One of rock’s best vocalists and most fascinating performers, Tina Turner, died at the age of 83, according to her publicist.
The following statement was made public: “Tina Turner, the ‘Queen of Rock’n Roll,’ passed away peacefully today at the age of 83 in her home in Kusnacht, Switzerland, not far from Zurich.
“With her, the world loses a legend of music and a role model.”
Her health has recently been worse; in 2016 she was diagnosed with intestinal cancer, and in 2017 she had a kidney transplant.
Mick Jagger claimed that Tina Turner’s energetic, high-kicking live performances served as inspiration for his on-stage persona since they emphasized and reinforced the early signs of Black women in rock’n’roll.
She left her dominating husband, Ike Turner, with whom she had spent two decades performing music, and after a few failures, with the publication of the album Private Dancer, she became one of the major pop idols of the 1980s. She gave descriptions of her life in three memoirs, a biography, a jukebox musical, and the acclaimed documentary film Tina.
Turner remembers harvesting cotton as a girl with her family when she was growing up close to Nutbush, Tennessee. On November 26, 1939, Anna Mae Bullock became Turner.
She sang in the little town’s church choir as a teen and talked or sang her way into Ike’s band in St. Louis. Before hearing her enter the stage during a Kings of Rhythm performance to sing BB King’s You Know I Love You, he had initially rejected her.
After noticing her vocal prowess, Ike gave her the name Tina Turner and trademarked the name in case she left him and he wanted to replace her in his show. Turner tried to leave the group early when she sensed his unstable behavior, and he hit her with a wooden shoe stretcher as punishment. He became hostile right away.
According to Turner’s statement in her 2018 autobiography My Love Story, “Ike’s realization that I was going to be his moneymaker was the day our relationship was doomed.” “He needed to have control over me on a psychological and financial level so I could never leave him.”
She made her recorded debut under the name in July 1960 with the Ike and Tina Turner track A Fool in Love, which broke the US Top 30 and started a steady chart success. However, their live performances were what made them famous.
Due to their financial success, Ike and Tina Turner relentlessly toured the Chitlin’ Circuit with their revue, giving performances in front of diverse audiences. Live! was their first album to find success. The Warner Bros. imprint Loma Records released The Ike & Tina Turner Show in 1964.
Throughout the second part of the 1960s, the couple was courted by several of the biggest names in rock. Celebrities including David Bowie, Sly Stone, Cher, Elvis Presley, and Elton John visited their Las Vegas residency. They backed the Rolling Stones in the UK and the US. The 1966 single River Deep – Mountain High was created by Phil Spector.
In the 1970s, they dominated the charts and won Grammy awards. However, their success came to a stop when Turner and Ike separated in 1976 because Ike had a pattern of being aggressive and unfaithful.
She played Acid Queen, a character with the same name as her second solo album and the Who’s final single, in the 1975 film adaptation of Tommy, Baby, Get It On.
When the divorce was finally resolved in 1978, Turner only gained two cars and the rights to her stage name. In the film Tina, she stated that “Ike fought a little bit because he knew what I would do with it.”
Rest in peace, Tina.
