Pattie LaBelle pays tribute to Tina Turner at BET Awards

At BET awards, late legendary singer Tina Turner was remembered by Patti LaBelle. LaBelle hit the stage to pay respects to Turner, who died on May 24. LaBelle sang Turner’s Simply the Best, but she forgot the words during a few moments! “I’m trying, y’all,” she said after humming a few notes before hitting the chorus the first time.

When she forgot the lyrics a second time, she said “Oh lord” before singing a couple of more words of the song, and then sang, “Whatever, I can’t see the words” to the song’s tune. “I’m trying, y’all,” she told the crowd again. The crowd danced and sang along with LaBelle, who exuberantly powered through nonetheless and finished seemingly without another major hitch. “God bless you, Tina Turner,” she exclaimed at the end of her performance.

Knowing Tina

Known as the Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll for her blistering performances and powerfully gritty vocals, Tina died on May 24 after a long illness. She breathed her last at her home in Kusnacht near Zurich, Switzerland. In recent years she battled a number of serious health problems, including a stroke, intestinal cancer and total kidney failure that required an organ transplant.

Boasting one of the longest careers in rock history, Turner scored Billboard Top 40 hits across four decades, earning her Grammys, a Kennedy Center Honor, and entry into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame. Most recently, Turner was the focal point of an HBO documentary on her life titled Tina.

Turner’s early years were marred by her tumultuous marriage to musical partner Ike Turner, who subjected her to brutal acts of physical and psychological abuse. He died in 2007. Her survival and harrowing escape was dramatized in the 1993 film What’s Love Got to Do with It, starring Angela Bassett. In 2008, she announced that her 50th Anniversary Tour would also be her last, and from that point on she largely retired from the music industry. She began to focus more on her private life, notably her relationship with German actor and music producer Erwin Bach. After decades together, the pair married in 2013. In 2018, she made one of her last public appearances, dropping in at the premiere of the London musical based on her life story, Tina, which details every turbulent moment of her 50-year singing career.