Tina Turner has left us...a gift.

I have a few memories to share....

I was saddened to read today that Tina Turner died today.

Tina Turner was one of the first performers that caught my young eyes as I was tuning into the power of music and movies.

Her role as the Acid Queen in Tommy by the Who twisted my young mind at such an early age. I was just 9 years old at the time and of course my parents hadn’t accounted for the fact that I would ask to see a movie that was wholly inappropriate what with drugs, sex, and insane antics on screen but to know me is to love me so there’s consistency there.

Fast forward to the present. I was recently sharing, with a dear friend, how Tina left a gift for us all. Yes on top of a lifetime as an entertainer, she didn’t think that was enough and decided to put pen to paper and share lessons learned with us all.

Her gift to us, is a gem of a book called Happiness Becomes You.

First it’s necessary to mention that Tina Tuner, like ~10% of the humans on this planet, myself included, practice Buddhism.

In Buddhism, the first noble truth is dukkha or ‘life is suffering’. You probably know this already but if you don’t, you’ll learn sooner or later.

Happiness Becomes you is a loving lesson in how to manage a life where dukkha is a reality for us all.

Reading the book, (and I humbly encourage you to do so) you’ll get an informative and insightful look into how Tina handled the extreme poverty and abuse of her childhood, her awful marriage that required her to flee with her kids and a few dollars to her name and start her career again, from zero.

With her practice and determination, Ms. Turner not only survived all of these obstacles but overcame all odds to land on top of the world (ok it’s Switzerland but it’s as close as we can get) with just the power of her voice and her love of performance.

The book is an easy read but it will help anyone who has struggles that they just cant seem to overcome. Her gentle guidance and wisdom comes through and can only help those that need a gentle loving push to overcome something that is holding them back. I’m thinking of you, dear reader as I write this.

It really is a gift that will endure for generations because even though musical tastes change over the years, one thing that is consistent is the need to acknowledge and overcome obstacles in our lives. There’s that dukkha again.

As the tributes pour in for Tina Turner, here’s a performance that gave me a flashback and literally gave me goosebumps all over again.

What to love about this performance

• Bob Mackie gowns shimmying and adeptly showing off live vocals backed by a pro band (no auto tune no backing tracks… because f#ck that!)

• The way these two size each other up like they are competition at the disco but then realize they love each other’s fierceness and spray pheromones all over the stage.

• Unadulterated joy and fun performing for the live audience in 1975 (Yes..I watched it then. I was precocious about my sensibilities).

  This unbridled joy, power and flawless performance still resonates today, almost 50 years later.

Rest in power, Tina. ❤️🙏🏽🌈