Since Tina Turner and Elton John are truly two of the greatest music legends of all time, it would have been wonderful if they were still friends. After all, between their shared love for the stage and everything each of them had to overcome, it sure seems like they had a lot in common.
While John was often open about having lots of famous friends, it turns out that Turner was definitely not one of them at times. Instead, there was so much tension in Turner and John’s relationship at one point that they both spoke publicly about what led to their breakup.
What did Elton John say about the feud with Tina Turner?
During the 60s and 70s, Elton John and Tina Turner rose to international fame with their immense musical talents. Unlike most musicians who rise to fame, the two performers have defied all odds by managing to stay relevant for decades.
In the late 90s, John and Turner were considered legends by most people. More importantly, it was obvious to everyone that many people who love Turner’s music love John’s songs and vice versa.
Given their split fan base, it was obvious for Turner and John to work together, and it turns out it almost happened. In 2019 John released a memoir titled “Me” in which he attempted to work with Turner.
In John’s memoir, his first mention of intending to work with Turner in the late 90s painted a picture of how things turned out. “The idea of doing a joint tour with Tina Turner in 1997 was a good idea that quickly turned into a disaster.”
According to what John then described, Turner called him while planning the tour they intended to do. Instead of wanting to strike up a friendly or professional conversation, John described Turner’s phone call as incredibly harsh.
“While it was in the planning stages, she phoned me at home, apparently with the express intention of telling me how awful I was and how I needed to change before I could work together. She didn’t didn’t like my hair, she didn’t like She doesn’t like the color of my piano and she doesn’t like my clothes.”
John continued: “You wear too much Versace, and it makes you look fat – you have to wear Armani,” she announced. I could hear poor old Gianni rolling over in his grave at the mere thought: the houses of Versace and Armani heartily hated Armani said Versace made really vulgar clothes, and Gianni thought Armani was incredibly beige and boring. I hung up the phone and burst into tears: ‘She looked like my fucking mother’, I cried over David.”
As gruesome as John’s description of his phone call with Turner sounds, he claimed things didn’t get better when the two legends started working together in person.
“Unbelievably, our working relationship deteriorated. During rehearsals, Tina didn’t address any of the musicians in my band by name—she just pointed and bellowed, “Hey, you!” playing Proud Mary. It sounded good. Tina stopped the song, annoyed. ‘It’s you,’ she shouted, pointing to my bassist, Bob Birch. ‘You’re wrong.'”
John continued: “He assured her no and we started the song again. Once again Tina yelled at us to stop. This time it was supposed to be my drummer’s fault. It just went on like this for a while, each member of the group being blamed for screwing up in turn, until Tina finally discovers the real source of the problem.
“This time his finger was pointed in my direction.” John wrote, “‘It’s you! You’re not playing well!'” From there, John described his poor working relationship with Turner which had come to a head.
“The ensuing debate about whether I knew how to play Proud Mary got pretty heated, before I concluded it by telling Tina Turner to stick her fucking song up her ass and smash off. threw a lot of tantrums in my time, but there are limits: there’s an unspoken rule that musicians don’t treat fellow musicians like crap.
John went on to write, “I went to her dressing room and apologized. She told me the problem was that I was improvising too much — adding little fill-ins and piano passages. That’s how it is. that I’ve always played — that’s part of what I love about playing live.”
“But Tina didn’t think that way. Everything had to be exactly the same every time; everything was repeated down to the slightest movement. It made it clear that the tour wasn’t going to work”
What Tina Tuner said about her feud with Elton John
In 1999, Tina Turner was interviewed for a television special called “Divas Live ’99”. During this interview, Turner’s past argument with John was brought up and she told her version of the events that led to the collapse of their planned tour.
According to Turner’s description of what happened, she mishandled the way she talked to John about how to play the song “Proud Mary”. “I made a mistake when I needed to show her how to play ‘Proud Mary’.”
Turner then described how John reacted to his criticism. “You don’t tell me how to play my piano.” Most notably, Turner said things got out of hand at that point, and she revealed what it brought her back to.
“Oh god, it just exploded. It felt like the past was slapping me back.” After making it clear that all she wanted from John was “to get a new arrangement”. Turner claimed that John lost it to come see her later and apologize.
“I was wrong, I was wrong, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” Finally, Turner accused John of not being “professional enough” and spoke about his reaction to the whole situation. “He’s just very sensitive. Very, very sensitive.”
Did Elton John and Tina Turner reconcile before they died?
Thinking back to the fact that Elton John wrote about his falling out with Tina Turner more than two decades later, the situation seems to have stuck with him. For his part, Turner clearly had strong emotions about what happened at least a few years later.
Considering the quotes that have surfaced about this whole situation, it’s easy to conclude that John and Turner probably never got along. Thankfully, the same way John’s feud with Madonna eventually unfolded, he made peace with Turner.
In John’s aforementioned memoir “Me,” he showed empathy for Turner by writing about how she might have been triggered by what happened. “Maybe it was insecurity on her part. She had been treated appallingly earlier in her career, had endured years and years of cheating, beatings and shoving. Maybe it had an effect on the way she behaved towards people.”
More importantly, John revealed in his book that he and Turner had patched things up, writing, “we made up later: she came over for dinner and left a big lipstick kiss in the guestbook.” . Additionally, when Turner passed away in May 2023, John was one of the first of his peers to honor his life.
“We have lost one of the most exciting and electric performers around. A total legend on record and on stage. She was untouchable. Condolences to Erwin and his family. Saddest news. @tinaturner #RIP”
