Watch Beyoncé Cover “River Deep, Mountain High” In Tribute To Tina Turner

Watch Beyoncé Cover “River Deep, Mountain High” In Tribute To Tina Turner

Last week, the legendary Tina Turner died at the age of 83. Since her passing, the tributes have poured in — from Angela Bassett, from Pete Townshend, from Lizzo and Coldplay. Last night, Beyoncé, another great performer who owes a whole lot to Tina Turner, paid her own kind of tribute, taking on one of Tina’s iconic songs and transforming it.

Beyoncé has long been a vocal admirer of Tina Turner. In 2005, when Turner was given the Kennedy Center Honors, Beyoncé sang “Proud Mary” while Turner watched from the balcony. Three years, later, Beyoncé and Tina Turner sang that song together at the Grammys. Last night, Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour took her to the UK’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, and she sang her own version of Tina’s classic 1966 single “River Deep, Mountain High.”

“River Deep, Mountain High” was credited to Ike and Tina Turner, but Ike didn’t actually do anything on the song. Instead, Phil Spector co-wrote and produced the track after signing Ike and Tina to his Phillies label. (Tina Turner had a lot of terrible men in her life.) Spector considered the song to be his masterpiece, but it failed commercially, peaking at #88, which caused Spector to temporarily retire. Over the decades, though, “River Deep, Mountain High” took on classic status. In her version, Beyoncé turned the track into a kind of ballad, stripping away its explosiveness and turning it into something more mournful. Below, watch fan footage of Beyoncé’s cover and the promo reel for the original song.

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