Tina Turner's 'My Love Story' - Interview with Deborah Davis (2019)

[Music] you it started with a text which was kind of an incredible moment I was um I was coming out of a book party and I had seen my agent there and I looked down at my phone I was in an elevator actually and he sent me a text and said how would you like to work on a book with Tina Turner let me think about that for one second and you know I texted him back and said of course I'm interested and it started there and and it took a few months to get the project in place but she was apparently in a state of mind where she really wanted to update her story mm-hmm because it was frozen in time everything was still about Tina and Ike and what's love got to do with it and it occurred to her that she had this whole lifetime beyond that and after years of wanting to keep things private she really wanted to tell the world look I'm a different person I'm in a different place I'm happy and so she really wanted to tell this part of the story and wanted someone to help her with it and I was more than happy to do that I flew to Zurich I was crazy nervous I mean wouldn't you be nervous I was nervous on my way you know - I've never been to Switzerland and I was going to be spending a few days with Tina Turner now I come from a background in the entertainment business and you never know what you're going to get in fact it's usually better not to meet your idols because they can disappoint you it can be exactly the opposite of what you hope and expect and you know what you think the moment will be like can I tell you Tina is somebody was better than you imagine and and and you imagine pretty wonderful things I flew in I actually met Dominic at the airport because we were going to be going together and we went over to her castle and the gates opened we pulled up to this incredible house on Lake Zurich and the doors open there's this amazing scene you know the the scent of a beautiful candle flowers everywhere it was Christmas right before Christmas so there were Christmas decorations and we walked in and we sat down and then in walks Tina and she's warm she's lovely she's funny she all she cares about is what do I need do I need coffee you know do I need something to drink am i comfortable in my chair and I'm thinking you know she'll probably be a little frosty you know a stranger coming into her house it will take her time to warm up not at all we went from zero to a hundred immediately dobe into the conversation and she was just a total delight it was everything that I hoped it would be there's a wisdom that comes out of her there's I don't know a kind of an innocence you know there there's no diva none not for one second you really get the impression that if you asked for something or needed something she would be up on her feet getting it doing it you know making it possible there's no pretense to her there's great great humility I cannot tell you how many times you know even in the beginning about conversations she was saying things like well I don't know why anybody is interested in my story and you want to say are you kidding interesting she doesn't see things that way she describes herself you know as somebody who was a hard worker somebody who you know just wanted to get the job done somebody who loved what she calls the people the people people of course when she was on stage it was it was she was doing it for the people it's sometimes you just want to snap your fingers and say do you know who you are you know do you know how important you are because this is not what she projects at all she's just somebody who is happy and happy in the moment and there was none of that star stuff going on you know my job is to go in and to ask the questions that will help the person in this case Tina remember now when you're talking about somebody like Tina you're talking at the time it was about 78 years worth of memories think about it yourself you know what do you remember some things are top of mind but sometimes it takes a kind of archaeologist to really help you get into your own head and find those memories and to refine them and I'll give you a perfect example one of the the incidents that I was really eager to talk about was the making of River deep Mountain High it's probably my favorite song and they're all my favorites but that one still gives me chills and I really wanted us to be in the moment of what happened when you did that song when you worked with Phil Spector let's start at the beginning okay you got up that day you got dressed what did you wear you're going to meet Phil Spector what did you put on and she described you know oh I I know that I had you know this fashionable bell-bottoms and you know it was like a suit and did you drive yourself yes I drove myself there where was it it was and she had to think you know it's a buried memory oh it was he had a house and in the Hollywood Hills and it was there was a long road that led up to the house and they were gates and I got there and you could see that she was actually real living and playing it almost like a movie with every question did he come to the door no I you know I walked in and there was nobody there and I heard a parrot he had a parrot and the parrot was making noises and I walked into this big house where was Phil took a few minutes for Phil to come down what did he look like Oh his hair was wild and I noticed he his feet were bare no these are all details that unless you probe you don't get them but when you do get them it makes a world of difference because it creates this whole wonderful moment and atmosphere and then she went on to say you know you walk over to the piano he told her to sing the song she's saying in a certain way he wanted something else she wasn't even sure what he wanted she just kept doing it but somewhere in that process it unlocked something inside of her and suddenly she was singing with a voice that she hadn't used before now all of this comes out through questions and so that's what our process was I would keep asking the questions I let her go a little deeper I didn't mind if it bored her which it didn't seem to do but I was probing and we did this with every topic well she never runs out of energy so hours went by and I noticed that it was getting dark outside and I thought this is a woman who and I knew at the time that she had had some problems with her health so I assumed she would need to rest that she would want to take a break and she'd say no no no no I'm doing it I want to do it I want to talk and I think the first day we probably did about six to eight hours of non-stop talking at which point we broke and made plans to resume the next day and the day after that and that was really good of course I was taping the whole time that was a really good foundation so I was able to go back to New York and process all of this material it was hours and hours and hours worth of material read it digest it and then make plans for our next set of interviews so that that's how it worked basically and and we did that three or four times in the course of the next few months and and it was a sizable amount of material the best part about the process was that she's so vibrant that if you're talking about song she starts singing it and you're sitting there and you're thinking I'm here Tina's there she's singing to me she's singing my song and that was really incredible oh my god they are joined at the hip I mean that that's it's certainly an expression here I maybe it's an expression for you he is the loveliest fan so solicitous not just of Tina I have to tell you I got out of his car him actually I didn't get out of his car before I could get out of his car he ran around to my side open the door which by the way never happens in America took my elbow and I'm thinking does he think I'm old no it's just what is done you know escorts me up the stairs she's a very thoughtful interesting man and has a lot to say about what's going on in the world what's going on in politics what's going on in the entertainment world he can talk about anything and his dedication to Tina is a remarkable thing to see they have just a lovely lovely relationship you know you you get together for a long time and [Music] it's it's charming the differences because even though Tina has lived abroad for years and has a kind of veneer of you know European Sensibility she's American you know she's she's an American from Tennessee and a lot of her expressions a lot of her mannerisms even her ebullience is very American and I think that's funny there's I asked her you know what what's it like being in Europe what how is it different how is it the same she would describe Switzerland as reminding her of Tennessee and at Tennessee when she was growing up you know which was probably a different time she was very open it was something that wasn't public yet so it was it was some among us but she was very very open about describing the various things that happened to her and when they happened how she felt and what the medical treatment was and how that made her feel and again first thing she would talk about is how wonderful her doctors work how lovely the nurses work how people always went out of their way to make her feel comfortable to you know to take care of her always talking about everybody else and you know what what they were doing for her and you know Irvin has a very scientific mind you know he was very well versed in you know what the procedures were and and what needed to be done when and you know talking to the doctors and and how fortunate she was to be in Switzerland you know where the medical care not only was a first-rate but there's a whole other climate in in Switzerland of protecting the patient if Tina had been in New York there would have been no chance of keeping anything a secret and the reason for keeping it a secret I found very interesting you know she had to focus on care and if you know her fans if they thought that something was wrong they would have been outside the house you know conducting prayer vigils I mean they would have been trying to help and that wouldn't have been helpful at that time so it wasn't about just you know wanting to keep the information with to withhold it was to manage it and I think that that was a very smart thing to do but had that happened in New York the story would have been sold to ten tabloids you know by people who were not interested in protecting Tina and her focus had to be on actually surviving when she started talking about those illnesses how did you cope with that because there are there were so many did you feel people were not gonna believe it hog are we gonna put this in a book first of all carry because I was hearing it for the first time it was it was like trying to name the Seven Dwarfs you know you can't sleepy dopey grumpy and then you stop you can't I would say wait a minute okay first there was the wind oh no no no that came before that it was it was very hard to get the information in its proper place but but and also not to have a very human reaction oh my god you know how how did you cope with all of that all over a period you know the that wasn't very long at the same time that your wedding was happening and you know there was there was so much good and so much bad you know as a writer and interviewer you never want to lose sight of the human side of the story it's not just information it's it's happened to someone and you want to be respectful of that I think she moves on and she's somebody who focuses on the positive even when talking about her darkest days I mean you know it's not pleasant for her to go back to those times with Ike but I'll tell you something here she was talking about that and trying to find the reasons that made him behave the way he did and giving him the generous moment of saying well he had it hard too you know he was a product of a certain upbringing a certain time he had his own demons you know acknowledging that and then talking about what happened between them seeing it as the past and moving on and trying to get to the place where you know she was in her own rebirth and her own solo career and just trying to get ahead of it and and she said something very interesting which was you know escaping from Ike and from that period was the hard part everything that came later was cake even when I had no money even when I had no prospects even when I was I didn't have a home and I had children to support and you know a new life to build I was so happy to be free that it never occurred to me that I should be anything but positive it's amazing but that's her she likes to talk about the music and she's happy to talk about it I think that you know the music has several different lives in her long career first she was thrilled to be singing at all you know when when she started with Ike one thing I love to point out is that in her yearbook which I'm sure you saw in Nutbush she puts down that her ambition is entertainer now when you think about that and you look at what the others are saying you know the students the pictures around her it's nurse accountant teacher nothing who was down entertainer how is that even an achievable ambition for an eighteen-year-old girl at the moment living in Nutbush Tennessee where's the path to that you know but but she believed that it was something that was possible so she became a singer with Ike and and that was exciting and I think that one of the real problems was that she couldn't sing her own way or her own music and that became increasingly a problem while they were together you know she had different ambitions once she got out of that relationship her she really wanted to sing rock and the system wouldn't let her you know she was initially stuck in Vegas you know cabarets but she knew what she wanted to do and it wasn't until you know she became she she switched her management went with Rogers they had a shared vision and that was the real Reaper and she loved music she loved what she's saying once you know after 1984 you know when after private dancer when when that became and when she really had a say in what she was singing and and her audiences were responding to it so it became a whole different world if you ask Tina she'll she'll tell you I retired you know I worked for 60 years I'm I'm retired I I'm enjoying myself no it's it III think that she really feels that that part of her life is over I know it's not up to me to say that it's over certainly people change their minds but I think she's enjoying the respite and the moment and let's not really call it a rest because remember she did her memoir there's Tina the Tina Turner musical there's a documentary in the works none of this can be done without her so I'm not really thinking that's a rest I saw it at the premiere in London and then coincidentally I saw it last night I went to one of the previews you know here on Broadway and you saw you saw it with Adrian didn't you yeah phenom oh she's amazing and I think that you know it's hard for me to imagine did you see it Germany also yes so you've seen it with somebody else playing yes how does that work it is very strange it's in German the songs are in German so I was still in tears at the end of the second act so I thought the emotion is still there there is still something even if I don't understand everything the message is here and you left you live really empowered and no I was really like musical I wasn't sure but it's really well made it's a big production and I really hope it's gonna be a Broadway success I've really hoped well I can tell you that it appeared to be sold out last night and this is again it's still in previews it doesn't open till November 7 the crowd went crazy the people I feel sorry for are the ones who don't know that after the curtain call is the best part of the show and you know theater goes on Broadway they have this habit especially if they're experienced as soon as the curtain comes down they get the lead so they can go get their cars and you know beat the crowd and I just wanted to yell to them and say don't leave don't leave there's a surprise and I don't know what you do about that you know if you don't know it's coming the whole concert at the end when when Adrian says we have to numb more numbers for you if you don't know that your you could be gone it's a shame no that picture we went to this wonderful restaurant for dinner that is not far from Tina's and you know we had this incredible meal and I'm happy to say that she enjoys her food you know as I do so I didn't have to pretend that I wasn't interested you know what I was eating the way you normally have to pretend you know we had some wine we had this great meal and this was at the end of I guess I had gone it was in May I think I had gone after I went to the musical to go over with her what her feelings were seeing sitting in that theater and watching the musical and you know how it was different from what's love got to do with it which she never actually saw as you know and so we spent a lovely couple of days together and then went out for this dinner and then we're you know I was sad because I knew you know there were no more interviews I have nothing but great affection for her and I was going to miss her so we took a picture so it there's a wonderful designer in New York who does these t-shirts and sweatshirts with a place and then or nowhere and I told him that I was going to you know visit Tina and so he made a one-time Nutbush or no wear shirt for her and this is the kind of person she is you know I brought it to her the first time that I was meeting her and you know how many gifts somebody like Tina gets you know and and probably most of them she has no use for never uses I came back the next day to interview her and she comes walking down the stairs and she's wearing the shirt now she will probably never put it on again but the fact that she put it on for me you know was I thought the most gracious thing that you got that's who she is it's all about you it's about making you happy and you know she put it on and she said and then later we took a picture and I thought she is just one in a million you know who does that oh and she paired it with black leather pants and can I tell you she was rocking those black leather pants I mean Tina at 78 has a body that I know it's it's me too inappropriate to talk about people's bodies but she looks fabulous she looks so good and she knew exactly how to wear it in her teen away but the most important thing to come out of that picture is she did it for me you know she put it on to acknowledge that she had gotten a gift and I think that that just underscores her generosity of spirit and her poly test and just you know the way that she interacts with the world it's all about you there you know you go into these situations and you don't know what's gonna happen so I was talking and I said something about how I had googled the pony because I didn't really know what it was I mean I know people talk about Tina did the pony but what's the pony so of course you go to Google and I told her it was funny that I went to Google and this woman came up demonstrating the pony to Proud Mary and and I said to Tina but sadly I could not do the pony she said of course you could do the pony look I'll show you and she gets up on her feet and she starts dancing and I'm looking and all I can think of is oh my god she's gonna make me get up I have no idea what she's doing I can't follow it looks like her feet look like lightning you know they're just they're doing all of this stuff and she kept saying you can do whatever you can do it and I said Gina I can't I can't so she laughed and she let it go Dominic on the other hand is Fred Astaire she showed him the pony one two three he picked it up he was doing it he we photographed it for his children and I thought I am just missing the dance gene I will never have it there's no point but it was just one of those funny moments when you understand why she's Tina Turner and you were jeopardy acceptance humility generosity always be in the moment with the person you're with don't pay attention to the noise know that that comes from the outside world be where you are and she also really inspired me to be more spiritual you know and and spirituality takes many different forms tina will tell you that she was spiritual when she was a child and she went to church she was spiritual when she expressed the emotion of a song when she became a Buddhist and started chanting and and saw larger meaning in life I mean she really made me want to focus more on who I wanted to be on what I was letting into my life she's somebody who you know she she focuses on what's important and I think that's a really really hard thing to do in life we get so caught up in the stupid stuff and she made me want to be more purposeful so happy to have this chance to talk to you and to give you my thanks and my compliments and to just say that what you do is amazing and all of us are just you know the the beneficiaries of your wonderful gift and and I'm gonna say thank you for everybody else thank you for your kind words thank you for taking the time and your work for Tina and everything you did and it was really appreciated and I really enjoyed talking to you [Music]

Channel: TINA Turner Blog

Views: 28,016

Rating: 4.8363638 out of 5

Keywords: tina turner, biography, my love story, erwin bach, musical, 2019, 2020, 2021, documentary, book, sick, dead, death, kidney, stroke, swiss, switzerland, adrienne warren, oprah, elton john, queen, diva, celine dion, cher, audiobook, son, suicide, craig, tax, holland, london, new york, broadway

Id: 1Tf6uU0Dqls

Length: 33min 24sec (2004 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 20 2019