With her distinctive voice and commanding stage presence, Tina Turner secured her status as the “Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll” with a catalog of powerful hits that showcased her boundless energy and raspy vocals.
And her international fame came despite a harsh upbringing in a Tennessee farming community and abusive relationships with both her father and guitarist and former husband Ike Turner.
Her unique talents, which have earned her eight Grammys and sold 180 million albums worldwide, have inspired some of the most successful artists of our time – including Beyoncé and Rihanna.
And she also took credit for teaching Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger to dance – revealing to the Chron in 2017 that she taught him to move the pony in the 1960s.
Turner died peacefully at her home in Küsnacht near Zurich, Switzerland, after a long illness, her representative said.
Turner died peacefully at her home in Küsnacht near Zurich, Switzerland, after a long illness, her representative said
Tina used her strong voice and diligently rehearsed dance routines as the lead singer in the Ike and Tina Turner Revue. The two married in Mexico in 1962. Pictured in 1975, three years before their divorce
In 1985, Turner met German music executive Erwin Bach, who became her longtime partner. In July 2013, she married Bach, gave up her US citizenship and became a Swiss citizen
Turner began her career in the 1950s, in the early years of rock ‘n’ roll, and went on to become an MTV phenomenon.
In the video for her hit song “What’s Love Got to Do with It,” in which she described love as “a second-hand feeling,” Turner embodied 1980s style as she walked the streets of New York with her spiky blonde hair York City strutted. wears a short denim jacket, a mini skirt and stilettos.
With her penchant for musical experimentation and outspoken ballads, Turner fitted perfectly into the pop landscape of the 1980s, in which music fans valued electronically generated sounds and despised the idealism of the hippie era.
Sometimes referred to as the “Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll,” Turner won six of her eight Grammy Awards in the 1980s. During that decade, she charted a dozen songs in the Top 40, including “Typical Male,” “The Best,” “Private Dancer,” and “Better Be Good to Me.” Their 1988 show in Rio de Janeiro drew 180,000 people, which remains one of the largest concert audiences of any single artist.
At this point, Turner had not been married to guitarist Ike Turner in a decade.
The superstar has been open about the abuse she suffered at the hands of her ex-husband during their marital and musical partnership in the 1960s and 1970s. She described bruised eyes, split lips, a broken jaw, and other injuries that kept sending her to the emergency room.
“Tina’s story is not one of sacrifice, but of incredible triumph,” singer Janet Jackson wrote of Turner in an issue of Rolling Stone, which ranked Turner #63 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
“She’s transformed into an international sensation — an elegant powerhouse,” Jackson said.
Beyoncé performs with Tina Turner at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, California February 10, 2008
Rock legend Tina Turner, the snarling singer who has electrified audiences since the 1960s and released hit records for over five decades, has died at the age of 83
Gymnasts in the 1960s
Tina Turner poses for a portrait at home in December 1984 in Los Angeles, California
Turner at a White House reception in December 2005
In 1985, Turner gave a fictional twist to her reputation as a survivor. She played the ruthless leader of an outpost in a nuclear wasteland and starred opposite Mel Gibson in the third installment of the Mad Max series, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.
Most of Turner’s hits were written by others, but she enlivened them with a voice that New York Times music critic Jon Pareles called “one of the quirkiest instruments in pop.”
“It is constructed in three stages, with a nasal low register, a howling, cutting middle register, and a high register so startlingly clear it sounds like a falsetto,” wrote Pareles in a 1987 concert review.
‘ONE HORSE CITY’
She was born Anna Mae Bullock on November 26, 1939 in the rural community of Nutbush, Tennessee, which she described in her 1973 song “Nutbush City Limits” as “a quiet little ole community, a one-horse town.”
Her father worked as a farm overseer and her mother abandoned the family when the singer was 11, according to the singer’s 2018 memoir My Love Story. As a teenager, she moved to St. Louis to rejoin her mother.
Ike Turner, whose 1951 song “Rocket 88” is often credited as the first rock ‘n’ roll record, discovered her at age 17 when she grabbed the microphone to perform at his 1957 club show in St. to sing Louis.
The band leader later recorded the hit “A Fool In Love” with his protégé and gave her the stage name Tina Turner before the two married in Tijuana, Mexico.
The release of River Deep – Mountain High in 1966 boosted their worldwide popularity, and a UK tour followed with the Rolling Stones as the band’s support act.
Turner developed a close bond with Stones frontman Jagger – and even garnered acclaim for his distinctive dance moves, telling the Chron in 2017: “Mick wanted to dance – and I was a dancer – but he never gave me the credit! He said his mother taught him to dance. But we worked with him in the dressing room, me and the girls, and we taught him how to ride a pony.’
Jagger paid a touching tribute to Turner on Wednesday, writing on Instagram, “I am so saddened by the passing of my wonderful friend Tina Turner.” She truly was an enormously talented performer and singer. She was inspirational, warm, funny and generous. She helped me a lot in my youth and I will never forget her.’
Mick Jagger and Tina Turner in 1987
Turner performing with Mick Jagger in 1989. She previously claimed to have taught the Rolling Stones frontman how to dance, telling the Chron: ‘We worked with him in the dressing room, me and the girls, and we taught him how to ride a pony.’
Tina used her strong voice and diligently rehearsed dance routines as the lead singer in the Ike and Tina Turner Revue. In the 1960s and 1970s she worked with members of rock’s premier league, including The Who and Phil Spector, and appeared on the cover of the second issue of Rolling Stone magazine in 1967.
Ike and Tina Turner moved between record companies and owed much of their commercial success to a relentless touring schedule. Her biggest hit was a cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Proud Mary.”
Turner left her husband one night in 1976 at a Dallas tour stop after he beat her during a car ride and hit her back, her memoir says. Their divorce was finalized in 1978.
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inducted Ike and Tina Turner in 1991 and called them “one of the most impressive live acts in history”. Ike Turner died in 2007.
Turner shakes hands with King Charles III, then Prince of Wales, while standing in a line with other rock stars including Paul McCartney and Rod Stewart
Tina Turner with David Bowie in 1985
EUROPE BOUND
For years after leaving her husband, Turner struggled to regain the limelight, releasing solo albums and singles that flopped and appearing at corporate conferences.
In 1980 she met new manager Roger Davies, an Australian music executive who managed her for three decades. This led to a #1 solo – “What’s Love Got to Do With It” – and in 1984 her album Private Dancer topped the charts.
Private Dancer became Turner’s biggest album, the capstone of a career that saw her sell more than 100 million records.
In 1985, Turner met German music executive Erwin Bach, who became her longtime partner. In 1988 she moved to London and began a decade-long residency in Europe.
In the 1990s, she released two studio albums that sold well, particularly in Europe, recorded the theme song for the 1995 Bond film GoldenEye, and embarked on a successful world tour in 2008 and 2009.
Turner’s palatial lakefront home in Küsnach near Zurich, Switzerland
Turner is survived by her husband, 68-year-old Erwin Bach, and two adult sons
After that she retired from show business. She married Bach, gave up her US citizenship and became a Swiss citizen.
After her retirement, she struggled with a number of health issues. In her 2018 memoir, excerpts of which were published in the Chron, Turner told the haunting story of how Bach gave her the gift of life by donating his kidney to her in 2016.
In 2018, she faced family tragedy when her eldest son, Craig, took his own life in Los Angeles at the age of 59. Their younger son Ronnie died in December 2022.
Turner told The New York Times in 2019, “I don’t necessarily want to be a ‘strong’ person.” I’ve had a terrible life. I just kept going.
“You just keep going and hoping something comes along.”
Her name continues to draw audiences years after her retirement. The musical stage show ‘TINA: The Tina Turner Musical’, which first starred Adrienne Warren and sang the life story of the star, was a hit first in London’s West End and later on Broadway in 2018 and is still running.
And in 2021, HBO released a documentary about her life, “Tina.”
She is survived by Bach and two sons by Ike, whom she adopted.