Growing up in Cobh, Co Cork, Rebecca O’Connor was the only person she knew who was black. She came from an Irish/Jamaican background and was, she says, very fortunate to be adopted at the age of two months by her parents Anne and Michael. But it was when her dad was trying to show her that she wasn’t alone, that something sparked in her.
‘I was singing and dancing from about the age of three,’ says Rebecca. ‘I loved it, everything about it
‘I was the only black girl in the village growing up in Ireland and I remember one night when I was six or seven my dad turned to me and said “Look who is on television.”
‘It was Tina Turner. She really resonated with me because of the big hair, and I had a full afro and oh, my God, I just loved her — the big heels, the dancing, everything. And so it kind of took off from there.’
Tina’s dance seemed familiar to the young Rebecca as it reminded her of some of her own Irish dancing moves.
And from that day, Rebecca was hooked. She practiced Tina’s songs as a little girl and the way she walked and danced in those stilettos — always on her tiptoes.
‘Everything just turned into Tina then,’ she says. ‘I was obsessed.’
Throughout school and then while studying as a beautician, Rebecca was forever belting out the hits of her idol to the point that in 2002, her man Annie told her that she should put herself in for the television programme Stars In Their Eyes.
‘My mom actually put me in for it and I ended up meeting Matthew Kelly and winning the show. And that was when Tina herself wished me well.’
Someone, though, had seen Rebecca performing and it was something that would change her life.
‘Fleetwood Mac’s former manager Dennis Dunstan saw me as Tina and wanted to take me on,’ she says. ‘He has previously said he would never take on a tribute act after managing Fleetwood Mac but when he heard me singing, he actually thought it was Tina.
‘But he said he would only take me on if Tina would endorse the show and give it the go ahead.
‘Dennis knew Tina, and he also knew Roger Davies, Tina’s manager who is also Australian like him. They had lived in LA at the same time for a number of years. So I was lucky that I was able to get my performances to her team.
‘Tina came back to Dennis and said, “Rebecca’s so good it’s scary.” And she said that if she had my energy, she would still be touring.
‘So I was pinching myself, I couldn’t believe it.’
Dennis flew Rebecca to Australia where she has been based ever since. She loves life over there when she gets the chance to live it as normally she has those heels on and is living out of her suitcase.
‘So this has become my career and it is something that happened from me impersonating Tina just for fun as a kid, which is just amazing. And the show is huge — we have been all over the world.’
Even so, when she started out, it took Rebecca a while to be able to carry on as Tina’s amazing voice for a whole show.
‘And the energy she had — this is a full-on entertaining, singing and dancing show. I love it and we have nailed it now,’ she says. ‘ I have been at it for over 30 years and we have travelled all around the world.’
Some of the recent places Rebecca has been include shows in Australia, the Netherlands, the Dominican Republic, Barbados and Kuala Lumpur. She is often booked for private parties and even once performed a private show for The Murdochs.
But she is coming back to Ireland in May and those are the shows that have a special place in her heart. And she is coming home for a tour that kicks off in Carlow on May 2, taking in Cork, Waterford, Kilkenny, Killarney, Limerick and more, with a date in Dublin’s Olympia on May 24.
Annie, her mother, has sadly since passed away but her dad Peter is 80 and loves nothing more than travelling with the crew around Ireland when Rebecca is at home.
‘He’s 80 now but he acts more like 50,’ says Rebecca.
‘Coming home to tour is amazing and playing somewhere like the Olympia is a dream come true. I remember my mom taking me to shows there as a child and now here I am. I hope I get a full house.’
Tina isn’t the only celebrity to have endorsed Rebecca’s performance. Because of her manager’s connections to Fleetwood Mac, she’s also met Mick Fleetwood as he’s attended her shows a number of times.
Tina was the reason that Rebecca ever had the nerve to get up on stage and when she died in 2023, the Cork singer was devastated.
‘I couldn’t believe it,’ she says. ‘So now all that I want to do is keep her music alive and keep getting it out there and hopefully be able to use my energy to give the best performance that I can after Tina endorsing me. Every show needs to be a good one .’
During the tour Rebecca will be belting out all of Tina’s hits but her own personal favourite is We Don’t Need Another Hero.
‘I sing all Tina’s songs but that one is so powerful and strong,’ she says. ‘From an audience point of view I think Proud Mary is a favourite as when you do that, the room lights up. ‘And Simply The Best is phenomenal as well.’
Rebecca is so good that some other acts have stolen her footage to promote their shows which she says isn’t on.
‘I just want people to know that if it doesn’t say Rebecca O’Connor, it’s not my show. Because I’ve been doing this for 30 years and I am the only act in the world who has been endorsed by Tina.
‘Thanks to her, I’ve had a marvellous life.’
Rebecca’s tour takes her to Dublin’s Olympia on May 24, See rebeccaoconnorsimplythebest.com and ticketmaster.ie for tickets and full show details.
