Tina Turner is a one-person summation of a huge chunk of rock-and-roll history. She is the female incarnation of an important strain of rock culture that embraces southern gospel-rock, Chuck Berry and the Rolling Stones. Miss Turner's raw, rending vocal delivery, in which the voice often seems to tear itself apart without ever actually disintegrating, also encompasses the red-hot mama, blues-meets-rock-and-roll tradition embodied by Janis Joplin. And in pure show business terms her provocative self-presentation - with heavily teased dark gold wig, prancing the stage in spiked high heels, and her friendly rock-and-roll sneer - have served as an inspiration for male rockers like Mick Jagger and Rod Stewart. In a very real sense, she did more to invent them than vice versa...
by Stephen Holden.
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