Perhaps Tina Turner, the amazing singer whose death at the age of 83 was announced this Wednesday, responded with the story of her life to the question that served as the title of her biggest hit: “What’s Love Got To Do With It?” love with it ?).
Traumatized by a horribly abusive marriage, blessed with a voice that made her the queen of the stage, The suicide of one of her children and the death of another shook her and she eventually retired from public life Living in Switzerland with her new husband, Tina survived it all thanks to that rare mix of talent, passion and most importantly, love that ultimately seems to have everything to do with it and was precisely her salvation.
In five keys, we narrate some of the moments that shaped the life and astronomical music career of the “Queen of Rock & Roll”. An artist who critics say paved the way for women in the genre and sealed her legacy with a long list of hits for history.
Tina Turner during a concert in Cologne, Germany on January 14, 2009. AP
Proud Maria and the beginning of commercial success
Her biggest hit as part of the duo with her first husband, guitarist Ike Turner, with whom she began her musical career, was Proud Mary in 1970.
However, there are also hits like River Deep, Mountain High (1972), Love Nutbush City Limits (1973), Love Nutbush City Limits (1973), Let’s Stay Together (1984), What’s Love Got to Do With it (1984) in his career ) and We Don’t Need Another Hero (1985).
“What’s love…”, a song he came up with after John Carter, a producer at Capital Records, suggested he make a studio album, he didn’t like it at first because he thought it was “old” and “garish”.
However, when the 1984 album Private Dancer, which included the song, hit music stores, the song became her biggest hit to date.
A private dancer It sold more than eight million copies.earned him four Grammy Awards, and “What’s Love Got to Do With” won song of the year.
Her stormy marriage to Ike Turner and her escape as a solo artist
The singer was married to Ike Turner for 16 years (they had met when she was 17 and 25, but their romantic relationship began years later).
From that point on, as she revealed in her official biography (My Love Story: Turner, Tina), she was forever marked by physical and mental abuse: “My relationship with Ike was ruined when he realized I was his machine to produce money.” he once told. “I had to control myself financially and psychologically so I could never leave him.”
When Tina once explained what a personal hell she was, she told about it Her husband forced her to change her name from Anna Mae Bullock to Tina Turner. When she refused, Ike first verbally abused her. Failing to do so, he took a wooden shoe tree and hit her on the head. “Ike knew what he was doing. When you play guitar, you never use your fists to hit someone,” he said.
Ike and Tina Turner performing in Los Angeles in March 1976. Getty Images
In her memoirs, the artist wrote that the abuse worsened over time. Ike’s punishments, he said, could range from hot coffee in the face to beatings and asphyxiation to rape.
“He used my nose as a punching bag so many times that I could taste the blood running down my throat when I sang,” she wrote in her bio.
[Sigue activa la alerta amarilla fase tres por la actividad del volcán Popocatépetl]
This phase of his life was captured in the 1993 film What’s Love Got to Do With It, starring Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne.
It was precisely one musical theme, River Deep, Mountain High (1972) that he put together with music producer Phil Spector, whom he had met in 1966, that opened doors for him as a solo performer and eventually showed him the way to their torrid relationship escape.
On July 4, 1978, after suffering another caning in Dallas, he was on his way to a Hilton hotel. Tina took advantage of the fact that Ike was sleeping.He packed his bags and closed this chapter of his life. The date became his personal Independence Day.
Flowers at Tina Turner’s Star in Hollywood on May 24, 2023. AP
Attempted suicide with a drug bottle
The abuses led the artist attempt suicide One night in 1968: A doctor had prescribed sleeping pills and Tina decided to take the whole bottle to end her life.
“I was sad when I woke up. I came out of the darkness believing that I had to survive,” she commented on the episode in her memoir.
When Ike commented on the fact in 2000, he affirmed, “I never knew how he felt.” [Tina]’, limiting himself to saying that the suicide attempt was nothing more than the way the artist found to ‘get attention’.
Tina Turner, at the American Music Awards, in Los Angeles, January 1995. AP
The suicide of one son and the death of another
The singer suffered another tragedy on July 3, 2018 when his eldest son, Craig Raymond Turner, shot himself at the age of 59 in Los Angeles.
Raymond Turner was born on August 20, 1958 as a result of the artist’s relationship with saxophonist Raymond Hill. The couple had separated two months before the child was born when Tina was 18.
[Target retira productos de su colección LGBTQ+ por las reacciones violentas de algunos compradores]
Recommended
In her memoirs, Tina recalls the last conversation she had with her son at the end of June this year: “Mom, I’m really happy,” Tina told her, “You gave me courage and good advice.”
“Craig was a troubled soul,” Tina wrote in her bio.
Ronnie, another of his sons, this result of her marriage to Ikealso died in 2022 as a result of colon cancer.
The singer also had two adopted sons, Ike Jr. and Michael, from a relationship before Ike.
Switzerland as the country of choice and renunciation of US citizenship
Tina and Erwin Bach, a German music executive, began dating in the mid-1980s.
After marriage in 2013 The couple decided to move to Küsnacht, Switzerland.
Tina Turner and her husband Erwin Bach on July 3, 2018 in Paris, France. Getty Images
Tina’s break with her past was complete and included relinquishing her US citizenship.
In the last years of his life he suffered from health problems and accompanied by her new husband, who reportedly donated her a kidney when the singer developed kidney problems: “The magnitude of her offering was overwhelming,” she once explained.
Turner died in Switzerland of a long, unknown illness, his manager said on Wednesday.
Tina Turner has won 8 Grammy Awards. She was inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in 2021 as a soloist, although she was previously represented by Ike Turner in 1991. In addition to her extensive musical career spanning more than five decades, she starred in the film Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985) and the rock opera Tommy (1975).