The singer said the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity cut her dream short of portraying the iconic singer.
Singer Chanel Haynes had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to perform "Gimme Shelter" with the Rolling Stones in Milan, Italy. She took it, but, somehow, the other shoe dropped -- the gig appears to have resulted in Haynes getting fired from her dream role of portraying Tina Turner in London's West End musical.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, the New Orleans native told the venerable magazine that she was canned from the Tina musical and barred from completing the final three shows shortly after accepting a last-minute invitation from The Stones to fly from London to Milan to replace backup singer, Sasha Allen, who had to bow out due to an unspecified reason.
"Gimme Shelter" has been a staple in the Rolling Stones' setlist for decades now, and a duet between Mick Jagger and Allen. The band was told about Haynes, and after watching some of her past performances the band wondered if she could fly up to Italy, stat.
"I can't say exactly when I got the call because I don't want to give timelines," she told Rolling Stone. "But I'll tell you that there was very little notice. Very little. Everybody was biting their nails. 'How are we going to pull this off' But I tell you the machine the Stones have is like Buckingham Palace or the White House. They have the same level of personnel. Next thing I knew, I was on a plane to Milan."
Haynes said she and Jagger only ran through the track once during rehearsal, and it was a hit.
"We're just in each other's face going 'just a shot away!' in a little room," she explained. "He had this little smirk on his face the whole time. When we were done, makeup, catering, and everyone else there started clapping like, 'This is going to work!'"
And it did. Except, elation turned into deflation.
According to Haynes, she took to Instagram and shared an email she got from the Tina musical general manager informing her to “not attend the theatre or any place of work until the suspension has been lifted or investigation has been completed and you have been informed of any decision made." The general manager added, "The theater will be informed that you are not permitted to enter.”
According to Rolling Stone, Haynes, a two-time GRAMMY-nominated artist, declined to share details of the suspension but insists it's directly related to her gig with The Rolling Stones on the same night Tina was scheduled.
"I will say that if you're on the West End, there's no one person that can stop a show," she said. "It's not designed that way. Ultimately, everything was fine. There was a show and a show happened, as did the [Stones] show in Milan. All the shows happened, and I was happy about that."
In a statement to Rolling Stone, a rep for the musical said it's company policy not to comment on personnel-related individual cases.
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