Beyoncé Pays Emotional Tribute to ‘Beloved Queen’ Tina Turner

Beyoncé paid tribute to Tina Turner Wednesday, shortly after the “What’s Love Got to Do With It” singer died. Turner was a major influence on Beyoncé’s music, and the two icons performed together at the Grammys in 2008. Beyoncé also performed “Proud Mary” at the 2005 Kennedy Center Honors, with Turner in the audience.

“My beloved queen, I love you endlessly,” Beyoncé wrote on her website, along with a photo from their 2008 Grammys performance. “I’m so grateful for your inspiration, and all the ways you have paved the way. You are strength and resilience. You are the epitome of power and passion. We are all so fortunate to have witnessed your kindness and beautiful spirit that will forever remain.” Beyoncé ended her message by thanking Turner “for all you have done.”

Beyoncé’s mother, Tina Knowles-Lawson, also recognized the enormous influence Turner had on her daughter’s career. Knowles-Lawson shared footage of Turner and Beyoncé meeting to rehearse their Grammys performance. “I remember this day like it was yesterday. It was the day that Beyoncé was to rehearse with Tina Turner for the Grammys,” Knowles-Lawson, who said she was a fan of Turner’s as well, wrote on Instagram. “We were both so excited and when she arrived and we were told that she was in the other rm we all witnessed Beyoncé, turning into a five-year-old actually skipping across the floor to embrace her.”

“The world is a less better place without this legendary, gorgeous resilient woman,” Knowles-Lawson continued. “When I need to get my super strength together and know that I can overcome anything I think of Tina Turner who started over in her mid 40’s and became the biggest superstar. It always gives me hope that it’s not about the age it’s about the person. Today I celebrate this amazing, beautiful, resilient queen she will be sadly missed. She was ‘Simply The Best.’”

Turner and her abusive ex-husband, Ike Turner, scored their breakthrough hit with a cover of CCR’s “Proud Mary” in 1971 and won a Grammy for their recording. Beyoncé performed the song at the 2005 Kennedy Center Awards to honor Turner, who approved Beyoncé’s performance with two thumbs up. “When I think of inspiration, I think of the two Tinas in my life: That’s my mother, Tina and of course, the amazing Tina Turner,” Beyonce said at the ceremony, notes USA Today. “I’ll never forget the first time I saw you perform, I never in my life saw a woman so powerful, so fearless, so fabulous, and those legs.”

Turner and Beyoncé’s performance at the 2008 Grammys was part of the Record Academy’s 50th-anniversary celebration for the awards show. They performed a show-stopping medley of “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” “Better Be Good to Me,” and “Proud Mary.” Turner won eight Grammys, including two for “What’s Love Got to Do With It.” That song, along with the Ike & Tina Turner recordings of “Proud Mary” and “River Deep – Mountain High” were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.