Tina Turner performs at Pan Am Center, UTEP Special Events Center

“Tina Turner, the ‘Queen of Rock & Roll’ has died peacefully today at the age of 83 after a long illness in her home in Küsnacht near Zurich, Switzerland,” her family said in a statement Wednesday. “With her, the world loses a music legend and a role model.”

Turner won eight Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in 2021 as a solo artist, having first been inducted with former husband Ike Turner in 1991.

Turner performed in the Borderland, at the Pan Am Center, on Oct. 19, 1985, but three electrical transformers meant no food or drinks were sold during the concert:

Poisons halt concert food

Oct. 15, 1985, El Paso Times

Concertgoers at New Mexico State University’s Pan American Center in Las Cruces may be a little inconvenienced until three electrical transformers are replaced to comply with federal Environmental Protection Agency regulation.

The regulations require that, in food areas, all transformers containing toxic PCBs be replaced by Oct. 1, said Stewart Bean, NMU’s safety officer. That includes three of the Pan Am Center’s transformers.

That means that until the new transformers are in, on concessions no will be sold in the Pan Am center during the events.

Turner proves why fans show her some respect

Oct. 18, 1985, El Paso Times

The huge banner rose from in front of the screen, and suddenly 11,000 fans were watching Tina Turned slip into her shoes, lace the top of her costume, tease her hair and start purposeful strides toward the stage…

The curtains thrown open, Turner started her 7-minute-long set with a throbbing “Show Some Respect,” her hips gyrating in skin-tight, knee length pants, a white camisole laced up the front and a jacket, rapidly discarded with the first bars of “Nutbush.”

“Private Dancer,” with its soulful saxophone solo, brought her to stage swathed in white boa over a tiny dress. Here, her dancing changed from short, machine-gun rapid steps to a planting of feet, a swaying of hips and a definite feeling that dance, was, indeed, for Tina by Tina…

They screamed, they clapped

Tina had the audience from the first chords and her first shuffle like dance across the stage. They screamed, they clapped, they leaped to their feet as the first chords of their favorites were played. There’s no doubt of her being a showman – she jokes with the audience, but doesn’t ever give its members time to cool down, to relax, to forget just why they think she’s the greatest…

And, of course, she’s a lady, too, introducing not only the band but the lighting and production people.

That was before “Proud Mary,” one of her biggest hits from the late 1960s. “I’ve been singin’ this one a long time,” she told the cheering crowd. “And it keeps getting better and better.

Tina Turner ships up lively show

Dec. 3, 1987, El Paso Times

Borderland fans got another chance to see Turner two years later when she performed in El Paso. Following is a review of that concert:

Bruce Springsteen may be The Boss, but Tina Turner has certainly earned the right to be called the Boss Lady of rock.

No one throws a house party like Anna Mae Bullock from Nutbush, Tenn., and the UT El Paso Special Events Center was jumping from the outset Wednesday night as 5,000 concertgoers turned out to see Anna – also known as Tina – get down, get funky and get loose.

She wasted little time doing all three during a 17-song, 100-minute concert that worked for all the right reasons.

Turner didn’t skimp on the high-tech. The lighting hardware alone probably ran to six figures.

Three costume changes

But she wasn’t about to let 200 mini-spotlights upstage her own dynamic personality, which exploded through three costume changes and a dozen of her recent and classis hits.

She began with a series of songs from the “Break every Rule” album: “What You Get Is What You See,” “Break Every Rule” and “Typical Male.”

And when the crowd practically begged for material from the Grammy Award-winning “Private Dancer” disc, she answered their musical prayers. Turner sang every hit song she’s logged in the last 10 years: “Better Be Good To Me,” “What’s Love Got To Do With It” and “Let’s Stay Together,” the dance club hit that launched her comeback five years ago.

Reliving the past

But the greats moment for anyone over 30 (and the audience definitely ran toward the 30- and 40-year-old group) came with Turner’s throaty delivery on “Proud Mary,” the John Fogerty classic that immortalized Ike and Tina Turner in the early ‘70s. Seldom does one get to relive the past in finer style.

Always the consummate entertainer, Turner pranced round the stage as though it was made of hot coals. And why shouldn’t she dance? If a better pair of 47-year-old legs exist, in the recording industry, the have yet to walk this way.

Most of Turner’s time was spent in a red leather minidress, but she donned jeans and a tunic for her encore, which include “Nutbush City Limit” and “Paradise Is Here.”

Turner says the Break every Rule Tour will be her last before she semi-retires. But anyone at Wednesday’s show will agree that Turner isn’t likely to go gentle into any good night.

They’re going to have to carry this lady offstage kicking and screaming.

The British rock group Level 42 opened the show and met with an enthusiastic response on the strength of their hit songs “Something About You” and “Lessons In Love.”

Trish Long may be reached at tlong@elpasotimes.com.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Tina Turner death: Look back at Las Cruces, El Paso concerts