A lot of people are none too happy about a statue of Tina Turner that was unveiled on Saturday, September 27, in her hometown of Brownsville, Tennessee. It was displayed on Tina Turner Heritage Days, an annual event that’s held every fourth weekend of September.
The statue, created by Fred Ajanogha, stands 7 feet, 9 inches, and its base is 2 feet, making it 10 feet in total. It depicts the iconic singer performing in a miniskirt while holding a microphone, and the big, famous hairdo that she was known for is seen brushing against her shoulders.
The general complaint, which is often the case when people bash a statue, is that it looks nothing like the “Proud Mary” singer at all. “Was it donated or FREE? I hope nobody actually paid money for that,” one person tweeted.
But there are plenty of musician statues that have been praised by fans, and these five are some of the best.
John Lennon, Havana, Cuba
The statue of John Lennon was unveiled in 2000 and stands in Parque John Lennon, also known as John Lennon Park, located in Vedado, Havana, Cuba. It was unveiled by former Cuban President, Fidel Castro during a ceremony that took place on the twentieth anniversary of the singer’s death.
Castro spoke highly of Lennon since he personally connected with his revolutionary stance, which is far different from the dictator’s initial thoughts on his music, because he ordered a nationwide ban of The Beatles in 1964, believing that their songs perpetuated conspicuous consumption.
Freddie Mercury, Montreux, Switzerland
This statue of the late rocker is so good, so admired, that Queen used it for the cover of their last studio album, Made In Heaven. It’s been standing in Montreux, Switzerland, where Mercury lived and recorded since 1996, in front of Lake Geneva.
The piece was made by sculptor Irena Sedlecka, who said she saw Mercury for the first time in 1985 at the famous Live Aid concert at London’s Wembley Stadium. The statue was supposed to be erected in London but was sent to Montreux due to red tape and failed talks.
Bob Marley, Kingston, Jamaica
This figure is a must-see for anyone visiting Kingston, Jamaica. It was designed by Jamaican artist Alvin Marriott, and it’s been on display in the city’s Independence Park since 1985. The statue is one of the few that may not be an exact likeness of Marley, but it’s still wonderfully made, and tourists flock to it, then post photos online.
The Marley statue was unveiled by former Jamaican Prime Minister Edward Seaga, who the reggae legend famously stood next to, along with Prime Minister Michael Manley, at the 1978 One Love Peace Concert—a show that was created to ease political violence between the politician’s supporters.
Johnny Cash, Washington, D.C.
The effigy of Johnny Cash, created by artist Kevin Kresse, is the first musician statue to be donated to the National Statuary Hall Collection, located in the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. Two statues are sent to D.C. by each state to celebrate those with great achievement, and Kresse’s was donated in 2024.
The statue shows Cash at age 40, and it’s pretty much an exact replica of the late singer. He’s seen holding a Bible and has a guitar strapped to his back, while appearing to be in deep thought.
“He was a man of powerful Christian faith, but with the mind of a mystic, who respected all individual paths to God and all the mysteries of the universe,” his daughter, Rosanne Cash said at the unveiling ceremony.
The Beatles, Liverpool, England
Standing on Liverpool’s waterfront since 2015, the statue that shows Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, George Harrison, and John Lennon strolling down the street, is the spitting image of The Beatles—thanks to artist Andy Edwards going through a rigorous process.
“I had A Hard Day’s Night, the film, on loop, all the time,” Edwards once explained. “Whenever they moved their head in a certain way or there was a different angle, I’d model it in the clay. I wanted to get their likeness as close as possible from every direction you looked at them.”
Unfortunately, a lot of artists don’t seem to take the same painstaking measures when making their musician statues, which is why they’ve been ripped by people on social media and beyond. These five are some of the worst.
Michael Jackson, London, England
Now, we here at Screen Rant aren’t calling these statues the worst, it’s the people who’ve bellyached about them after their unveiling. The first is of the King of Pop, who had a statue in front of London’s Craven Cottage, where the Fulham Football Club has played since the 1800s.
The statue was removed in 2013 after being there for almost three years, but before that, people not only complained about how it looked, they said Jackson had nothing to do with English football.
In fact, the former owner of Fulham Football Club, Mohamed al-Fayed, is the one who decided to have the figure placed at Craven Cottage, saying he was a personal friend of the singer. Let’s just say the sad faces were far and few when the statue was taken down and driven away.
Beyoncé, New York City
The BeyHive, Beyoncé’s passionate fanbase, always protects their queen from internet slander and negative press, so it shouldn’t be surprising that they were among the loudest critics when Madame Tussauds in New York displayed a statue of the singer, which looked nothing like her.
The museum was also accused of removing Beyoncé’s Black features, with one person tweeting, “This is a melanin-defunct, lipless, thickless Bey.” The statue was eventually removed, touched up, and replaced. The museum then explained that they corrected the sculpture’s lighting, as well as its overall style.
Kurt Cobain, Aberdeen, Washington
When a statue of the late Nirvana legend was displayed in his hometown of Aberdeen, Washington to mark his 47th birthday, many weren’t thrilled about it, mostly because the piece, located in the city’s museum, shows him with a single tear spilling out of his eye.
Sculptor Randi Hubbard reportedly began making the statue shortly after Cobain committed suicide in 1994, and it was initially shot down by the city when offered. People online called the statue weird, creepy, and just plain wrong because of the lone tear.
Meanwhile, there were others who thought Cobain didn’t deserve a statue in Aberdeen since he spoke badly of the city and suffered from a heroin addiction.
Taylor Swift, Hamburg, Germany
“Honestly, it’s pretty horrible! FAIL.” That’s just one of the many comments from disappointed Taylor Swift fans after a statue was unveiled in Hamburg, Germany’s Panoptikum Wax Museum in 2024.
The museum got Swift’s outfit right, which is the sparkly blue one-piece that she wore at the 2019 iHeartRadio Music Awards, but her facial features were way off. “They did my girl so dirty,” someone vented on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Even the famous heart symbol that Swift uses was botched up, since she uses every finger when doing it, and the statue shows her making it with just three fingers on each hand.
Tupac Shakur, Stone Mountain, Georgia
Fans of Tupac Shakur could be called the most passionate fanbase in hip-hop, so any statue made in his image is going to cause a stir, whether good or bad.
In 1997, the year after Pac was killed, his mother Afeni Shakur opened the Tupac Amaru Shakur Center for the Arts, and a statue of her son stood outside. Afeni sold the arts center in 2015, and the statue was taken away. It then resurfaced five years later on social media and caused a big hubbub.
Some tweeted that the statue was erected in Dallas, but that turned out to be false. However, people still called the piece horrible and said it bears no resemblance to the “California Love” creator at all.
“If you gonna put a statue of Tupac Shakur up then actually make it look like him…I don’t know who this man is, but it sure isn’t Tupac,” one person tweeted. “Tupac would be furious at that statue,” wrote someone else.
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