Beyonce pauses Paris show to pay tribute to music legend Tina Turner

PARIS: Beyonce paid a moving tribute to the late legendary singer Tina Turner.

She paused her Renaissance tour stop in Paris on Friday to honour Tina Turner an artist she has routinely referred to as her greatest influence, in the wake of the singer’s death earlier this week, Variety reported.

“I just want to take a second and honour Tina Turner,” Beyonce told the crowd at the Stade de France. “If you’re a fan of mine, you’re a fan of Tina Turner. I wouldn’t be on this stage without Tina Turner, so I want you guys to just scream, so she can feel your love. I feel so blessed that I was allowed to witness her brilliance.”

Beyonce was heavily inspired by Turner’s artistry and authenticity. As Beyonce said during her 2005 tribute to Turner at the Kennedy Center Awards, “Every now and then, when I think of inspiration, I think of the two Tinas in my life — that’s my mother, Tina, and of course, the amazing Tina Turner.”

Known as the Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll for her blistering performances and powerfully gritty vocals, Tina died on May 24 after a long illness.She breathed her last at her home in Kusnacht near Zurich, Switzerland.

The news of her demise was shared by her publicist Bernard Doherty via a statement, People reported.

“Tina Turner, the ‘Queen of Rock’n Roll’ has died peacefully today at the age of 83 after a long illness in her home in Kusnacht near Zurich, Switzerland. With her, the world loses a music legend and a role model,” the statement read.”There will be a private funeral ceremony attended by close friends and family. Please respect the privacy of her family at this difficult time,” the statement further read. Since 1994 the American-born singer had been living in Switzerland with her husband, German actor and music producer Erwin Bach, earning her Swiss citizenship in 2013.

In recent years she battled a number of serious health problems, including a stroke, intestinal cancer and total kidney failure that required an organ transplant.

Boasting one of the longest careers in rock history, Turner scored Billboard Top 40 hits across four decades, earning her Grammys, a Kennedy Center Honor, and entry into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame.

Most recently, Turner was the focal point of an HBO documentary on her life titled Tina.

As per People, Turner’s early years were marred by her tumultuous marriage to musical partner Ike Turner, who subjected her to brutal acts of physical and psychological abuse. (He died in 2007.)

Her survival and harrowing escape was dramatized in the 1993 film What’s Love Got to Do with It starring Angela Bassett.

In 2008, she announced that her Tina! 50th Anniversary Tour would also be her last, and from that point on she largely retired from the music industry. She began to focus more on her private life, notably her relationship with German actor and music producer Erwin Bach. After decades together, the pair married in 2013.

In 2018, she made one of her last public appearances, dropping in at the premiere of the London musical based on her life story, Tina, which details every turbulent moment of her 50-year singing career.