With the pure, soulful of Emily Cooley’s vocal ability, it is baffling that she would wish for a different sort of sound than her own. However, for many years, Emily has possessed a desire to have the gritty, rough-edged vocals of a rock-and-roller. However, there was another lady with a very soulful voice who, 50 years ago, wanted to break free from her rhythm and blues typecasting to sing rock and roll.
Her name was Tina Turner.
Though she had the grit, energy and moves to define rock long before The Beatles or The Rolling Stones, a female singing rock and roll was extremely taboo in the early days of her career, especially if that woman’s skin happened to be any color other than white. Of course, we all know now that Tina was imprisoned and oppressed in every possible way by her then-husband Ike, including musically. We also know the end of the story, however, in which Tina Turner not only became a female rock star, but redefined the rock and roll genre itself by becoming its undisputed queen.
Emily will make her debut at the Wytheville Moose Lodge 394 on Saturday, March 2 from 7-8 p.m., with her new show, A Tribute to the Queen of Rock and Roll, where she will take us on Tina Turner’s journey to the rock and roll throne, which will essentially become her own.
In this hourlong showcase of more than a dozen numbers, you’ll hear rock and roll songs you thought you knew unlike you’ve ever heard them before.
Tina Turner’s role as the Acid Queen in the 1975 rock opera Tommy would not only spark her ascent into her desired genre, but also her separation from Ike, in which she would reveal a style that was unmistakably her own. Her appearance in the film spawned an album of the same name that showcased Turner’s ability for hard-hitting rock.
Featuring songs by English rock acts such as The Who (“Acid Queen”), Led Zepplin (“Whole Lotta Love”), and the Rolling Stones (“Under My Thumb”), Turner displayed in full force what she was just beginning to show fans by covering The Beatles (“Get Back”). Her multiplatinum 1984 masterpiece Private Dancer cemented her as rock royalty with such electrifying numbers as the semiautobiographical “I Might Have Been Queen,” the femme fetale anthem, “Show Some Respect,” and Irish rocker Paul Brady’s “Steel Claw.” It is perhaps the tracks left off the original record (“I Wrote A Letter,” “Don’t Rush the Good Things,”) that best exemplify Tina’s affinity for unadulterated rock.
By 1986, with Tina Turner firmly established as the Queen of Rock and Roll, the biggest rock stars in the business were ready for the queen to sing their songs. On her follow-up album, Break Every Rule, Bryan Adams penned “Back Where You Started,” which earned Tina a Grammy for “Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female.” She also took on David Bowie’s “Girls.”
A decade later, when most rockers are looking at retirement, 57-year-old Tina Turner was still in her prime with U2’s “Goldeneye” and Taylor Dayne’s “Whatever You Want” from the 1996 Wildest Dreams album.
Terry Britten and Graham Lyle, the duo responsible for Tina’s biggest pop hits proved they could offer a rock song her two, as long as it was for the queen (“What You Get Is What You See,” “Do What You Do”). By that time, she had achieved her ultimate goal of being the first black artist to fill stadiums worldwide, long before her passing in May 2023 at the age of 83.
Emily hopes to inspire listeners with her voice as she has always done, but in a new, uncharted and exciting way. For more information, contact the Wytheville Moose Lodge, located at 1350 W. Main
Street at 276-228-7803.
