TINA TURNER: Dead at 83

Tina Turner died today after an extended illness. She was 83.

• Tina was born Anna Mae Bullock on November 26th, 1939 in Nutbush, Tennessee.
• She met Ike Turner in 1960. He made her the centerpiece of the The Ike and Tina Turner Revue.
• Ike physically and mentally abused Tina.
• Tina went solo in the late 1970s after divorcing Ike.
• She won nine Grammy awards, including eight as a solo artist.
• She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (with Ike) in 1991.
• She became the subject of Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, a successful jukebox musical that opened in London in 2018 and New York in 2019.
• Tina leaves behind her two biological sons Raymond Hill and Ronald Turner, as well as two of Ike’s eldest sons, Ike Jr. and Michael.
• She’d spent the last part of her life as a tax exile in Switzerland.

Turner was one of music’s most beloved figures, with a career spanning more than five decades. Known for her vibrant performances and age-defying appearance, she was the Queen of Rock and Roll.

Turner was born Anna Mae Bullock in Nutbush, Tennessee. She got her professional start when she met Ike Turner in 1960 and became the riveting centerpiece of the The Ike and Tina Turner Revue. Their hits together include “A Fool in Love,” “It’s Gonna Work Out Fine,” “I Idolize You,” “Proud Mary” and the groundbreaking “River Deep, Mountain High.” They would eventually marry, but the union was notoriously volatile. Ike physically and mentally abused Tina for many of their years together, as documented in the 1993 bio-pic What’s Love Got to Do With It.

In the late 1970s, Tina divorced Ike, left the act and went solo. It was a complete re-invention — she ditched the bluesy, R&B numbers she’d become famous for and entered the pop-rock genre. 1984’s Private Dancer completed one of music’s most remarkable comebacks. The album sold more than 11 million copies worldwide and spun off the hits “Better Be Good to Me” and a cover of Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together,” in addition to the title track.

Tina would go on to win a number of Grammys and appeared in the Mel Gibson film in Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, for which she also recorded the hit “We Don’t Need Another Hero.”

Things slowed down for Tina in the U.S.in the early ‘90s, so she again re-invented herself, this time in Europe. She recorded more hit albums and embarked on sellout international tours, becoming one of the continent’s biggest selling and most revered artists. That success spawned the platinum-selling compilations Simply the Best and 24/7.

In 2008, she embarked on the Tina!: 50th Anniversary Tour, which was accompanied by the release of Tina! Her Greatest Hits. Her final show took place in Sheffield, England on May 5th, 2009.

In 2018, the jukebox musical Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, with Adrienne Warren playing Tina, successfully opened in London’s West End. The jukebox musical came to Broadway in 2019, and Warren won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical the next year.

Tina leaves behind her two biological sons Raymond Hill and Ronald Turner, as well as two of Ike’s eldest sons, Ike Jr. and Michael.