Tina Turner, 1984
Tina Turner, 'Rolling Stone', 1997
Tina Turner and friend performing at the Grammys, 2008
Tina Turner here, she of 'Private Dancer', 'Proud Mary', and 'Private Dancer', has nuclear levels of energy, and sometimes it just kind of EXPLODES (anyone who's ever seen a video of her performing 'Proud Mary' understands). Couple that with sexy, raspy vocals, and I'm just about ready to jump the fence.
Often times I inject Ms. Turner into my design process not as a customer but as the idea of originality, attitude, and resilience. Having been through severe abuse from an ex-husband, having to regenerate a career after breaking off a toxic relationship, and through it all, always coming up gold (she' had a Top 20 hit in every decade of her career) despite sounding, looking like no one else, it's hard to deny her as real woman.
Plus, anyone woman who makes Beyonce look like a back-up dancer has a special place in my heart.
Dusty Springfield just resonates with my inner drag queen. From the mountainous hair, to the deliciously rhinestoned outfits, the woman is a visual overload. But what's best about her is what happens when she opens her mouth. Adele and Duffy, two of pop's current British Invasion seem to roll into one, with a side of a delicate sixties sweetness, and the occasional, subtle feminist.
But really, it's the fact that she looks like the Drag version of Lady Bunny.
Speaking of Drag Queens... Shirley Bassey is another woman who you need to see too completely appreciate--the woman simply explodes onstage. As my father once said, truly great singers can't completely be captured on a compact disk, and Shirley is like the quintessential example of this. The drama that she brings in her voice is just too dimensional for a simple mpeg--the way she uses silence, time, and the way she articulates what she's singing using her body.
Fantasia is another woman whose crazy just can't be captured on a disk. And sometimes, she goes a little passed the energetic crazy of someone like Tina, passed the dramatic crazy of Shirley, and the semi-drag crazy of Dusty, and just disintegrates into full on insanity, with a predilection for vocal runs.
Jenny Shimizu will fierce you to death.
As will this girl.
Often times I inject Ms. Turner into my design process not as a customer but as the idea of originality, attitude, and resilience. Having been through severe abuse from an ex-husband, having to regenerate a career after breaking off a toxic relationship, and through it all, always coming up gold (she' had a Top 20 hit in every decade of her career) despite sounding, looking like no one else, it's hard to deny her as real woman.
Plus, anyone woman who makes Beyonce look like a back-up dancer has a special place in my heart.
Dusty Springfield just resonates with my inner drag queen. From the mountainous hair, to the deliciously rhinestoned outfits, the woman is a visual overload. But what's best about her is what happens when she opens her mouth. Adele and Duffy, two of pop's current British Invasion seem to roll into one, with a side of a delicate sixties sweetness, and the occasional, subtle feminist.
But really, it's the fact that she looks like the Drag version of Lady Bunny.
Fantasia is another woman whose crazy just can't be captured on a disk. And sometimes, she goes a little passed the energetic crazy of someone like Tina, passed the dramatic crazy of Shirley, and the semi-drag crazy of Dusty, and just disintegrates into full on insanity, with a predilection for vocal runs.
As will this girl.
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