Thursday, 4:30 PM
Tina or not Tina
By Raja Mishra, Globe Staff
They didn’t say it was Tina Turner. But they didn’t say it wasn’t.
Attendees at a YMCA fund-raiser at a Danvers hotel Saturday were dumbfounded when "special guest" Tina Turner pranced on stage, dressed in slinky black and heels. What was the Queen of Rock 'n' Roll doing here? At a benefit for the Y? In Danvers?!
Within minutes, cameras began flashing, and old men danced like young boys as Turner belted out "Proud Mary." Many attendees bragged all weekend that they had partied with the international superstar.
Until word got out that Tina was actually Hollie. As in Hollie Vest, a legend, though only in celebrity impersonation circles, for her Las Vegas-based Tina Turner act.
"It looked just like her, maybe a little older. But I’ve never seen Tina Tuner in person, so I don’t know what she looks like up close," said Tyler DeScenza, a guest at the fund-raiser who was thoroughly fooled. "I’d say 95 percent of the people there thought it was her. Everyone was saying, 'I can’t believe she’s here!'"
YMCA officials are apologizing if anyone felt deceived and are offering to refund donations. While Y officials said no one had taken them up on the offer and many attendees seemed to take the fake Tina in stride, some are not happy.
YMCA board member Paul Sullivan told The Salem News he’d be seeking his money back. "I wouldn’t expect the Y to stoop to this type of behavior," he said. "...I’m very surprised and I’m disappointed."
Only a select few North Shore YMCA employees knew the performer’s identity. Even the non-profit’s top brass were impressed that their humble organization had enough clout as to attract such A-list talent.
"She had the deep voice like Tina Turner, and looked and dressed like her," said Paul Gorman, chief development officer for the YMCA North Shore. "I thought that, you know, there are a lot of influential people on the North Shore who have contacts. So, you never know."
Bill Wasserman, a YMCA board member in attendance, said, "I’m 79 years old, and I didn’t know if it was Tina Turner or not. But it sure seemed like it."
The night climaxed with "Proud Mary," during which "Tina Turner" coaxed a dozen men on stage to bare their legs in a mock audition to be her "Tina-ette" backup dancers. As she sang, "Rolling! Rolling! Rolling on the river!" well-to-do donors from Beverly and Ipswich gyrated with abandon, said those in attendance.
"It certainly added excitement," said Gorman, chuckling.
Gorman said the YMCA did not mean to mislead anyone. It just worked out that way, he said. By the end, some partygoers were let in on the secret. But it wasn’t until a Salem News story Tuesday that everyone on the North Shore knew. Most took the news in stride.
"I don’t feel deceived or mislead at all," said Wasserman. "I was enchanted by the hoax."
With 600 people in attendance, tickets at $125, and bids in, Gorman said the North Shore YMCA raised about $150,000 for a financial assistance fund for disadvantaged North Shore children.
"Everyone had a good time," said DeScenza. "And Tina Turner wasn’t the point. It was a fund-raiser."
Vest said she has been honing her act for years. "I’ve been doing it 22 years, and I do it authentically," she said. "I think they wanted to believe it."
But not everyone was taken in. At first, Tom Anderson of Rockport, a Turner fan who has seen Turner in concert, was a believer. "Tina Turner, last I knew, had retired from performing and was living in France. And I hadn’t heard anything from her. It seemed unusual for her to be here."
In fact, Turner, who turns 67 this weekend, is rumored to be at work on a new album, according to Billboard magazine. But whether she was in France or elsewhere, she most definitely was not in Danvers last Saturday night.
"It was a great event. Tina was the icing on the cake," said Anderson. "And if it wasn’t her, hey, we had a great time anyway."
