Mick Jagger pays tribute to ‘wonderful’ Tina Turner after her death aged 83

Mick Jagger penned a heartfelt tribute to his ‘wonderful friend’ Tina Turner following her death aged 83.

The Rolling Stones frontman, 79, had been close with Tina for decades and the pair often collaborated for performances.

Taking to Twitter to share a series of throwback snaps together, Mick penned: ‘I’m so saddened by the passing of my wonderful friend Tina Turner. She was truly and enormously talented performer and singer

‘She was inspiring, warm, funny and generous. She helped me so much when I was young and I will never forget her.’

Among the snaps were a picture of the pair performing in Philadelphia at a 1985 Live Aid performance and a black-and-white photo from the Seventies featured Mick playfully leaning against Tina, who sizzled in leather pants and ocelot-print boots.

Tina previously took credit for teaching Mick how to dance – revealing to the Daily Mail in 2017 that she schooled him in the 1960s move the Pony.

She revealed: ‘Mick wanted to dance — and I was a dancer — but he never gave me the credit! He said his mother taught him how to dance.

‘But we worked with him in the dressing room, me and the girls, and we taught him how to Pony.’

Tina referred to Mick in the final interview before her death. Asked by The Guardian who was her celebrity crush, she confessed: ‘I always had a crush on Mick Jagger. I loved when we toured with the Rolling Stones.’

The Tennessee-born singer’s death was confirmed on Wednesday, with her publicist saying she died at home near Zurich in Switzerland , at the age of 83.

Tina died ‘after a long illness in her home,’ her publicist Bernard Doherty said.

She was last seen in public in November 2019, attending the Broadway premiere of the musical of her life, where she needed help standing.

Rock ‘n’ Roll star Tina shared a grim Instagram post about her kidney failure two months before her untimely death. 

Iconic duo: The Rolling Stones frontman, 79, had been close with Tina for decades and the pair often collaborated for performances (pictured in 1985)

She opened up about her health struggles on International World Kidney Day on March 9, revealing she put herself in ‘grave danger’ by not taking her 1978 hypertension diagnosis seriously. 

‘My kidneys are victims of my not realising that my high blood pressure should have been treated with conventional medicine,’ she wrote. 

‘I have put myself in great danger by refusing to face the reality that I need daily, lifelong therapy with medication.’ 

The post from March gave a glimpse of her final days as she added: ‘For far too long I believed that my body was an untouchable and indestructible bastion.’

Firm friends: Tina previously took credit for teaching Mick how to dance – revealing to the Daily Mail in 2017 that she schooled him in the 1960s move the Pony