The legendary Tina Turner passed away last month at the age of 83, and amid reports her homegoing ceremony will be a private family affair, rumors also are circulating that the Grammy Award-winning singer wanted to ensure that her funeral “eclipses” that of the late Aretha Franklin.
According to RadarOnline, Turner began planning her funeral to upstage the “Respect” singer after she received a kidney from her husband Erwin Bach in 2018.
Franklin passed in August of that year. Her funeral took place in Detroit, Michigan, and included musical performances from Jennifer Hudson, Stevie Wonder, Ronald Isley, Chaka Khan, and Ariana Grande. Actress Cicely Tyson, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Judge Greg Mathis and former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama also spoke during the reported $300,000 event.
The following year, RadarOnline also reported, “Tina wants this to be the grandest funeral in pop culture history. If she has to go, she wants to make sure her send-off eclipses Aretha’s!”
The two women reportedly “never had a good relationship” and “were heated rivals in life.” Their alleged ongoing feud stemmed from an alleged dalliance between Turner’s ex-husband, the late Ike Turner, and Franklin before the 1978 divorce between Ike Turner and Tina Turner. This was also around the time Turner released her highly success album “Private Dancer.”
Related: How Europe’s Appreciation of the ‘Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll’ Increased Her Fame In America
The “Chain of Fools” singer also was allegedly upset after Beyoncé called Turner “the queen” during the 50th-Annual Grammy Awards in 2008. That year, Franklin won the Best Gospel Performance award for “Never Gonna Break My Faith.”
But she reportedly took offense to the remark and issued a statement condemning the Grammy writers and Beyoncé.
“I am not sure of whose toes I may have stepped on or whose ego I may have bruised between the Grammy writers and Beyoncé,” read the statement. “However, I dismissed it as a cheap shot for controversy. In addition to that, I thank the Grammys and the voting academy for my 20th Grammy and love to Beyonce anyway.”
“The What’s Love Got to Do With It” vocalist responded with her own statement about Franklin’s ego, stating, “She’s the queen of soul, and I’m the queen of rock ‘n’ roll. Her ego must be so big to think she was the only one.”
She reportedly had big plans to upstage Franklin by “picking out a designer wardrobe for her to wear while she’s lying in repose,” claimed a source to the outlet.
“A custom hearse, a string of top performers and an amazing gravesite that will overshadow Aretha’s… It will be Tina’s last and biggest show ever.”
Turner has won eight Grammy Awards out of 25 nominations and Franklin has 18 out of 44 nominations.
However, it’s unclear how reliable the sources are, as numerous reports indicate Turner’s funeral will be a private one near her home in Küsnacht, Switzerland.
“She did not want a big public funeral,” said Eddy Hampton Armani, Turner’s personal assistant of 20 years. “She wanted to be cremated. I expect it to be a small, very private affair.”
For fans on social media, the idea that Turner planned to outdo Franklin from her “death bed” is very comical. A few joked that Turner’s funeral will be as long as Franklin’s full-blown concert funeral, which lasted over eight hours.
In 2018, one fan said, “Tina Turner is on her death bed and all she can focus on is her funeral being better than Aretha’s. I’m weak.”
More recently others wrote:
“Aretha Franklin’s funeral was 21 days long. I wonder how long Tina Turner’s funeral will be.”
“Is Tina Turner going to have a week-long funeral like Aretha Franklin?”
Turner may have opted for a low-key memorial service, but that didn’t stop the King of England from paying his respects to “The Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll.”
King Charles, King of the United Kingdom, honored Turner with a tribute at Buckingham Palace. He had the Band of the Welsh Guards perform her 1989 hit “The Best” during the changing of the guard.
