the tina turner story

On May 16th 1985, my ex wife Rebecca and I sat around nervously for two long hours at Holborn Studio in Clerkenwell, biting our finger-nails while anxiously awaiting the arrival of Tina Turner for a record company shoot.

Then… finally!… in a tornado of hair and clothes and smiles, Tina blew into the studio, full of life, vigor & a million apologies for her over-booked schedule. She loved the flowers we’d brought for her, and she loved Rebecca. Each time she changed into a new outfit, she conspiratorially grabbed Rebecca by the arm and pulled her behind the screen, chatting away like two old friends reunited after years apart. Tina also loved the way Rebecca wore her grandmother’s wedding ring on her thumb, and told us “I’m going to try that.”

She danced her ass off to Bruce Springsteen’s Dancing in the Dark, and stayed for hours, bringing joy into our lives, and leaving behind a life-long impression of a wonderful, proud, incredibly enigmatic and charismatic performer with a heart as big as her hair.

After she passed away in 2023 I watched the 2021 HBO documentary Tina and, teary-eyed, I noticed that in the late-life interview, she actually wore a ring on the thumb of her right hand.