TEGUCIGALPA, HONDURAS.—Tina Turner and Ike They had met 20 years earlier in Saint-Louis, central Missouri. Tina who was still being called Anna Mae BullockShe was only 16 and sang for Kings of Rhythm, the blues group of Ike Turner, eight years her senior.
With Ike, Tina, born on November 26, 1939 in Nutbush, Tennessee, escapes her fate as the daughter of divorced workers who is placed as a maid at a young age.
But she also discovers the violence of a man who decides everything and makes her change her first and last name.
The Ike and Tina Turner Revue became one of the country’s most popular black bands in the 1960s.
But the group, which plays at the hellish pace of 270 concerts a year, is struggling to break the black circuit.
Things changed in 1966 when Ike and his musicians opened the Rolling Stones’ UK tour, opening the door to European success for the couple.
England will also be the occasion for Tina Turner to start her film career with “Tommy” (1975), the rock opera by the British pioneers of the mod movement The Who.
But Ike resents his wife’s success until his victim finally flees in 1976.
Tina regularly changes her hiding place to escape her pursuer. In the end she gets divorced and takes refuge in Buddhism.
But the debts piled up and his career seemed to fall by the wayside. Until the day he meets Australian producer Roger Davies, who had already revived Joe Cocker’s career.
The resurrection
Roger changes everything: appearance, musicians, repertoire and gives the singer a very rocking boost. Tina returns to the stage alongside giants like Mick Jagger, Rod Stewart and David Bowie.
In 1983, Tina revisits the 1971 hit “Let’s Stay Together,” which marks her resurrection. But it wasn’t until this song reached number six in the UK Singles Chart that the single was finally released in America.
The following year is the year of consecration with the album Private Dancer, whose authorship was signed by guitarist Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits).
With “What’s Love Got To Do With It” Tina finally makes it to the top of the charts in her home country.
In cinema, he triumphed in the third film of “Mad Max” with Mel Gibson in 1985 and marked another success: “We Don’t Need Another Hero”.
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