respect the classics

Lizzo Reminds Us ‘There Would Be No Rock and Roll Without Tina Turner’

Lizzo. Photo: Jim Dyson/Getty Images

More than 60 years after Tina Turner started performing, her shadow still looms over popular music, from Beyoncé to Janelle Monáe. And after Turner died yesterday at age 83, another one of her disciples, Lizzo, reminded the world of the “icon†we lost. The performer covered Turner’s signature song “Proud Mary†at a concert in Phoenix, teeing it up with a passionate speech about Turner’s legacy. “As a Black girl in a rock band, I would not exist if it were not for the Queen of Rock and Roll,†Lizzo said, referring to Turner’s nickname. “And remember this, there would be no rock and roll without Tina Turner.†Then she eased her way into the song, just like Turner did — before tearing off her dress and picking things up once the horns kicked in. Lizzo belted the song and dashed around the stage, and if that wouldn’t have made Turner proud enough, she even did some of the performer’s signature hair flips after the chorus. Just watch for yourself.

Lizzo: ‘There Would Be No Rock and Roll Without Tina Turner’