Exactly one month after Sinead O'Connor's death, a man who contributed to my formation passed away--Bob Barker died at the age of 99, about 3 1/2 months short of hitting the century mark. I first became aware of Bob because of the 1974 Miss Universe pageant as it was held in Manila, and it was a very big event in our shores. I could vividly remember how in my mother's store there was a poster compiling photos taken of the candidates and highlights from the final, and of course hosting the final was Bob Barker.
The first pageant I could remember consciously watching was Miss Universe 1976 held in Hong Kong. Besides the sights of the beauties competing in the pageant, I was drawn to the list of countries competing, and it fueled my curiosity about what those countries are, and it led me to a relentless pursuit of knowledge about the world at large that continues to this day. Bob Barker's smooth and effortless hosting throughout this pageant and all other events that followed helped contribute to drawing me in to the countries competing and fueling my thirst for knowledge. Years later when I watched those old Miss Universe pageants, I became a bit critical towards Bob's interview style towards the delegates as based on today's standards his interview style with the ladies could be seen as patronizing. But having reviewed how the hosting was done by the male hosts in other pageants like Miss World, Bob's style was actually a bit more progressive compared to the relative chauvinism prevalent at, say, Miss World in those days.
A couple of years later, US game shows start airing on TV on our shows. And one of those game shows was The Price is Right. And lo and behold, Bob was the host of this show, and he was effortlessly smooth in this gig as he was whenever he was hosting Miss Universe. The various price-based games being played were very entertaining so I understand why the studio audience were always excited and frenzied when they were called to become contestants in the show. I'll highlight one memorable episode aired originally in September 14, 1977, featuring contestant Yolanda Bowlesly, notorious for wearing a tube top that caused what we now term as a "wardrobe malfunction" and caused a comic audience uproar soon after that. Yolanda unfortunately never won a bid so she never saw action on the main games bieng played. That blooper has become one of the most memorable bloopers in game show history.
Part of the appeal of the game show was the models showcasing the prizes up for grabs. During Bob's tenure as host, they are dubbed the Barker Beauties. The lineup that I got to watch featured blonde Janice Pennington who was part of the cast alongside Bob at the game show's revival*1 in 1972, blonde Dian Parkinson who joined in 1975, and redhead Holly Hallstrom, who joined in 1977.*2. They were a dependable and reliable combo that the lineup stayed that way until increasing clamor for diversity prompted the show to add a new model in 1990, black model Kathleen Bradley. We only saw the game show on our local TV station until around 1984, so we just saw what is probably now considered the "Classic Trio".
*1 The Price is Right was first broadcast from 1956 to 1965.
*2 On our shores, they also broadcast some episodes of the primetime version hosted by Dennis James and featured brunette model Anitra Ford, who was part of the original cast in 1972 but left in 1976. This means the episodes featuring Anitra that were aired were around that period of time.
The Price is Right cast, 1977-1990: back (L-R) Janice Pennington, Dian Parkinson, and Holly Hallstrom; front (L_R) announcer Johnny Olson and host Bob Barker
However, the facade of harmony on the game show's set started to wear down from 1993 onwards. On that year, Dian Parkinson first announced she would be departing the show "to pursue other interests". But it later turned into a sexual harassment lawsuit against Bob. I discovered much later that Dian had a history in major beauty pageants, as she was born Dianna Lynn Batts and competed at Miss World 1965, where she became 1st runner-up behind the United Kingdom's Lesley Langley. Considering that long period of time, I was amazed how Dian looked youthful and gorgeous even in her late 40s-early 50s. Interestingly during her The Price is Right gig, she posed and made the cover of Playboy in 1991 and 1993. Somehow she dropped her lawsuit two years later in 1995.
As Dianna Lynn Batts in Miss World 1965
Dian's first Playboy cover
Two years after Dian's departure, Holly Hallstrom was fired, officially because of corporate discretion, but Holly filed a lawsuit reporting age and weight discrimination, as reportedly she was fired due to weight gain. Holly also noted that part of the reason for her firing was Bob retaliating against her as she refused to testify on Bob's behalf against Dian's lawsuit. She had to endure bankruptcy as the wheels of justice were slow, but she received a multimillion dollar settlement in 2005, 10 years after she filed her lawsuit. Meanwhile, because of their sympathies with Holly, Janice and Kathleen were also dismissed in 2000.
Despite being besieged by legal issues above, Bob Barker still had a good reputation, and many later generations now remember him for his appearance in Adam Sandler's 1996 comedy film Happy Gilmore, where he had a memorable fight scene where he roundedly beat up Adam. Many fans admire him for being a badass even in his advanced age (he was 72 at the time).
When Bob decided to retire after the 35th season, he was feted in style. He was regarded as an institution and his exit was graceful and dignified. As far as I can recall, only Alex Trebek on Jeopardy (37 seasons) and Pat Sajak on Wheel of Fortune had longer game show hosting tenures. Here is his final episode of the game show in 2007.
I've learned that Bob had a nasty feud with another beloved television institution, Betty White. Interestingly they have striking commonalities--both are renowned for their love of animals, both are notable for their careers in game shows (well, Betty is of course also well known for her legendary comedies), and both almost reached 100 years old but missed by a little bit before they passed away. Based on the story relayed by YouTuber Dave Sandstrom below, the feud might have been stemmed from an ill and dying animal at the Los Angeles Zoo. Betty, being a patron of said zoo, recommended improving the facilties to accommodate the animal's needs, while Bob recommended sending the animal to another nearby reserve. Betty ultimately had her way which upset Bob, it seems.
Bob still seemed to be lucid and made appearances in public at least up to 2015. He seemed to be by most accounts active and lucid at that time. But it turns out he actually was stricken by Alzheimer's, and reportedly this was his cause of death.
Despite those controversies about his treatment of women, Bob still holds a soft spot in my heart because of his 20-year hosting stint of the Miss Universe pageant, where he's still regarded as the gold standard among Miss Universe hosts (though I may beg to argue that Dick Clark may be a better exemplar befitting modern sensibilities). YouTuber The Pageant Nerd has a video compilation of highlights from his Miss Universe hosting stint that is worth watching. It's so uncanny how prescient the 1973 semifinalist from India, Farzana Habib was with her palm reading, as she noted Bob would live a very long life and had his "affairs".
A little over two months after Tina Turner passed away, another icon/idol in my younger years departed this realm. Sinead O'Connor died on July 26. I first took notice of her in my first year of college when I was reading a small article in Rolling Stone magazine and there was this picture of a bald-headed*1 woman with a gorgeous face. The article mentioned her name, how to pronounce it (Shi-NAYD), and that she collaborated with U2's The Edge for a movie song, and that she has an album coming out called The Lion and the Cobra. I was intrigued and I wondered how she sounded like..
*1 I have to share a story about a contrast on how I react towards bald people from my childhood to my teenage years. When I was a much younger kid, I had an irrational fear and/or aversion towards bald-headed people, and I can recall when my father decided to shave his head because he couldn't hide his balding head any longer that I screamed at the sight. The only exception towards this reaction was my maternal grandfather. As I previously mentioned in my Tina Turner essay, I was already experiencing heavy hair loss in my early teens so I was angst-ridden over the prospect that I'll be going bald, though I've began to be more accepting of bald people by then.
Late in my first year of college, I got to hear my first Sinead song as I watched a music video of "(I Want Your) Hands On Me", and I was intrigued by the utter quirkiness of it all. It's not something that most regular listeners would dig, but I liked it enoug tat when I scoured the record shops like Odyssey for new releases and found The Lion and the Cobra available, I didn't hesitate buying it on cassette. I turned out to be a wonderfully eclectic album, featuring conventional rock, classically tinged epics, funky avant-garde numbers (like the aforementioned "Hands on Me" track), and moody atmospheric ballads, all unified with that uniquely beautiful and haunting voice.
The press hyped three new female rock acts during 1987-88 as they showered them with critical acclaim, and this culminates with these three ladies performing at the 1989 Grammys. It's quite interesting on who received the most hype during that time and how their careers ended up in the long term. The press were enamored by the soulful stylings and social messages of Toni Childs and hence lavished the most praise to her--though it didn't really translate to Hot 100 success, as her single "Don't Walk Away" didn't hit Top 40 in the US and is not at all that popular in our shores that it took months before her album Union was made available in our shores--when it was finally available, I bought it and I loved it. It turned out her best market was Australia, as her album and its singles were hits there. Her follow-up records after Union faded in most countries and for most people Toni is just a musical footnote, though Australia continued to love her to bits and much later in life, Toni moved from her home in America to live in this country. The woman who garnered the relatively least accolades at that time was rocker Melissa Etheridge, who got buzz for her gritty rock song "Bring Me Some Water". Like Toni and Sinead, it got positive buzz but not enough to be mainstream hits. It took a few years later and her coming out as a lesbian to finally achieve mainstream success with hits like "I'm The Only One" and "Come to My Window" and of these three, she became the most successful commercially. Sinead fell squarely in between these two ladies in all aspects as she performed her single "Mandinka" at the Grammys. All three ladies were terrific in their Grammy performances so in a way were Grammy highlights for that year. All were nominated for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance, and all of them lost to... Tina Turner for her Tina Live in Europe album..
Though Melissa Etheridge was able to amass huge record sales with a series of hits throughout her career through the 1990s and 2000s, she never had a moment of universal popularity and acclaim Sinead achieved when she released her single in 1990, "Nothing Compares 2 U", as this became a global No. 1 smash. I'll discuss more about this song at the end of this essay, but needless to say, this has whetted my appetite for her sophomore album, I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got. I remember giddy with bated breath as I trooped to Landmark Department Store in Makati to witness the record launch and then purchased a cassette tape of the album. Though I was slightly taken aback at how spare the instrumental arrangements were for most of this album, and realize that they mostly sound nothing like you would hear on American radio, the songs were universally superb and indelible. I've highlighted four songs from the album in my countdown of favorites below, but I also highly recommend "Feel So Different" (the opening track that featured an intro based on the Serenity Prayer) and the poignant and empathetic "Black Boys on Mopeds", a folk ballad protesting the hypocrisy of the UK government in how they treated the black population plus below, her follow-up single to her mega-smash (and presumably the most radio-friendly as it had the fullest instrumentation) "Emperor's New Clothes".
Sinead was known to be very outspoken with strong political convictions, and that often attract controversy, like when she prevented a concert venue from playing the US national anthem in one of her gigs. But all those controversies did not cause as big a stir as her appearance on Saturday Night Live in early 1992, where she sang an a capella version of Bob Marley's 1976 single "War" with modified lyrics referencing child abuse and then showed a photo of Pope John Paul II and tore it, declaring "Fight the real enemy!". The American media almost unanimously declared her action appalling, and how galling was she to disrespect a beloved figure like The Pope. It was presumed Sinead sabotaged her own career because of this gesture. But as years wore on, and when revelations of abuse by Catholic priests in the US and the British isles came to light, Sinead's protest is now viewed as a prophetic gesture, expressing a suppressed truth way ahead of its time.
Though my very religious mother would disapprove, I still had a soft spot for Sinead even after that SNL brouhaha, so I still purchased her third album, Am I Not Your Girl. This was basically a covers album that I found very disappointing as Sinead sounded too unhinged and fragile in performing tbose covers. Still, I'll highlight her first single from that album, a jazz-orchestral cover of country artist Loretta Lynn's 1961 single "Success", which Sinead retitled as "Success Has Made A Failure of Our Home" (where Sinead repeatedly adlibbed a closing line that served as the title of the album). I was slightly hesitant to check out Sinead's 1994 album, Universal Mother until I saw the "Fire in Babylon" video and thought she seems back in her 1987 form, and decided to buy a cassette. I had no regrets are there are strong tracks in this collection, like the rap screed "Famine" (about the infamous Irish potato blight of the 1840s) and a rhythmic track that I include among my favorites below. I read about her releasing an EP in 1997 called Gospel Oak and that she grew out her shaven look and went for a conventional brunette bob, but that wasn't released in these shores. In 2000, I saw the music video for her launching single for her album Faith and Courage, "No Man's Woman" (another one of my favorites) and I liked the track. But somehow, perhaps because of my state of finances at the time or the fact it's not available on cheaper pirate CDs, I didn't get around to purchase that record. Still, it seems to be a solid effort, and I'll highlight the track "Jealous", below.
I didn't pay much attention with Sinead's subsequent releases after that and for most part, her music was overshadowed by the upheavals in her personal life, which was reported by the media for all to see.
Tumultuous love and family life. Even from the beginning of her career, Sinead's love life was volatile. While recording her first album, she fell in love with her drummer,John Reynolds and gave birth to a son, Jake. They married after the birth of their son in 1989 and at the peak of her "Nothing Compares 2 U" fame I read about her marriage and family life on her Rolling Stone cover story, and it's far from peaceful domesticity. So the marriage didn't last long as by 1991 they divorced, even if she still continued to work with him musically over the years as Hohn became a renowned music producer. In 1995, Sinead had an affair with Irish journalist John Waters. (not to be confused with the campy creator/director of Pink Flamingos and Hairspray) and gave birth to Bridgette Roisin (the last part pronounced Ro-SHEEN), had a custody battle that resulted in Sinead yielding custody to the father. For 11 months between 2001 and 2002 she married British journalist Nick Sommerlad, though no children resulted from that union. She then had an affair with the musician Donal Lunny and gave birth to her third child, Shane, in 2004. In 2006, she and American producer Frank Bonadio, had Sinead's 4th child, Yeshua. Sinead married for a third time with Irish musician Steve Cooney from 2010-2011, and after her 2011 divorce, she went on a hunt for a mate on social media, with a litany of lists of what she wanted in a man. It seems from her social media search she found Irish therapist Barry Herridge, who she then married in a Vegas wedding and the marriage reportedly lasted only a few days, though in 2014 she tried to give it another try with the same guy but decided not to push through with it in the end. Do you get to follow all that?
Ordination as a priest. In 1999, Sinead was ordained as a priest with the Latin Tridentine Church.. This came about as when Sinead appeared in a late night talk sow on Ireland's public station RTE, she mentioned that if she wasn't a muscian, she wanted to become a Catholic priest. Bishop Michael Cox of said Latin Tridentine Church, an offshoot from the Roman Catholic Church without official endorsement from the Church. Sinead assumed the name Mother Bernadette Mary. But after that ordination, nothing much happened and we don't hear much about Sinead's performing church duties as Mother Bernadette Mary. It felt like a publicity stunt in the end.
Self-declaration as lesbian. In a 2000 interview, Sinead declared she's lesbian. When I read that I was in disbelief as I was aware of her long history with men (see love life above), that maybe she's just tired of the blokes for a little while because of her volatile relationships with them. Soon enough, she retracted that statement and in 2005 corrected herself by saying she's 3/4 straight and 1/4 gay.
Health issues. Sinead's outbursts make many wonder if there was an underlying mental health condition behind that. She did declare on Oprah's show in 2007 that she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, but seven years later it was declared that was a wrong diagnosis and she was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and borderline personality disorder. On top of her mental health issues, she had fibromyalgia in the early 2000s, which led her to take a career hiatus between 2003 to 2005, and had a hysterectomy in 2015 because of gynecological issues, which Sinead complained that the doctors did not recommend hormone replacement therapy for her because she noticed lacking that therapy exacerbated her suicidal tendencies. Her battles with her mental health may have been the cause why she lost custody of daughter Roisin and son Shane over the years, the latter of which was particularly traumatic to her as she seemed to have a deep bond with him.
Breakdown and Dr. Phil. Her loss of custody over her son Shane in 2013 devastated Sinead so much that in 2015 she posted a video on Facebook distraught and expressing suicidal thoughts. She then was reported as a missing person, but she was soon found safe and she went into therapy. This was then followed by an epic interview wih Dr. Phil, which Sinead claimed she did to destigmatize people suffering from mental health issues.
Conversion to Islam. In 2018, Sinead took another left turn as the long-Christian-oriented singer decided to convert to Islam and sport a hijab, and taking the name of Shuhada Sadaqat. She claimed this conversion was "the natural conclusion of any intelligent theological journey." Of course I beg to differ, but well, if this was the path that she chose, then so be it.
Sinead went into interesting musical directions through the decade of the 2000s She did an album of traditional Irish songs with Sean-Nos Nua (translated as "New Old Style") in 2002, then did a full-on reggae covers album Throw Down Your Arms in 2005 after her aforementioned hiatus from fibromyalgia, and released the double-yet-single-album*2 Theology in 2007, In the 2010s, she came out with two well-received albums that seem to hearken a return to peak form with How About I Be Me (And You Be You) in 2012 and I'm Not Bossy, I'm the Boss in 2014. I was hoping for the best for Sinead with these releases, but well, the instability returned soon afterward.
*2 The two discs actually feature the same 10 songs--the difference is that the first disc was an acoustic set recorded in Dublin and the second disc was a fully-orchestrated set recorded in London. Each disc featured a differing 11th track--an Irish folk song on the Dublin sessions and for the London sessions, a cover of the Andrew Lloyd Webber / Tim Rice ballad from Jesus Christ Superstar, "I Don't Know How to Love Him".
In 2021, Sinead released her autobiography Rememberings. Based on the buzz, this is where Sinead lade bare the abuses inflicted on her by her mother when she was a child, and those abuses were indeed very galling that you understand why Sinead turned out the way she did.
Tragedy struck Sinead on January 7, 2022 (my 52nd birthday) as her third son, Shane was found dead from suicide. It was undoubtedly devastating to her that even if she tried to overcome this by moving to London and record a new album (which she had previously declared would be her final album) Shane's death still loomed large in her psyche. So when she passed away 18 months later, though we don't have the official autopsy results yet, it could be said she died of a broken heart. We don't know if her final album could be released posthumously, but her last released recording while she was living was a version of the traditional hymn "The Skye Boat Song",. which is best known as the opening theme song to the TV series Outlander, and indeed her recording was used as the theme song for the 7th season of this series.
Now, I'd like to share to you my favorite Sinead tracks:
12. "4th and Vine" (2013). This was a breezy, engaging ditty, one of the rare joyful songs Sinead has sung. On the surface it's basically about a bride looking forward to her wedding, but Sinead always has this gravitas that plumbs some dark undercurrents underneath the apparent joy.
11. "Take Me to Church" (2014). Not to be confused with Hozier's 2013 smash hit single and modern classic of the same name. this song is a rousing rocker with a music video where Sinead tries to exorcise her fame from her "Nothing Compares 2 U" video to skewering expected feminine images by wearing a long wig and a miniskirt (I would've preferred to see Sinead sporting the exact look she had on her album cover, but she seemed to opt for a slightly different look with longer hair) to taking her wig off to finally be herself. I think this was about the time she declared she would no longer sing her mega-hit single in concert anymore as she "couldn't connect to the song". It didn't quite take hold as there were performances of her mega-smash in later years.
10. "You Made Me The Thief of Your Heart" (1993). This is from the Daniel Day-Lewis film In the Name of the Father, based on a real-life story of the Guildford Four, four people falsely imprisoned for a bombing in a Northern Irish pub that killed some British officers and a civilian. Sinead delivered a passionate performance with this accessible ditty. If it weren't for the controversis she brought, this could've probably made more serious inroads in the charts.
9. "No Man's Woman" (2000). I like how jaunty this song sounds, how it can be read as an empowerment anthem about not letting society's norms be a chain that binds you and put you down. The music video featuring Sinead as a runaway bride who with the help of a spiritual Rastafarian man, gets reborn into a guitar-wielding rocker, is a great watch.
8. "Thank You for Hearing Me" (1994). This electro-pop number may sound irritatingly repetitive for some listeners, but for me this sounds hypnotic and almost lulling, and even if it's mostly a song about gratitude, there is a punchline that it's about a breakup, as the last verse talks about "Thank you for breaking my heart..." As usual, Sinead's delicate-to-passionate delivery slays.
7. "Mandinka" (1987). Sinead made a huge splash with rock aficionados with this hard rocking number from her debut album. Even as early as this stage in her career, Sinead took to an affinity with oppressed people, as the song's title refers to an African people group who endured the slave trade--especially as referenced in Alex Huxley's famous 1976 novel, Roots.
6. "Troy" (1987),. This riveting classical-tinged epic song was Sinead's first single, and it's an uncompromising tune about confronting someone toxic in your life. Most listeners could read it as about a lover, but this tune was actually about Sinead's late mother (who died in a car accident when she was 18). What you get when listening to this song is catharsis, especially when Sinead howls the line "Phoenix from a flame!" and "I will rise!" It could be said that if there is a single song that would epitomize Sinead O'Connor's entire output in a nutshell, this song would be it.
5. "Three Babies" (1990). This folk-ish ballad was actually about three miscarriages she had experienced up to that point. She also had an abortion in 1989, but that was dedicated to a non-album single she released the following year, "My Special Child". Basically this song was about her wanting to treat those "lost" children as important as the children she did deliver to term (at this point it was only her son, Jake). Hence, it's actually very heartbreaking.
4. "Sacrifice" (1991). Sinead recorded a whole slew of cover songs and they span a wide range of genres, from country, to reggae, to traditional Irish folk music, to Christmas carols, to Broadway, and even ABBA songs like "Chiquitita". But besides her mega-smash, my favorite Sinead pop cover is this hauntingly sparse take on Elton John's 1990 hit, "Sacrifice". I find this utterly beautiful and sublime.
3. "I Am Stretched On Your Grave" (1990). It takes chutzpah to add a sample of James Brown's "Funky Drummer" to a traditional Irish folk song, but Sinead did it and it worked wonders. It's about a grief so profound that the mourner doesn't want to leave the grave and might rather want to join the dead. When she initially recorded this, she had her late mother on her mind, but I think this song resonated in her final days with the suicide of her son Shane. Makes this even more haunting and eerily resonant than it already is.
2. "The Last Day of Our Acquaintance" (1990). For me, this is the quintessential breakup song. I'm sure so many people had or would resonate with this song as the lyrics were pretty simple and straightforward but still packs all the feels, even if Sinead tries to put on a defiant bravado with her "ho-ho-ho" at the song's climax, you know that the singer was still in intense pain even until the very end.
*3 Twin sister of guitarist Wendy from Prince's band the Revolution. The Melvoin family seems to be a renowned musical family as they had a brother, Jonathan, who became touring keyboardist for the Smashing Pumpkins and unfortunately overdosed while on tour with them.
*4 Sinead had a distressing encounter with Prince, as Prince once summoned her to his compound to berate her for her conduct, especially with Sinead's knack for spewing out expletives. Sinead fought back and Prince attempted to hit her with a hard object inside a pillowcase. Sinead reportedly escaped the compound and reported Prince continued stalking her when she was outside.
There might be some people who would dismiss Sinead as a flaky one-hit wonder with a tumultuous personal life. But the depth and breadth of her artistry is such that no one should dismiss her as such. Yes, it's a sad and turbulent life for most part, but this lady touched a lot of hearts with her unflinching openness, even if sometimes you disagree with the directions she would take or the views she would express. She will always have a big space in my heart. My final parting note is to quote a 1975 Pink Floyd track, "Shine On You Crazy Diamond".
It's so interesting as YouTube became more and more popular, I wanted to scour Tina's years with Ike and also her pre-Private Dancer solo career, and YouTube has a whole host of them that you can spend several hours marveling at the dynamic live performances. For starters, here's a performance the Ike and Tina Turner revue did for Italian network RAI TV where they have this revue instrumental intro featuring Tina Turner and the Ikettes (the backup singers/dancers) dancing like a uurricane of whirling dervishes with their intricate and extremely energetic choreography before seguing into a hot (but shortened) version of their cover of the Sly & The Family Stone's "I Want to Take You Higher". Even if Tina had a slight miscue that she's not supposed to sing the second verse of the song for this TV appearance, it's still an awe-inspiring performance and hence this is what I would like to highlight.
There are numerous other performances to marvel, but I'd like to highlight four of my favorites.
First, Tina has been a guest on several variety shows, and among them is with Cher, first with the Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, then Cher's eponymously titled solo variety show, and then when Sonny & Cher professionally teamed up for a season post-divorce. Amongst those appearances, I enjoyed their cover of Shirley & Company's 1975 funky hit "Shame, Shame, Shame", on the eponymous Cher variety series.
Though for many people now, they would say the biggest highlight of 1985's Live Aid was Queen's epic 21-minute set. But if one reads the media coverage of the event, much ink has been focused on Tina's duet performance with Mick Jagger, where they performed a medley of The Jacksons' 1984 hit "State of Shock"*1 and The Rolling Stones' 1974 hit "It's Only Rock N' Roll (But I Like It)", delivering some steam and both being at the top of their game. I don't mind that as the years wore on, this performance is now considered a mere runner-up behind Queen in terms of Live Aid highlights.
*1 Mick was a featured but uncredited vocalist on that song. Interestingly, Queen's Freddie Mercury was supposed to be the duet partner for that song but he legendarily walked away because he's irritated with Michael Jackson's antics, most especially when he trotted out his menagerie of pets like Bubbles the chimp..
Of course there are so many videotaped performances of "Proud Mary" to cherish over the years, but my favorite performance is the all-star Divas Live performance in 1999, when Tina performed it with Elton John*2 and a surprise appearance from Cher. A stellar song befitting such superstar wattage.
*2 Tina was supposed to do a joint tour with Elton, but after that performance that tour fell through as Tina clashed with Elton over Elton's improvisory piano-playing style.
Finally, I like to talke about Tina's movie appearance in the 1975 film Tommy playing the role and singing the song "Acid Queen"*3, This version of the song is hard-driving and grand with a dash of funk that I'm surprised that the original version by The Who in their concept album was sedate and subdued in contrast, and hence this is another song that Tina has eventually made her own. The movie sequence ia trippy visual delight and I enjoyed the extended version from the film. And Tina was suitably deranged in her role, especially when her face twitches in some closeup scene. Considering Tina, by all accounts, was clean-living and the only noted incident when she ingested drugs was when she attempted suicide back in 1968, how she was able to look dementedly in a state of addiction could probably be attributed to her observations on how her husband Ike was behaving as he's a well-documented addict.
*3 She released a solo album of the same name later in the same year as the film's release, but instead of using the version as played in the movie, she re-recorded it with an arrangement leaning towards disco/R&B. It's a strong version that is a worthwhile listen, though I still prefer the movie version.
I would like to share my favorite songs from Tina, including her years with Ike. It's hard to whittle down the list, but I think 18 is what I would consider essential listening. However before I do the countdown, I have one special mention:
"What You Get is What You See" (1987). This country-tinged US Top 20 hit is likeable, but I just want to highlight this because of the music video, featuring hot muscular beefcake men parading around as Tina sings on an open-air stage.
18. "When the Heartache is Over" (1999). From her last studio album, Twenty Four Seven, here's Tina trying to catch some whiffs of Cher's stellar comeback with "Believe", as this track is squarely in 1990s dance-pop, and she's terrific dong it. It didn't chart in the US, but it became a UK Top 10 hit and made the Top 30 in most other European markets. For me it deserved to chart better than it did.
17. "One of the Living" (1985). What I find very striking about the music video was Tina wielding a guitar and indeed looking like a rock goddess. This is of course from the Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome soundtrack and I just enjoyed the exotic atmospheric production and Tina's slinky vocals in the verses--a precursor to the vocal style she employed 10 years later for another movie theme song...
16. "It's Only Love" (1985) [with Bryan Adams]. Bryan is actually the primary artist on this song, from his smash 1984 album Reckless. It's a simple rock duet that was elevated by the stellar vocals of the two artists, most especially Tina's gale force passionate delivery. Tina had a bunch of other notable duets with David Bowie, Eric Clapton, Rod Stewart, Sting, and Eros Ramazotti, amongst others, but this remains my favorite duet of them all.
15. "We Don't Need Another Hero (Thunderdome" (1985). The big hit single from Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, Tina was undeniably commanding with a dynamic range going from soft in the opening verses before unleashing her trademark power as the chorus comes in.
14. "Whatever You Want" (1996). This is the first single from her Wildest Dreams album, and it's a powerful electronica-infused tour-de-force. It only peaked in the Top 30 in most European charts (and is a non-starter in the US) but I feel it deserved better and be a bigger hit.
13. "Goldeneye" (1995). Tina channels a fusion of Eartha Kitt and Shirley Bassey in this James Bond theme, and is now regarded as one of the more memorable theme songs from that franchise. I've showcased the music video in the previous section of this essay, so I'll highlight a live version at her farewell 2008-2009 tour.
12. "Back Where You Started" (1986). For me, this is the best track from her Break Every Rule album, and Tina won a Grammy for best female rock vocal performance for this track. So it's quite shocking that this stunning rocker (which was co-written by Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance) was only serviced to rock radio stations in America and was not released as a single in most countries except for a nominal chart showing in Bryan's home country of Canada, where it peaked at a mediocre No. 85. For me this is an underrated gem that also deserved to be a bigger hit than how it fared.
11. "I Can't Stand the Rain" (1984). This cover of Ann Peebles' 1973 classic*4 for me improved on the original as the distinctive rhythmic intro got a slick sheen with the use of modern synthesizers, plus there is a slightly grander, uptempo arrangement and Tina's gritty vocals gave the lovelorn sentiments of this song a lot more drama. It's another instance of Tina stealing the song from its original artist and making it her own. As such, it became a hit in continental Europe.
*4 Ann Peebles' original made the US Top 40 peaking at No. 38, but interestingly the sped up discofied version by Eruption in 1978 became a bigger hit, peaking at No. 18 in America and becoming a huge Top 10 hit all throughout Europe, including the UK and making No. 1 in Australia.
10. "The Best" (1989). This was originally sung by Bonnie Tyler in 1988 but it has become one of Tina's undeniably signature songs. I can imagine Tina had Erwin Bach on her mind when she sings this song as she delivered so much passion to this song about undying devotion to a wonderful person. It's also worth checking out her 1992 duet version of this song with Australian rocker Jimmy Barnes, which of course resulted in this becoming an Australian smash, and the mellow reworking by Noah Reid(who played Patrick Brewer, David Rose [Daniel Levy]'s eventual husband) on Schitt's Creek.
9. "I Want to Take You Higher" (1970). On top of what I mentioned earlier in this essay, I have to note that Sly & the Family Stone's original went top 40 and peaked at No. 38, and interestingly, Ike and Tina's version outcharted and outperformed the original by not only peaking at No. 34, but generating enough chart legs and longevity to figure in the year-end charts for that year, a rare feat for a song that peaked that low in that era.
8. "Private Dancer" (1985). This song was written by Dire Straits' guitarist and frontman Mark Knopfler, probably initially intended for that band's soon-to-be-iconic Brothers in Arms album, but decided to offer it to another artist as it may need the female perspective to make the song work. And the way Tina delivered this number by embodying the life of a taxi dancer (and possibly even a bit more sordid than that) while still evoking class is a vocal masterclass.
7. "Let's Stay Together" (1983). Tina's version was the first time I heard of this song, and I enjoyed Tina's passionate vocal in this number, and am hooked by the synth flourishes. I only heard of Al Green's 1971 original when I bought the Pulp Fiction soundtrack in 1994. I can understand why some people would consider the original superior to Tina's version, and I'm starting to agree with them as the years wear on, but I still enjoy Tina's version immensely. Like most of the Private Dancer singles, I recommend people listen to the full album version instead of the truncated single versions.
6. "What's Love Got to Do With It?" (1984). Even if Tina disliked this song initially and was initially offered to British pop quartet (and 1981 Eurovision champions) Bucks Fizz, Tina's maturity, grit, soulfulness and experience helped sell this pop song and hence it became one of her iconic signature songs highly regarded by fans all over.
5. "Nutbush City Limits" (1973). Though I first heard this song from the Ann-Margret special*5, I only knew of this song first via the 1991 house version on the Simply the Best compilation. At first when I listened to the honky-tonk arrangement I found it a bit off-putting, but I'm starting to love and appreciate it as time wore on. This is the most prominent song that Tina herself wrote, and of course Tina wrote from what she knew and that is of course scenes from her hometown.
*5 They were promoting the Tommy movie at the time. Ann-Margret actually got nominated for an Oscar for her role in the film as Tommy's mother.
4. "I Don't Wanna Fight" (1993). What I love about this pop ballad is the weathered maturity and experience that Tina brought to this song, and how it definitely resonated with how her life had been, especially with those years with Ike as depicted in that movie where this was included on the soundtrack. But I would highly recommend going for the 6-minute album version, especially as I found the closing moments of the song resonant with her intensely repeated singing "let it go!", and you have that palpable feeling she's exorcising those demons from her past (I think the entire soundtrack album was actually an exorcism to finally get rid of Ike from her system and reclaim her legacy).
3. "River Deep, Mountain High" (1966). Though it's credited as an "Ike and Tina Turner" record, this is the first solo effort of Tina as producer Phil Spector banned Ike from getting involved with the recording. This "Wall of Sound" epic legendarily was a flop in the US but a big hit throughout Europe and is now regarded as a classic record.
2. "Proud Mary" (1971). Ike and Tina put such a stamp to this song that many people forgot that this was originally written by John Fogerty and performed by his band,Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR) in 1968, their first Top 10 hit (and the first of their five No. 2 US Billboard chart smashes). CCR's original is a steady, chugging number, but how Ike and Tina did it was to create a more dramatic dynamism, starting the song slow with a spoken line about "never, ever, do anything nice and easy" and then give a dramatic rave up and frenzied arrangement, and that yielded the couple's biggest hit (and only Top 10 single) ever. The song became so ingrained in the public's psyche as Tina's song that no doubt it has to be perennially on any setlist of a Tina Turner concert. What I noticed though is that although the original studio recording captured the dynamic contrast and energy, such dynamism is best experienced when this is performed live, and of course there are a whole host of performances, both from the Revue and Tina solo (and of course occasionally with Cher) to relish and enjoy. If you want a great studio version, I would recommend Tina's 1993 re-recording for the What's Love Got to Do With It soundtrack.
1. "Better Be Good to Me" (1984). I resonated a lot with Tina's songs from the Private Dancer album, but the song I resonated with the most is this song, her follow-up to her No. 1 mega-smash "What's Love Got to Do With It?" Let's just say I have a very angsty high school life dealing with adversaries of many kinds and when I hear this song, I wanted to be like Tina and confront my adversaries to treat me better. I fantasize being Tina on that stage in that video confronting the leading man played by The Fixx frontman Cy Curnin and imagining my own adversaries in Cy's place. I know this might be a surprising No. 1 choice for most people, but I have to note that for me the best version of this song is the album version, with the soft hi-hat drum intro and the dynamic soft-to-loud production. The single version omitted the slow rhythmic intro, and for me that probably diluted the impact of the song. I suppose on a live setting it's hard to replicate the dynamic contrast of the studio version that it's not as impactful and not a highlight in her concerts.
Although this came so late after her passing I hope you the reader enjoyed this tribute to the legend that is Tina Turner. Her impact to culture is undeniable and unforgettable. Long live the Queen of Rock!
I know it's over three months since Tina Turner passed away*1 at the age of 83, but with the recent passings of some other legendary icons recently, I've decided it's time to share my own experiences and pay tribute to these celebrities who have made an indelible impact in my life.
*1 May 24, 2023 to be precise.
Though I became a huge fan of her when she released her career-making album Private Dancer, back in 1984, I've actually have first encountered her when during one afternoon when I was a child of seven or eight, I watched a TV special by Ann-Margret and there was this skit featuring Ann in a sedate garden in Victorian-style garb and I saw this exotic looking lady that Ann was chit-chatting with in the same garb. They were conversing like refined ladies about what a lovely life it would be sitting sedately like that, but then if they would like doing this forever like this, they both chortled, "NO!" and it then segued to Ann and Tina in denim singing a medley of rock songs. The only tune I was vaguely familiar with at the time in this medley was last song, "Proud Mary", but since then I learned the other songs were "Nutbush City Limits" and their cover of the Rolling Stones' "Honky Tonk Women".
When I was 14 years old, my parents noticed that I've been losing more hair on my head than is normal, and I've become very self-conscious about it and it made me obsessed looking at people with thick hair. So when I saw the video to the eventual No. 1 hit "What's Love Got to Do with It?", the first thing that was etched on my mind was Tina's gravity-defying hair. I had only a vague concept that she's only wearing a wig, but still, I was obsessed with that towering hairdo she sported. Needless to say, I saved my allowance to purchase a cassette of her album Private Dancer, and I never regretted it as it turned out to be a great collection of songs that I resonated with, especially in my teenage / high school social angst at that time. Though two of the tracks were released as singles earlier throughout Europe, the story I heard that she only had two weeks to gather the material and record her album is actually an incredible feat, as most artists wouldn't be able to handle that kind of pressure these days, and that the songs that were gathered willy-nilly were of such high quality and formed such a cohesive whole is mind-blowing.
There were two different covers for Private Dancer. Left is the international version, right, the US version.
Around January of 1985, I came across a little celebrity snippet in Time magazine featuring Tina in costume as she was filming for the Mel Gibson film Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, and needless to say I'm also obsessed with that unusual hairdo--it made me wonder if in actuality she was bald underneath that massive wig because of the very high forehead. It was much, much later that I learned that to achieve that look Tina had to shave part of her head to get that look.Still, for a time I loved doodling that look on my notebooks and other scratch pieces of paper I could get my hands on.
Like most pop/rock stars, Pepsi recruited Tina to do commercials, and in one of them, she dueted with a bunch of rising pop singers worldwide. Our country was one of the five selected to have a custom commercial, so it was with great pride when we learned she sang a duet with our very own Gino Padilla. I was oblivious of which other artists she also had this kind of set up, but now it can be known that they included Thailand's Pu Anchalee Jongkadeekij (the only female in this lineup), Puerto Rico's Wilkins, Brazil's Evandro Mesquita, and Mexico's Emmanuel. I checked out all except for Wilkins' performance, and I maintain Gino delivered the best amongst this group--though some might think I'm biased because he's from my country and he sang in English while the others sang in their native languages (which I think affected their onstage chemistry).
Though it has been mentioned how Tina was a domestic abuse survivor and that was the reason she divorced Ike, the details of what she endured was laid out in detail in her autobiography I, Tina, co-written with MTV News anchor Kurt Loder. One unforgettable passage for me was when Tina learned she was given her stage name for their first record "A Fool in Love" her initial reaction was "I thought I'm being called 'Ockateena' or something." Also, I learned that her penchant for wigs came from an accident at the beauty salon when she had her hair bleached and it ended falling into clumps, forcing her to get a wig for the Ike & Tina Revue's next performance; she observed how the wigs moved and loved it so she stuck through them ever since. It was also mentioned throughout the book that if Ike hadn't crossed the line to have sex with her (a tool he often used to control the women in his circle), they would've remained friends and she stood by him because she was aware how he was screwed over by the record business (especially since he's actually a legendary rock and roll pioneer with his record "Rocket 88" which was credited to another artist, Jackie Brenston) and she generally wanted him to succeed. In the book she mentioned she saw a psychic who told her that Ike was reincarnated from a king who may have built an empire but also became arrogant and abused his power that he ended up destroying his own empire, and indeed that was paralleled in this lifetime..
Tina's career continued to flourish as she released her follow-up albums Break Every Rule (1986) and Foreign Affair (1989). When I bought the former, I was so enthusiastic about the album and wanted to love it passionately like I did Private Dancer. but as time wore on, even if there are tracks that I do still love, it will always pale in comparison to her big breakthrough album. And I was less enthusiastic about Foreign Affair save for the singles, "The Best" and "Steamy Windows" as I found the rest of the album mid at best. Still, she has a big fanbase especially in Europe that adored her to no end and they still sold like gangbusters in those territories. I was already in college around the time these records were released, and I was browsing in my college library and read these 1960s / 1970s encyclopedias on rock stars, and when they discussed Ike and Tina Turner, even then they mentioned that they might be adequately successful in America but overseas like Europe, they were superstars, and I noticed the same could be said about Tina's fortunes from this moment on.
Though I've noticed how Tina scaled down the hair volume since Foreign Affair, I was surprised by the new look she sported for her greatest hits album, Simply the Best--though it's still full and thick at the top, she reduced her hair to neck-length. I was first taken aback by the look, but I got accustomed to it and liked it, too. It's a look she kept until the late-2000s, when she opted for a slightly longer length (shoulder length) since then. This collection not only featured her hits from her previous three albums (plus some new tracks, of course), she also featured her 1966 classic "River Deep, Mountain High" and a 1990s house version of her 1973 hit "Nutbush City Limits". This was the first time I got a fuller glimpse of her earlier work with Ike Turner. I enjoyed this collection, though it's shocking it didn't make the Top 100 in the US Billboard 200 albums chart, though it's a huge seller elsewhere.
Tina's story of course was worthy of being turned into a film, and indeed in 1993, her autobiography was adapted into the film What's Love Got to Do with It? starring Laurence Fishburne and Angela Bassett as Ike and Tina respectively. I've read rave reviews about their performances*2 in my favorite entertainment magazines like Entertainment Weekly, People, and Rolling Stone, so I kept my eyes peeled at our local newspapers to check when the film would be released in these shores, and once I learned of the release date, I made sure I made a beeline to a movie theater on the first day it was released. I watched in the early evening after work, and I was shocked by the low turnout of people watching the film. I was shocked a couple of days later the film was yanked from cinemas because it was such a flop in our shores. I guess I have to hand that to my country's then-racist bias against films starring predominantly black actors for that lousy box office. Still I had no regret watching it and I loved the film to bits, even if I don't intend to watch it again as I don't want to repeat-watch any film featuring traumatic experiences such as domestic abuse. The film also gave me an understanding on a possible motive why Ike was such an abusive husband--based on Laurence Fishburne's take on the role, Ike was resentful that most of the attention was focused towards the star he created (Tina) that he couldn't seem to reap the rewards of his creations the way he had intended. To highlight this movie, I'll feature the film clip to the track "Shake a Tail Feather".*3
*2 Eventually, Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne were nominated for Oscars for their roles in the film.
*2 Originally recorded by the Five Du-Tones in 1963 and made it only as far as No. 51 on the Billboard Hot 100, its highest charting version was by James and Bobby Purify in 1966, but most people remember the song these days thanks to Ray Charles' version as performed in the 1980 film The Blues Brothers. Interestingly, there is no surviving footage of Ike & Tina performing this song live on any program--their version only exists as a 1968 album track recording.
At least the soundtrack album, featuring Tina re-recording many of her old Ike and Tina hits, was a success. Even if I know they are not the original versions, I enjoyed listening to these re-recordings--in fact, this was the first time I finally got to listen to "Proud Mary" in full instead of just recalling a few snippets; I never realized that their version started out slow before going to the iconic and epic raveup that I recalled in my childhood. It dawned on me these days that this soundtrack album seems to actually form a precursor to Taylor Swift's recent move to re-record her Big Machine albums and release them to the public, as I think these days streaming platforms and radio stations would prioritize the Tina re-recordings over the originals. But unlike Taylor's relatively petty reason to siphon off attention and streaming revenue from the new owner of Big Machine, Scooter Braun, Tina's re-recordings seem to act as a way to exorcise the demon that her ex-husband was to her and a cathartic way for her to reclaim her legacy and take full ownership of her contributions to those old hits.
In 1995, Tina capped another feather in her cap as she was given the honor to sing the theme song of the James Bond film Goldeneye, Pierce Brosnan's opening salvo under that mantle. The title song was written by U2's Bono and The Edge, and Tina channeled classic Bond chanteuse Shirley Bassey with state-of-the-art modern touches. It's strange that this song only bubbled under the Billboard Hot 100 but again is a smash hit elsewhere as now Americans do recall and love this song, yet it flopped when it was released there in those days.
She followed up the Bond theme with the release of her next album, Wildest Dreams. I've noticed a contrasting approach on how her album was promoted in Europe and then in the US. In Europe, her post-"Goldeneye" single was "Whatever You Want", a modern electro-pop number which I liked immensely. Meanwhile in the US, her launching single was a cover of John Waite's 1984 smash hit, "Missing You". Though Tina sounded great technically, it seems Tina chose not to employ the irony that is at the very core in John Waite's original, and for me that made this cover a bit of a misfire. But what I remembered most about this stage in Tina's career was the promotion provided by the Oprah Winfrey Show to her tour related to this album--Oprah basically paid tribute to various everyday women who endured obstacles and overcame them and Oprah rewarded them with very generous gifts like paying off one's debts, amongst many things.
I heard a lot about Star Wars and remembered glimpses of both the original (now titled Episode 4: A New Hope) and The Empire Strikes Back in my childhood and never saw Return of the Jedi. But when George Lucas decided to re-release "special editions" of his films in 1997, I decided to check all those films out and I finally understood what the fuss was all about and became a Star Wars fan. But what I noticed most when I watched Return of the Jedi was this sequence held in Jabba the Hutt's palace, as there was a rock band performing, and the alien lead singer was doing a shimmy and has these long legs, and the first thing that came to my mind was "Oh, my, they paid an homage to Tina!" I recalled watching a music video anthology show back in the 1980s and they featured this Star Wars track called "Lapti Nek" which was featured in that movie, and I was wondering where that song was. I learned much later that they replaced that song with this new one (called "Jedi Rocks") to better showcase the alien band members (and yes, the Tina Turner-inspired frontwoman) as originally we only would see crude closeups as they were muppets in the original version (George obviously loved CGI and used it to tweak his movies after their initial releases--he did a retweak of these films again after the prequel trilogy as in the ending, he replaced the original actor playing Darth Vader, Sebastian Shaw, with the prequel's Hayden Christensen).
Tina released a final studio album, Twenty Four Seven, in 1999 and again embarked on a tour to promote that album. The rest of the 2000s was basically Tina collecting laurels and plaudits for all the hard work she did, such as the Kennedy Center Honors in 2005, which famously featured Beyonce covering "Proud Mary". Three years later, at the Grammys, Tina gave a special performance of the same song, but this time with Beyonce joining in with her. It's interesting to note that less than 24 hours after that Grammys performance, Tina was in Moscow, Russia performing a gig sponsored by Russian oil giant Gazprom.
Needless to say, after that Gazprom gig she embarked on her final tour, dubbed Tina!: The 50th Anniversary tour, which was finally her last hurrah before fully retiring from performing. She was promoting it by appearing alongside Cher,her frequent collaborator and good friend over several years. Her final concert was at Sheffield, England on May 5, 2009.
Though generally things quieted down with Tina for most part, there were some milestones that generated news. For starters in 2013, Tina obtained Swiss citizenship, which meant renouncing her US citizenship. She did hint even back at I, Tina that she never felt at home in her country of birth unlike in Europe, so changing her citizenship was a logical step. Then, Tina decided to make it official by marrying her longtime boyfriend Erwin Bach, whom she was in a relationship for 28 years prior to her marriage. I love the Oprah TV special that covered this auspicious occasion.
Five years later, in 2018, Tina released another autobiography, My Love Story. I haven't read the book yet, but I learned from news reports that the key takeaways from the book was that Tina suffered a stroke soon after her wedding, and a few years later got intestinal cancer and her kidneys ceased functioning. She almost opted for assisted suicide (legal in Switzerland), but her husband offered his kidney and she accepted a transplant. It was a surprising turn of events, but I understand Tina has been advancing in years and these were almost inevitable.
There was more developments the following year as Tina and Erwin oversaw the production of Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, first debuting in London's West End starring Adrienne Warren and moving on to Broadway featuring the same leading lady. Tina addressed the audience on opening night on Broadway with the message that the musical of her life was like "poison turning into medicine." I wish I can have that perspective with the crises I have experienced in life.
In a final grace note, HBO released a documentary entitled, of course, Tina. Just as I thought everything has already been said, there was more to discover about this legend. First, we got a glimpse of how Tina looked without a wig (in photos taken in early 1970s). Then, the fact that even if Tina intended her first autobiography to be a way to shut the journalists up from asking questions about her ex-husband, it turned out to have the opposite effect as they continued to ask questions along those lines incessantly, and that it took a toll on her as she was continuously traumatized by the thought of those horrible experiences when that subject came up, even if her life was now far removed from that. Then, we hear tape-recorded material where Tina agonized about looking for someone to love and value her--this was part of the material that formed her I, Tina autobiography and it was done prior to the time she met Erwin. Though I did sense this was Tina finally saying farewell as she quietly retired, little did I know how soon it would be before she finally moved on from this realm. Still, as far as farewells go, this was a fitting document that I highly recommend people watch.
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