Divamensch

Look up the word FIERCE in the dictionary and there's Miss Tina Turner. An icon, an American original, a killer singer and dancer, a survivor, she checked so many boxes. Here’s my experience of her, coming of age in the 80s - - she was a solo artist because that's what she was doing at the time, she was on the charts and at the top of her game doing solo work. I had no idea of her Ike and Tina years until I dug a little deeper. Maybe someone younger than me would know the who

My brother Howard alerted me to two celebrity deaths, one person I didn't know, one I did. The unknown person (for me) was Jimmy Cliff (age 81). I'll quote the jam-packed first sentence of his NY Times obit: "Jimmy Cliff, a onetime choirboy who emerged from the rough quarters of Kingston, Jamaica, riding a rebel spirit and a fierce sense of social justice to help make the supple, bobbing sounds of reggae a global phenomenon with songs like 'You Can Get It If You Really Want'