 1978]

There's a Tina Turner musical making its way around the country in 2025 - wherever they are on my birthday, you can bet that I will be in the audience for it! Actually, they (or she, as in the actress/singer portraying her) will be at the Cliffs Pavilion in Southend on that date.