I'm very sad about the passing of Tina Turner, the pop music superstar who transcended all genres of music, excelling in them all. She passed away on May 24th at the age of eighty-three in her home near Zurich, Switzerland. Turner had been suffering from several health ailments in recent years which included intestinal cancer and underwent a kidney transplant in 2017 with her long-time love and husband (they had been together since 1986), Erwin Bach being her donor.
I have written previously about her life, career and achievements so I would like to just express how much she meant to me as an performer and the impact she had as an artist. Tina Turner was one of my all-time favorite singers and while I loved her astounding musicality, I greatly admired her for being fearless, determined and a survivor. Turner managed to push through all of the abuse, obstacles and indignities that had come her way, which only ended up making her stronger and resilient. And what was truly amazing is that she never came across as bitter, always projecting positivity and a lightness of being.
You could always tell she loved being on stage, even during those times we were unaware she was having to endure the severe difficulties at the beginning of her career with her former husband, feeding off the energy of the music and the audiences, commanding every show with a fierce, singular style and always a broad, confident smile on her face.
As an African-American woman in music who found great success in expected ways yet managed to break through to become an unlikely, even more powerful force in rock & roll, Turner has left behind an important cultural legacy, displaying what could be accomplished through sheer determination and explosive talent. She was truly a dynamic force of nature, an entertainer that can not possibly be duplicated and will forever be missed.
Here are a few songs I loved from Turner that may not all be as well known as the big hits but should be celebrated.
While she has spent much of her time recently working on her popular daytime television talk show, Kelly Clarkson has certainly not given up on her music career. Even on the program, the first "American Idol" winner devotes some time to allow herself an opportunity to sing with her Kellyoke segment where she puts her spin on classic songs. But Clarkson has announced that new music is on the horizon.
For her upcoming tenth studio album, "Chemistry", Clarkson dives into all of the experiences you can through in a relationship; from the blissful beginning to the devastating end. Using her own marriage and bitter divorce as inspiration, Clarkson began work on this project two years ago, writing close to sixty songs. She states that the writing was helpful for her, allowing all of the complicated emotions she was going through to be expressed, and hopes the album will be of aid for anyone who is going through challenging times. Two singles have been released, "mine" and "me" as Clarkson didn't want just one song to represent the entire album.
Clarkson will be out promoting "Chemistry" (due out on June 23rd) with a ten-night Las Vegas residency at the Bakkt Theater in Planet Hollywood from July 28th to August 19th.
When Donna Summer first emerged with "Love To Love You, Baby" back in 1975, this sexy dance ballad punctuated by erotic moans would create a cultural shift on what was acceptable to be played on pop radio. She would follow this international smash two years later with "I Feel Love", another global sensation that effectively used synthesizer loops to create a new, influential sound that helped lay down the foundation of what would later become electronic music. These tracks (which also includes the disco version of "MacArthur Park" and "Last Dance") would help Summer achieve the crown of "The Queen of Disco" but she was determined to prove she had much more to offer than just dance music. Summer would go on to amass thirty-two charting singles in the US that ranged from pop, rock and r&b, selling well over one hundred million records worldwide.
Sadly, Summer passed away in 2012 but her incredible legacy will be celebrated with a new documentary, "Love To Love You, Donna Summer" by the Oscar-winning filmmaker, Roger Ross Williams and Brooklyn Sudano, one of Summer's daughters. The film takes an in-depth, personal look into Summer's life and career with photos, home-video footage (much of it never before seen) and interviews with "Love To Love You, Donna Summer" making its premiere on HBO on May 20th.
And this year's Eurovision Song Contest is over with a new winner crowned. Held in Liverpool, UK with thirty-seven countries in competition, Swedish singer, Loreen won for "Tattoo" becoming only the second contestant to win twice (she previously took the giant mic statue in 2012 for her song, "Euphoria") and giving Sweden another victory with a total of seven wins, tying Ireland. Finland's Käärijä came in second with "Cha Cha Cha" while Noa Kirel from Israel with "Unicorn" came in third. This European pop music contest is a very popular event with an estimated one hundred and eighty million viewers tuning in to watch this three-day competition.
Now Eurovision hasn't made much of an impact here in the States over its sixty-seven years, even with ABBA, Celine Dion, Julio Iglesias and Olivia Newton-John going on to great success after appearing in the contest but that has changed recently. It might have begun with the 2020 Netflix musical-comedy, "Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga" with Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams which helped bring attention and create interest for this contest to American audiences, especially when the actual Eurovision had to be cancelled that year due to the COVID lockdown.
Gordon Lightfoot, the Canadian folk-rock musician who had a string of hits throughout the 1970's, has passed away on May 1st at the age of eighty-four. The singer-songwriter has been credited with helping to bring folk music to the pop charts, influencing many artists who would later cover his music.
Born in Orillia, Ontario, Lightfoot began singing in his church as a child, learning to sing with emotion and confidence by his choirmaster. As a boy soprano, he would perform at local operas and music festivals. After taking piano lessons, Lightfoot would teach himself how to play the drums and guitar. In 1958, Lightfoot attended college at Westlake College of Music in Los Angeles to study jazz composition. While in LA, he got involved in the folk music scene that was emerging but after two years, Lightfoot returned to Canada, settling in Toronto.
He began to get his career in motion, making his name in local coffee houses and performing with the country music band, the Singin' Swingin' Eight. This led to Lightfoot getting signed with RCA Records in 1962 and releasing two singles with both receiving significant airplay throughout Canada. Lightfoot worked several folk music festivals until he was able to release his debut album, "Lightfoot!" in 1966 with United Artists Records. This collection highlighted his gift as a singer and songwriter, making him a big name in Canada and bringing him attention elsewhere.
Unhappy with his current label, Lightfoot signed with Warner Bros./Reprise Records in 1970. He would breakthrough with the international hit, "If You Could Read My Mind" from his fifth studio album, originally titled "Sit Down Young Stranger" but later renamed after this single. This would begin a run of successful albums and popular songs which include "Beautiful", "Sundown" (Lightfoot's only number one hit in the US), "Carefree Highway", "Rainy Day People" and "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald". In 1972, Lightfoot contracted Bell's Palsy which left his face partially paralyzed and while it did slow down his touring schedule, this did not prevent him from creating music.
By the 1980's, Lightfoot was no longer a fixture on the pop charts, but he continued to make memorable music up until the late '90's. At the turn of new century, more health issues plagued Lightfoot which included an abdominal aortic aneurysm, a stroke and alcoholism. And while Lightfoot was slowed down, he would recover, managing to return to the stage and record music. His last tour was in 2019 and he released an album, "Solo", Lightfoot's twenty-first, the following year. And Lightfoot was the subject of a 2019 documentary, "Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind".
