By Canadian Immigrant Magazine |
By Canadian Immigrant Magazine |
She’s been on Oprah and stages around the world, and since her RBC Top 25 Canadian Immigrant win in 2013, performer Luisa Marshall is still rocking it! Tomorrow night, March 2, you can see her energetic Tina Turner tribute concert in Delta, B.C., at the Genesis Theatre, joined onstage by her lovely daughters, Kimi (lead guitar/back-up vocals) and Zenia (vocals), sister Tota Mendez (vocals) and husband Steve Marshall (drums).
Philippines-born Marshall started performing as Turner just for fun in 1995 after a fan suggestion, while singing in a band with her sisters. She donned the signature Tina wig and quickly embraced the tribute artist role in 2000. Her performance as Tina is so convincing, it’s hard to tell that she’s not in fact the rock n’ roll legend herself.
At the Vancouver ceremony for the 2013 RBC Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Awards, she performed the iconic “Simply the Best” song and had all the other winners up dancing with her!
Since then, her life has been on one stage after another, including as host of her own TV program, Simply the Best, The Luisa Marshall Show, which airs on Shaw Multicultural Channel (Shaw Channel 4) in Vancouver. “My life has been super busy with my career as a Tina Turner tribute artist and as a TV host,” she says. “In 2014, I was officially invited at the most fabulous Golden Globe Awards red carpet and ceremony held in Los Angeles, where I was also interviewed and met award-winning Hollywood actors.
“But the most exciting one was when I made a special appearance on ELLEN in October 2015. I’m still shaking my head when Ellen introduced me as Tina Turner. The studio audience went crazy and gave me a 25-second standing ovation. The look on Ellen’s face was priceless. Then I had a selfie hang out with the famous Selena Gomez who thought I was the real Tina Turner. Oh … that was painful,” she laughs.
Touring with heart
In 2016, Marshall embarked on a new tour, “Hope Beyond Thunderdome Tour,” which raised awareness and funds for Canadian Veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) via 50 shows held from the west to the east coast of Canada over five months. “We approximately raised $29,400 during the tour for PTSD programs across Canada,” she says.
“After the tour, we continued to spread more good deeds. My band and I flew across the world for a successful show to raise money for palliative care on the beautiful island of Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. Then I was invited to perform at Tina Turner’s hometown, Nutbush City during the Tina Turner Heritage Days 2016 to raise money for a school that Tina herself attended. That was awesome!”
In 2017, “Lots of Love 2017 Tour” from Vancouver to Saskatchewan and back continued to raise funds for veterans suffering from PTSD.
Now, in 2018, her “Queen of Rock N Roll” Tour is all over the Lower Mainland with six theatre show dates, two dates in Washington State and four dates in the Okanagan. (Find dates at luisamarshall.com.)
And she’s nowhere near finished.