I moved to LA when I was 22 because a record exec from Epic Records said with my voice I had the “potential to become something verrry big”. All I needed was a “hit song”.
Well, I found out that it takes a whole lot more than a hit song, especially if you’re a Womyn. Tina Turner’s passing today brought back a few memories. Memories of challenging times, of being a Womyn in the music business and the number of times I came “this close” (holding forefinger and thumb an inch apart in front of my face). SO close I could taste it, and then having the rug pulled out from under me.
You have to have the skin of a rhino and the stubbornness of a Sagittarius to deal with some of the BS that gets dealt to Womyn in the business. My stories are many with no smart phone library of photos or videos to prove them. For every good story there was always an equally challenging one, a real roller coaster of emotions.
No photos or video of the time I dropped in to the open mic at the iconic Central nightclub on Sunset Blvd. on a Wednesday night with my friend Mike Stone and ended up on stage singing one of my original songs “Queen Bee” with Mitch Mitchell (Jimi Hendrix drummer) on drums and Tim Bogert (bassist for the Vanilla Fudge) on bass! Good thing I didn’t know til after the performance or I probably would’ve been much more nervous than I already was. Tim Bogert and I became friends after that.
No photos from the time I met Little Richard and Ike & Tina Turners former bass player at a different open mic, who was looking for a new band to play with. He kicked some serious musical ass and even had a chorus built in to his bass. He would just flip a switch to turn it on. He totally blew me away with his technical abilities on that bass guitar. He was confident and had a great stage presence. I was hoping he’d be available to be in my band.
A little aside,… I had a dream a week or so before I met him. Little Richard appeared in my dream. He was talking to me standing about a foot away. As I write this I don’t remember exactly what was said. It’s probably in one of my journals somewhere. I only remember something about him inviting me to jam with him in the near future at a certain hotel. A week or so later I was introduced to this bass player at this open mic as someone who’s last gig was “playing with Little Richard” !
Later on it came out that he also played with Ike & Tina. Unfortunately all he could share were the bad memories of Ike’s temper and his large $500 fines he imposed on his players for showing up 5 minutes late to rehearsals among other things. Also unfortunate was the fact that this bass player wasn’t working when I met him because he was having struggles with alcohol.
Truly a nice guy and a talented performer, we got along well and had some good rehearsals and many deep phone conversations about life in general. But after so many drunken moments it became impossible to work with him any longer. I tried to help because thats what I do. I hung on as long as I could but he didn’t want to be helped. That was the closest I got to Tina.
It was also just one of a number of times in LA and elsewhere over the decades trying to work with & learn from someone in my profession, usually a male, who in my eyes had achieved success in music only to have them treat me differently and unprofessionally because I was a Womyn with a sympathetic ear. Often my ear had nothing to with it.
I hold a deep respect for Tina’s tenacity and her will to “rock on” no matter what the battle. She was and will always be an inspiration. RIP Tina Turner, aka Anna Mae Bullock, Sagittarius.