‘Does that skirt come off?’ How Tina Turner and Mick Jagger’s racy duet electrified Live Aid audiences

Tina Turner and Mick Jagger rehearse their duet for the upcoming Live Aid concert at JFK Stadium on July 12, 1985 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Peter Carrette Archive/Getty Images via CNN Newsource

“Alright, where’s Tina?”

With that short introduction from Mick Jagger and the beat of the drums, Tina Turner danced onto a Philadelphia stage for an electrifying performance with the Rolling Stones frontman during Live Aid on July 13, 1985.

Jagger, at the time just days shy of his 42 birthday, and Turner, who was then 45 and riding a wave of success from her 1984 hit album “Private Dancer,” showcased their fun and flirty chemistry. The pair performed “State of Shock” and “It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll (But I Like It),” the latter of which found Jagger stripping off his shirt for a mid-song costume change and dramatically tearing off Turner’s skirt.

She recounted the moment in her 2018 memoir, “My Love Story.”

“Mick and I could never just stand there and sing — that wasn’t us. We had to do something. He looked me over,” Turner wrote. “I was wearing a tight-fitting black leather top and skirt and I could see a naughty idea forming. ‘Does that skirt come off?’ he asked slyly. ‘What?’ was my startled reply.”

Jagger matter of factly told her, “’I’m going to take your skirt off.”

“I asked him why, but it was too late to talk it through, Mick had already made his mind up to do it,” she wrote.

Turner and Jagger had a shorthand due to their long friendship.

She shared in her book an anecdote about helping Jagger with his moves as young artists in the 1960s.

“Mick showed up at the dressing room I shared with our dancers and said in his unmistakable voice: ‘I like how you girls dance,’” Turner wrote. “Well, we had seen him strutting on stage with his tambourine and thought he looked a little awkward.”

She and her dancers taught Jagger how to do the Pony.

“Mick caught on fast but found it difficult to do certain steps,” Turner wrote. “Not that he ever gave us credit for his new fancy footwork. To this day, Mick likes to say: ‘My mother taught me how to dance.’ OK fine – but I know better.”

A month before her death in 2023, Turner spoke of her affection for Jagger and the Stones.

“I always had a crush on Mick Jagger,” Turner told The Guardian. “I loved when we toured with the Rolling Stones.”

The love was mutual.

“She was truly an enormously talented performer and singer,” Jagger wrote of Turner in a tribute to her. “She was inspiring, warm, funny and generous. She helped me so much when I was young and I will never forget her.”

Both were rock ‘n’ roll powerhouses who thrilled the audiences who watched Live Aid, a benefit concert organized by musicians Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to draw attention to a famine in Ethopia and raise money for relief efforts.

Decades later, the Turner and Jagger duet remains one of the highlights of the concert, which spanned multiple locations, drew an estimated 1.8 billion viewers and raised more than $125 million.

Their performance is a reminder of a time when the world could come together for music and charity in a shared experience that preceded social media.

Jagger remains a cultural force.

The 81-year-old toured with his famed band last year and joined another Live Aid alum, Elton John, for a state banquet held at Windsor Castle in honor of France’s President Emmanuel Macron.

Turner’s pop culture icon status has also endured, thanks, in part, most recently to Beyoncé.

There’s been speculation her anticipated “Act III” album will be rock ‘n’ roll themed. That theory heated up after Beyoncé, who performed with Turner and credits her as an artistic influence, recently wore a t-shirt during her Cowboy Carter Tour with Turner’s image.

Jagger and Turner ended their Live Aid performance by strutting off opposite sides of the stage, the band still playing.

“Thank you, Tina,” Jagger said into his mic, no longer in sight.