From the moment she first saw Tina Turner perform on TV, Steffanie Christi’an knew she was meant to be a rock ’n’ roll star.
“I remember being a little girl and seeing her perform ‘What’s Love Got to Do With It’ and ‘We Don’t Need Another Hero,’ and I was enamored,” Christi’an remembers. “There’s probably not one Black rock singer that could tell you Tina Turner did not inspire them.”
Now, half of Detroit duo We Are Scorpio, Christi’an is gearing up for a Tina Turner tribute for the Daughters of Betty annual showcase (formerly Black Women Rock!) following the singer’s death on May 24 at age 83.
Helmed by Detroit poet jessica Care moore, Black Women Rock! rebranded to Daughters of Betty to honor Betty Davis, who passed away in 2022. This year the group is bringing their rock show featuring all Black women singers and musicians to the multicultural music festival Concert of Colors.
While the show will still pay homage to Betty Davis, Christi’an says they would be remiss not to honor Turner as well. Though she wouldn’t spill the beans on the planned setlist, she teased they’d probably play a rendition of “Proud Mary.”
“Everyone has their person and Betty Davis has been my person for 19 years, but some of the other women like Steffanie, Tina Turner was their person,” Care moore says. “Their hearts were broken when Tina Turner died so we’re gonna make some space to honor her. It’s our first year headlining Concert of Colors so it’s gonna be bigger and better, too. It’s ‘bout to be wild.”
Daughters of Betty brings Black women who play rock and metal from around the U.S. and Canada together not just for a concert, but for a conversation around race, as well as an art exhibit. Last year’s showcase was a three-hour banger at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History.
For Concert of Colors, the group will perform at the Detroit Institute of Arts’ Detroit Film Theatre at 8 p.m. on Thursday, July 20 featuring Divinity Roxx, Kimberly Nicole, Imani Uzuri, Liza Colby and Kia Afani Warren from Susu, Militia Vox, Steffanie Christi’an and jessica Care Moore as We are Scorpio, and more.
Care moore will host a panel discussion “They Say I’m Different: Rock & Roll, Race & Radical Women” featuring the headliners from Daughters of Betty at the Carr Center at noon on Friday, July 21. The accompanying art exhibition will be on display the entire weekend at Irwin House Gallery.
The group will also be announcing their Betty Davis Scholarship, to be awarded to a woman of color who plays rock ’n’ roll during the weekend. They are also working on a forthcoming documentary about their experiences as Black women in a genre dominated by white men.
For more info about Concert of Colors and the full schedule, see concertofcolors.com.
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