Ike & Tina Turner -- Proud Mary

 

The news has been rolling in from all sources over the past hour. I hadn't heard anything from Tina Turner in the last few years and I knew that she was getting up there in years, but it's still hard to believe that even in her 80s, the vivacious Grande Dame of R&B and the Queen of Rock n' Roll would be anything but the rapidly sashaying and high-powered entertainer. Alas, her death has been announced today at the age of 83.

This will be a special Reminiscings of Youth then regarding Tina Turner. In the early 1970s, I was too young to know much about Turner aside from her appearances on various music-variety shows on TV. My image of her had been of her in that slinky spangled dress working hard on the stage and behind the mike, and I thought that she vibrated so hard that she threatened to disintegrate the floor beneath her.

The song that I always associated with her in the early days was "Proud Mary" in partnership with her ex-husband Ike Turner. Released as a single in January 1971, I had no idea that it was a cover of the original version by rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival back in 1969. But arguably, Ike and Tina took ownership of "Proud Mary". The part of the Turners' song that I am most familiar with is the latter half where the song clicks into high gear with those horns, and my image of Tina begins shimmying on the stage. She could have powered the electric generator for Memphis with her performance.

"Proud Mary" by the Turners hit No. 4 on US Billboard and it went as high as No. 11 on Canada's RPM charts. I'll be devoting the regular ROY article tomorrow to Tina as well since it's also a song that has remained with my memories as I was growing up in the 1980s.

The following were winners at the Japan Record Awards in 1971.

Grand Prize: Kiyohiko Ozaki -- Mata Au Hi Made （また逢う日まで）

Best New Artist: Rumiko Koyanagi -- Watashi no Joukamachi (わたしの城下町）

Performance Award: Hiroshi Itsuki -- Yokohama Tasogare（よこはま・たそがれ）