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Love’s got everything to do with it

By Pirjo Raits Sooke News Mirror Oct 10 2007

Tina Turner provided inspiration for tribute artist who performs her works What started out as a joke turned into a full-blown musical extravaganza based on the life of rock legend Tina Turner. Luisa Marshall, the star of TINA – A Rock and Roll Journey, was performing a lot of Tina Turner’s songs and she was constantly being asked to wear a wig for fun. “I said, ‘no way,’” she said , but she kept getting pestered by promoters to don the wig. For a performance in Dubai in 1995, she finally went to a novelty store and bought a cheap wig. The rest is history.

“I hate wigs, miniskirts and high heels, but I did it,” she said. “I really looked funny – like a poodle – but I did it for one song, “Proud Mary.” The people just went wild, they were screaming, I just couldn’t believe it. They kept asking for more songs. This entire musical started as a joke.” The Lower Mainland-based Marshall is Filipino and bears a striking resemblance to Turner. This led her to perform live for the audience on the pre-show segment of the Oprah Winfrey Show in 2005. “I met Tina Turner, I was really nervous, my knees were shaking. It was amazing,” Marshall said, adding that Turner kept winking at her and giving her the thumbs up.

In fact, she was scolded for fooling one woman in the audience. “A lot of people thought I was her.” Marshall said she’s always been a Tina Turner fan, not just because of the music, but for the way Turner lived her life, overcoming obstacles to get to where she is today. Many people relate to Marshall’s show and the life story of Turner, she said, because they too have been through hard times and bad relationships. “It’s a musical biography of Tina, her life story told through her own music. This has never been done and everybody is quite psyched up about it. You’ll see Tina’s transformation, her varied looks and costumes through the years, re-lived on stage. The show includes Turner’s hits “What’s Love Got To With It” and “We Don’t Need Another Hero,” as well as cover songs such as “Heard it Through the Grapevine,” “Disco Inferno” and her signature tune, “Proud Mary.”

“I’ve got a gorgeous ensemble of dancers and a big screen with astonishing video imagery as stage backdrop,” Marshall added. Written, choreographed, co-produced and directed by accomplished screenwriter and stage director Leandro Mendez, TINA – A Rock N’ Roll Journey takes the audience on a musical and visual voyage through the four decades of the reign of the Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll. Portraying Tina from her days with Ike Turner to the breakthrough, Grammy-winning album Private Dancer and her recent greatest hits collection, Luisa Marshall promises her own inimitable, explosive style and only the best in this new ground-breaking show.

For the show Marshall dons 12 different pairs of shoes, goes through seven wig changes and numerous costume changes – all without missing a beat. “It is stressful,” she said. “It will move you. I’m proud of this one. It is just little me trying to do a project that inspires me. “It just shocks me how people from all ages and races respond to Tina’s music. I have performed all over the world, from Japan, Dubai, Israel and even Bosnia... and in all these shows, there’s always this excitement and energy that I feed off from the audience from performing Tina’s hits... “I’ve always felt that Tina has signed some sort of cosmic contract stating that she agreed to sing for the world and show off those famous legs of hers in action, like – forever? But I guess that’s asking too much.” TINA – A Rock n’ Roll Journey comes to the MacPherson Theatre this Saturday (Oct. 13), at the Edward Milne community theatre in Sooke on Oct. 14 and in Sidney at the Mary Winspear Centre on Oct. 15. Tickets are available at the theatre box offices. editor@sookenewsmirror.com Fuente: http://www.oakbaynews.com/

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Simply the Best Luisa Marshall winning acclaim portraying the Queen of Rock ’n’ Roll
Published Date: 2005-05-19 Time: 08:48:25 By Shelley Arnusch

Who: Luisa Marshall as Tina Turner
Where: Pemberton Legion
When: Saturday, May 21 Tickets: $15

     The raspy voice, the wild bed-head, the legs up to there set off by an extensive wardrobe of rock ’n’ roll micro-mini skirts, and hit after hit after hit. Tina Turner is a true rock icon. Once you gain that status, even your quirks gain a certain degree of cachet. With Turner, it’s a certain gawky signature dance move similar to shaking one’s forearms dry. And it’s just one more thing that Vancouver-based Tina Turner impersonator Luisa Marshall says comes naturally. Told over and over again that she looked and sounded like the Queen of Rock ’n’ Roll, nightclub singer Marshall was flattered. Not so much when it came to the dance move. "When she dances, she’s got dead arms," Marshall laughs. "I had those! But it was a good thing when I started doing the tribute. It’s kind of hard to fake that." It’s kind of hard to fake a world-class arena rock act too, but Marshall was born to play Tina.

    The act found her during a running gig in a British nightclub in Dubai in 1995. One club regular suggested he’d like to see her perform her bring-down-the-house rendition of Proud Mary in a Tina Turner wig. Marshall eventually found a suitable wig and a star impersonator was born. "The people just went nuts and that was it!" Marshall says. Enthusiastic response aside, Marshall says she had no intention of pursuing a career as a Turner impersonator on her return to Vancouver. But her passion for Turner’s music added to the remarkable likeness (and don’t forget the innate dead arm dance move) made every Tina Turner cover song she sang a crowd favourite. More and more Turner songs were added to her repertoire over the next five years until there were enough to do an entire Turner set. From there, it was just one long-legged step to the costumes, wigs and Hotlegzz backup dancers.

      Marshall’s take on Tina went on to win the 2003 World Tribute Artist Championships, held that year in Fort Erie, Ont. But the true measure of her success as an impersonator happened this past January when she was invited to perform on an episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show featuring Turner. The experience brought Marshall face to face with her idol. "I was numb!" she exclaims. "I still haven’t recovered from that. She’s a goddess. She’s amazing. Very striking and charming. An amazing woman. And she’s cool." The Oprah performance featured Turner’s mega-hit "Simply The Best," which is also Marshall’s favourite song.

      For the time being, Marshall shows no sign of tiring of the Turner gig. The next big thing on the horizon is a musical production called All Hail The Queen, which she says is aiming to open on Turner’s birthday in November of this year. As the years add up for her career as a Turner impersonator, Marshall insists she’s not worried about losing her own voice as a singer. "I’ll be honest with you," she says confidentially, "I really sound like her! This is my own voice! I can still sing a lot of other songs that are not Tina, but somehow it will sound like Tina because it’s my real voice." The one thing Marshall has yet to achieve is a personal shoemaker. One night after a show Marshall had the chance to meet Turner’s tour manager of eight years, who revealed that at every performance the rock diva has endless identical pairs of her trademark spike heels at her disposal – all custom made to feel as comfortable as sneakers. Marshall says her response was: "Cheater!" "I wear the real ones and they hurt! They really hurt!" she exclaims. But abuse of her feet is a small price to pay to play her idol. "She’s very uplifting," Marshall says. "Every woman in the world should listen to her music."

      Luisa Marshall as Tina Turner plays the Pemberton Legion this Saturday evening. Marshall will be performing solo with recorded music. Tickets are $15. For information call 604-894-6561.