‘Does that skirt come off?' How Tina Turner and Mick Jagger's racy duet electrified Live Aid audiences
'Alright, where's Tina?'
With that short introduction from Mick Jagger and the beat of the drums, Tina Turner danced onto a Philadelphia stage for an electrifying performance with the Rolling Stones frontman during Live Aid on July 13, 1985.
Jagger, at the time just days shy of his 42 birthday, and Turner, who was then 45 and riding a wave of success from her 1984 hit album 'Private Dancer,' showcased their fun and flirty chemistry. The pair performed 'State of Shock' and 'It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (But I Like It),' the latter of which found Jagger stripping off his shirt for a mid-song costume change and dramatically tearing off Turner's skirt.
She recounted the moment in her 2018 memoir, 'My Love Story.'
'Mick and I could never just stand there and sing — that wasn't us. We had to do something. He looked me over,' Turner wrote. 'I was wearing a tight-fitting black leather top and skirt and I could see a naughty idea forming. 'Does that skirt come off?' he asked slyly. 'What?' was my startled reply.'
Jagger matter of factly told her, ''I'm going to take your skirt off.'
'I asked him why, but it was too late to talk it through, Mick had already made his mind up to do it,' she wrote.
Turner and Jagger had a shorthand due to their long friendship.
She shared in her book an anecdote about helping Jagger with his moves as young artists in the 1960s.
'Mick showed up at the dressing room I shared with our dancers and said in his unmistakable voice: 'I like how you girls dance,'' Turner wrote. 'Well, we had seen him strutting on stage with his tambourine and thought he looked a little awkward.'
She and her dancers taught Jagger how to do the Pony.
'Mick caught on fast but found it difficult to do certain steps,' Turner wrote. 'Not that he ever gave us credit for his new fancy footwork. To this day, Mick likes to say: 'My mother taught me how to dance.' OK fine – but I know better.'
A month before her death in 2023, Turner spoke of her affection for Jagger and the Stones.
'I always had a crush on Mick Jagger,' Turner told The Guardian. 'I loved when we toured with the Rolling Stones.'
The love was mutual.
Tina Turner and Mick Jagger
Tina Turner and Mick Jagger perform at Live Aid at Veteran's Stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on July 13, 1985.via CNN Newsource
'She was truly an enormously talented performer and singer,' Jagger wrote of Turner in a tribute to her. 'She was inspiring, warm, funny and generous. She helped me so much when I was young and I will never forget her.'
Both were rock 'n' roll powerhouses who thrilled the audiences who watched Live Aid, a benefit concert organized by musicians Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to draw attention to a famine in Ethopia and raise money for relief efforts.
Decades later, the Turner and Jagger duet remains one of the highlights of the concert, which spanned multiple locations, drew an estimated 1.8 billion viewers and raised more than $125 million.
Their performance is a reminder of a time when the world could come together for music and charity in a shared experience that preceded social media.
Jagger remains a cultural force.
The 81-year-old toured with his famed band last year and joined another Live Aid alum, Elton John, for a state banquet held at Windsor Castle in honor of France's President Emmanuel Macron.
Turner's pop culture icon status has also endured, thanks, in part, most recently to Beyoncé.
There's been speculation her anticipated 'Act III' album will be rock 'n' roll themed. That theory heated up after Beyoncé, who performed with Turner and credits her as an artistic influence, recently wore a t-shirt during her Cowboy Carter Tour with Turner's image.
Jagger and Turner ended their Live Aid performance by strutting off opposite sides of the stage, the band still playing.
'Thank you, Tina,' Jagger said into his mic, no longer in sight.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CTV News
43 minutes ago
- CTV News
Hackers post racist, antisemitic content to Elmo's X account
Video Sesame Workshop says the X account for Elmo was briefly taken over by hackers who proceeded to post racist and antisemitic content that were later taken down.
CTV News
an hour ago
- CTV News
The Weeknd is coming to Edmonton on Saturday: Find out how and when to get there
The Weeknd performs a medley during the 67th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello) Canadian music superstar The Weeknd will take the stage at Commonwealth Stadium on Saturday, and the city is offering some tips to make your concert experience run smoothly. Commonwealth security screening and bag policy Gates open at 5:30 p.m. with the opening act taking the stage at 6:45 p.m. Concert goers are asked to arrive early to give themselves time for screening at the stadium entrance. Fans are encouraged not to bring a bag to the show, but those who chose to bring one should be aware of the clear bag policy at Commonwealth. Bags that are clear plastic, vinyl or PVC and do not exceed 12″ x 12' x 6″ are allowed. Small clutch bags that are not clear, but do not exceed 4.5″ x 6.5″ in size, can be taken into the stadium. All bags may be subject to search. Fans who don't bring a bag can use the express security lanes when entering the stadium. A limited first-come, first-serve bag check will be available for $20 on the east side of Stadium Road, near Gate 9 entrance, north of the LRT lots. Stadium staff are not responsible for lost items. Merchandise Merchandise will go on sale on Saturday at noon outside the stadium on the west side at Gate 6 and the east side by Gate 9. Free transit Transit is free for anyone with a valid concert ticket. The ticket will be accepted on buses and LRT up to 90 minutes before the concert starts and up to 90 minutes after it ends. There is no need to tap on or off with Arc validators while using a concert ticket as fare. Transit costs are covered as part of the $1.50 facility use service fee charged to ticketholders at the time of purchase. Park and ride is available at the following locations: Eaux Claires Lot (97 Street and 157 Avenue) Lewis Farms (1021 Webber Greens Dr.) - Arrive early as this location has limited parking spots due to Valley Line West LRT construction NAIT Lots A/B and D (109 Street and 118 Avenue) - parking is $6 at these lots. Nakî Transit Centre (15520 Campbell Rd.) ETS will also run a shuttle from Churchill Station (100 Street and 102 Avenue southbound) to Stadium, to help move people to and from the event. Buses will start running at 5:15 p.m. and run approximately every five minutes until the concert starts. After the concert buses will leave from the stadium until all passengers have been collected. Riders can also park at the following locations and take the Capital Line LRT to Commonwealth Stadium: Clareview Transit Centre (48 Street and 139 Avenue) Belvedere Transit Centre (62 Street and 129 Avenue) Parking There is no parking at Commonwealth Stadium and parking restrictions are in place in neighbourhoods around the stadium. Only residents with valid parking permits can park on the streets in those areas. The Commonwealth LRT parking lot will close at 5 p.m. on Saturday. Concert goers are encouraged to use other forms of transportation, including transit, bikes, ride shares or taxis. Bikes, ride shares, taxis, and accessibility There will be supervised bike parking on site at the northeast corner of Clarke Stadium. Ride share services and taxis will be available at pick up and drop off areas on the northwest side of the stadium at 90 Street and 110 Avenue near Lot A, and on the east side at 84 Street and 106 Avenue. Signs will be in place to guide concert goers to pickup and dropoff locations. Accessibility gates are #2, 6, 9, and 11. Wheelchair drop off is in Lot A by Gate 6. Please make sure wheelchairs are properly labelled and identifiable.
CBC
an hour ago
- CBC
Gorky Park, Havana Bay mystery author Martin Cruz Smith dead at 82
Martin Cruz Smith, the bestselling mystery novelist who engaged readers for decades with Gorky Park and other thrillers featuring Moscow investigator Arkady Renko, has died at age 82. Smith died Friday at a senior living community in San Rafael, Calif., "surrounded by those he loved," according to his publisher, Simon & Schuster. Smith revealed a decade ago that he had Parkinson's disease, and he gave the same condition to his protagonist. His 11th Renko book, Hotel Ukraine, was published this week and billed as his last. "My longevity is linked to Arkady's," he told Strand Magazine in 2023. "As long as he remains intelligent, humorous and romantic, so shall I." Smith was often praised for his storytelling and for his insights into modern Russia; he would speak of being interrogated at length by customs officials during his many trips there. The Associated Press called Hotel Ukraine a "gem" that "upholds Smith's reputation as a great craftsman of modern detective fiction with his sharply drawn, complex characters and a compelling plot." Beginnings as a journalist Smith's honours included being named a "grand master" by the Mystery Writers of America, winning the Hammett Prize for Havana Bay and a Gold Dagger award for Gorky Park. Born Martin William Smith in Reading, Pa., he studied creative writing at the University of Pennsylvania and started out as a journalist, including a brief stint at The Associated Press and at the Philadelphia Daily News. Success as an author arrived slowly. He had been a published novelist for more than a decade before he broke through in the early 1980s with Gorky Park. His novel came out when the Soviet Union and the Cold War were still very much alive and centred on Renko's investigation into the murders of three people whose bodies were found in the Moscow park that Smith used for the book's title. Gorky Park, cited by the New York Times as a reminder of "just how satisfying a smoothly turned thriller can be," topped the Times' fiction bestseller list and was later made into a movie starring William Hurt. WATCH | Trailer for 1983 film version of Gorky Park, based on Smith's bestselling novel: "Russia is a character in my Renko stories, always," Smith told Publishers Weekly in 2013. " Gorky Park may have been one of the first books to take a backdrop and make it into a character. It took me forever to write because of my need to get things right. You've got to knock down the issue of 'Does this guy know what he's talking about or not?'" Smith's other books include science fiction (The Indians Won), the westerns North to Dakota and Ride to Revenge and the Romano Grey mystery series. Besides "Martin Cruz Smith" — Cruz was his maternal grandmother's name — he also wrote under the pen names "Nick Carter" and "Simon Quinn." Inspired by his travels Smith's Renko books were inspired in part by his own travels and he would trace the region's history over the past 40 years, whether the Soviet Union's collapse (Red Square), the rise of Russian oligarchs (The Siberian Dilemma) or, in the novel Wolves Eats Dogs, the 1986 Chornobyl disaster. By the time he began working on his last novel, Russia had invaded Ukraine. The AP noted in its review of Hotel Ukraine that Smith had devised a backstory "pulled straight from recent headlines," referencing such world leaders as Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin of Russia and former president Joe Biden of the U.S.
