Tina Turner And Rod Stewart Perform Live Duets Of 'Get Back' And 'Hot Legs'

Mar 07, 2020

Most male/female live duet rock performances these days seem to be slow ballads. While these performances do showcase the performers' talents, they lack the raw energy of duets seen in disco and musicals like "Grease." This energy can be witnessed in a spontaneous duet between Tina Turner and Rod Stewart, on a TV show in the 80s.

If so, that is a real shame. Watching two talented performers rock on with each other in a barely-rehearsed or even spontaneous performance is far more exciting and awe-stirring than enjoying the calm yet romantic energy generated in a male/female ballad duet. Just think of David Bowie and Cher, giving it all they had boogying down with each other in the 1970s.

Before rock decided to can real rock male/female performances, Tina Turner and Rod Stewart put on a very memorable live performance in 1981. They danced and sang "Get Back" and "Live Legs" together, and their moves were amazing.

The performance occurred on "Saturday Night Live," where Rod Stewart was the musical guest for the opening of the seventh season of SNL. At that time, SNL was going through a lot of staffing changes, and things were, well, a wee bit chaotic. Rod Stewart was a surprisingly high-profile musical talent to appear on the disordered show, and amid the chaos, he decided to take matters into his own hands and invited Tina Turner to appear on stage with him.

Their performance was completely unrehearsed. On the day of the show, Rod Stewart had gone to a dance club where Tina Turner was playing, and she covered several of Rod Stewart's songs, complete with a blond "Rod Stewart" wig. Rod Stewart went backstage and invited her to join him on SNL, reports RHINO.

According to RHINO, workers on the show reported that Rod Stewart seemed a bit tense and nervous about the unplanned, unrehearsed duet, but as soon as Tina Turner got up on stage and the pair started dancing and singing, he relaxed and the high-energy duet took on a joyous life of its own. The rest is music history.

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