Tina Turner Queen of Rock n’ Roll Dies at 83

The world of music has lost one of its greatest voices and visages, “The Queen of Rock n’ Roll,” Tina Turner.

Born Anna Mae Bullock in Brownsville, Tennessee, in 1939, Young Anna Mae lived with her grandmother after her parents moved temporarily away to Knoxville to work at a military installation during WWII. She reunited with her mother after the war, and after her mother had left her father, in St. Louis where she attended high school.

It was in St. Louis that the future Tina Turner (dubbed as such by Ike Turner) met, became a musical collaborator with and the love interest of Ike, who at that time was the bandleader with The Kings of Rhythm, a popular club touring band.

It was a dynamic, disciplined ensemble second only to the James Brown Revue, but until “Proud Mary,” it never achieved significant crossover success. Up to that point it had only one single in the pop Top 20 in the United States, “It’s Gonna Work Out Fine” in 1961. The group did generate several hits on the R&B charts, notably “I Idolize You,” “It’s Gonna Work Out Fine” and “Tra La La La La,” but most of its income came from a relentless touring schedule.

Ms. Turner’s relationship with Mr. Turner, whom she married in 1962 on a quick trip to Tijuana, Mexico, was turbulent. He was dictatorial, violent at times and, in the 1970s, hopelessly addicted to cocaine. She left him in 1976, with 36 cents and a Mobil gasoline card in her pocket, and divorced him two years later. He died of a cocaine overdose in 2007…

Their ensemble, soon renamed the Ike and Tina Turner Revue, became one of the premier touring soul acts in Black venues on the so-called chitlin’ circuit. After the Rolling Stones invited the group to open for them, first on a British tour in 1966 and then on an American tour in 1969, white listeners in both countries began paying attention.

The NY Times

Tina Turner was a knockout in every way. A force of nature as a singer and dancer and stage performer, Tina Turner had no equals.

She comes on like a hurricane. She dances and twists and shakes and sings and the impact is instant and total.

Ralph Gleason in The San Francisco Chronicle

Ike Turner was infamous as an abusive husband. When Tina finally left him while still in her thirties, her career floundered and she was left to do less than glamorous cabaret shows.

But Tina was just in between gigs as a pop/rock/R&B star. She had already had a taste of success sans Ike when she recorded one of producer Phil Spector‘s most consequential hits, “River Deep, Mountain High,” on which his famous “Wall of Sound” production technique demonstrated her full emotive powers. It was perfect for Tina, the at-heart, bigger than life, gospel singer.” “‘River Deep’ showed people what I had in me,” she said in her memoir, I, Tina.

Her next stab at the bigtime, now as a solo artist, came after signing with Roger Davies, the manager of Olivia Newton-John, in 1979. Under the wings of Davies, she returned to the gritty, snarly, sexy, hard-rocking style that had made her a crossover star with “Proud Mary,” while still singing with the Ike and Tina Turner Review.

Over the succeeding decades, Turner pounded out hit after hit, earned Grammy after Grammy, and launched a new career in acting, co-starring with Mel Gibson in 1985 in “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome” which also featured her huge chart-topper, “We Don’t Need Another Hero.”

But it was the 1985 smash “What’s Love Got to Do With It?” (also a 1993 film starring Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne) that powered her through the ensuing decades and established her as one of the most durable, memorable and cherished performers of all time.

“What’s Love Got to Do With It?” won three Grammys, for record of the year, song of the year and best female pop vocal performance, plus “Better Be Good To Me” won for best female rock vocal performance.

The album went on to sell five million copies and ignite a multi-million-dollar touring career that ensconced Ms. Turner as a worldwide phenomenon and legendary live performer. Her library of special appearances (see below) will wow audiences as long as music is part of our universe.

Tina Turner died at her home in Switzerland on May 24th 2023, after a lengthy illness.