Tina Turner: ‘I was delighted with her simplicity’, says Evandro Mesquita

At the height of Blitz, a sensational band in the country in the 1980s and early 1990s, Evandro Mesquita, lead singer of the group, received an offer he couldn’t refuse: to record a Pepsi advertisement alongside Tina Turner. As if that weren’t enough, it would be in Los Angeles, in the United States, in the same studio where the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan had already recorded. “A dream”, sums up the singer, who remembers the details of the meeting with the singer, who died this Wednesday (24), at the age of 83.

“You know those dreams where you think you’ll never come true again? That was it. And suddenly you’re in a studio recording, where the Stones, Bob Dylan and Nash & Young were? Sensational. I got there and she had just finished voice. Everyone was there, Pepsi’s management and her full band. I arrived super nervous”, he recalls. Recording took place in 1991.

Evandro wore stylish mullets that even resembled Tina’s haircut, and says that he recorded his part in the commercial the first time. “The people in the studio applauded me and then I relaxed. It was tense,” he admits. About Tina, also only good memories. “She made me feel at ease. She was super affectionate and receptive to me. She kept asking me to speak in Portuguese because she loved the musicality of the language. I was delighted with her simplicity”, highlighted the singer.

He also remembered the next day, at another Hollywood studio. “It was a huge place and I remember there were a lot of extras. Thousands of them, to convey the idea of ​​a crowd watching the Tina Turner show. She, again, made me feel so welcome.”

Mesquita describes the experience as “unbelievable”. “Being there singing with her by my side with that big mouth (laughs), that incredible voice and a unique simplicity! It was unbelievable. A real star acts like that and that was kept in my soul, it was tattooed”, he said.

But the announcement with Tina Turner brought problems to Evandro and the other members of Blitz. The vocalist’s recording with the American singer, alone, shook the group’s good relationship, which resulted in the band’s first departure. “Who was my friend really gave me strength. But some of the band didn’t want to, it made some people jealous who didn’t hold back. Life goes on. It was an undeniable experience”, said the singer in a recent interview.