Music world, Hollywood and the White House mourn Tina Turner

Beyonce. Oprah Winfrey. Barack Obama. Mike Jagger. Elton John. Reactions are pouring in on the death of Tina Turner, who passed away in Switzerland yesterday at the age of 83. Her music is praised, of course, but also her survivability and vitality.

“I’m so grateful for your inspiration and all the ways you’ve blazed a path,” Beyoncé writes on her website with a photo of a joint performance in 2008. “Your strength and your resilience. You are the epitome of inspiration and passion. “

Singer Gloria Gaynor says Turner “paved a path for so many women in rock music, black and white”. Debbie Harry calls her “an inspiration when I started and still is”. Co-worker Diana Ross kept her response simple with “shocked and saddened” and condolences to her family.

Mike Jagger calls her inspiring, warm, funny and generous in addition to being a talented artist. “She helped me so much when I was young,” he says of the woman who taught him how to dance when she performed as his opening act in 1966. Elton John calls her an absolute legend, live and in the studio. “One of the most exciting and vibrant artists.”

Neighbors of Turner lay flowers at the gate of her villa in Küsnacht, Switzerland:

Words like legendary, icon, diva and superstar are often exaggerated, but Tina Turner embodies them all and so much more. Mary Carey. “An incredible artist, singer and pioneer. To me she remains that survivor and an inspiration to women worldwide,” she says of the singer, who managed to reinvent herself after an abusive marriage to Ike Turner.

The actress Angela Bassett, who reenacted that process in the biopic What’s love got to do with it says in a lengthy response that Turner “used her pain and suffering as a force to help change the world.” “Tina Turner showed others who lived in fear what a wonderful future full of love, compassion and freedom should look like.”

Oprah Winfrey writes that Turner’s “inner strength only increased throughout her life”. She calls her a “rock and roll goddess” who “approached parts of me I didn’t even know I had”.

Not only the music world and Hollywood react to the death. The White House also quickly came up with one official response from President Biden. He praises her versatility as the only woman to win Grammys in the pop, rock and R&B categories, “a talent that you only see once in a generation”.

“By overcoming adversity and even abuse, she created a unique career, life and legacy that were all her own.” He wishes strength to everyone who mourns the woman who “simply the best” used to be.

Biden’s predecessor Obama calls her raw, powerful, unstoppable and unashamedly herself. “She spoke and sang about her story, in happiness and pain, triumph and tragedy”. He calls her a star that will never die.

Nyassa Alberta, who plays the role of Tina Turner in the Dutch version of Tina. calls the singer on Instagram “an inspiration to many, and I am one of them”.

She also refers to the way she lived in life. “It’s incredible how much one person can endure and survive it all with so much grace and love. I never expected her to be such a big part of my life and to be given the honor and confidence to share her story to tell.”

“She inspired me to be stronger, to fight harder and to be braver than I ever imagined.”

Theater and television maker Joop van den Ende also says he is “deeply touched”. After collaborating with Tina Turner for the musical about her life, he always kept in touch with her, he says in a response to the ANP. “The news of her passing is a huge blow to us. We will forever cherish the memories of her care and class.”

The collaboration was close during the making of the musical, says Van den Ende. “We noticed that it was hard for her, because she had to relive everything again: the abject poverty, the abuse, the racism. But something changed along the way: Tina started to realize that the musical would carry her musical legacy into the future. It was her farewell as an artist and as a world star.”

Other Dutch artists have also reacted sadly. Isse DeLange writes that Turner was “a strength and inspiration to many”. Singer and ‘megafan’ Samantha Steenwijk is also deeply touched. “I’m heartbroken, so unreal.”

Singer Berget Lewis’ phone was red hot last night. It took her some time to process the news. “Tina has meant a lot to me since I was a young teenager in the eighties. That beautiful smile, those long legs, the big hair and I don’t care attitude. Miss Turner is not replaceable, she was unique. Tina is and will always be my source of inspiration.“

For the Dutch Elle Denneman, Tina Turner was her greatest role model. She has been a fan for over forty years and founded the international Tina Turner fan club in the early 1990s. “I’m pretty shocked,” she says emotionally in it NOS Radio 1 Journal. “I knew that she was ill, but that she would die, I had not expected that yet. I thought: it will roll on for a few more years.”

Denneman became a fan in the period when Tina Turner was still performing with Ike. “When I first saw her on TV, that was a kind of bombshell. The way she stood there, a black woman and she gave me a lot of swaying hair and power. I was captivated by her performance.”

After many concert visits, the fan club was founded, which started with a Dutch-language fan club magazine. “At a certain point we became so well known that the fan club became international and we received applications from no matter which country.” After ten years, the magazine stopped and the fan club switched to Facebook, where since yesterday messages about Tina Turner’s death have received thousands of condolences.