Tina Turner, the singer known for soul classics and pop hits such as The Best and What’s Love Got to Do With It, has died at 83.
Turner had a history of health problems, including cancer, a stroke, and kidney failure.
In the 1960s, she and husband Ike became prominent with songs such as Proud Mary and River Deep, Mountain High.
She divorced Ike in 1978 and succeeded even more as a solo artist in the 1980s.
Tina Turner was dubbed the “Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll” for her raunchy and energetic stage performances, as well as her husky, powerful vocals.
Her death was announced on her Instagram account.
“With her music and boundless passion for life, she enchanted millions of fans around the world and inspired the stars of tomorrow,” according to the post.
“Today, we say goodbye to a dear friend who leaves us all her greatest work: her music.”
Turner received eight Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist in 2021, after being inducted alongside Ike Turner in 1991.
The Hall of Fame noted that she had “expanded the once-limited idea of how a Black woman could conquer a stage and be both a powerhouse and a multidimensional being” upon her solo induction.
Younger stars who have felt her influence include Beyoncé, Janet Jackson, Janelle Monae, and Rihanna.
‘Force of nature
Roger Davies, Turner’s 30-year manager, said in a statement, “Tina was a unique and remarkable force of nature with her strength, incredible energy, and immense talent.”
“She believed in herself completely from the first day I met her in 1980 when few others did… “I’ll miss her terribly,” he added.
Gloria Gaynor, an American singer who rose to prominence in the 1960s, said Turner “paved the way for so many women in rock music, black and white.”
Supermodel Naomi Campbell, basketball legend Magic Johnson, and singers Kelly Rowland, Ciara, and Blondie’s Debbie Harry also paid tribute.
Sir Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones said on Instagram that Turner was “inspiring, warm, funny, and generous” to him when he was younger.
Sir Elton John, who wrote about the pair’s heated arguments while attempting to collaborate in 1997 in his autobiography, called her one of the world’s “most exciting and electric performers.”
Viola Davis, an actress, lauded Turner as “our first symbol of excellence and unbridled ownership of sexuality!!”
Simply the best
She rose to prominence as a backup singer for her husband’s band, The Kings of Rhythm, after being born into a sharecropping family in Tennessee.
She quickly took over as frontwoman for the band, and the couple enjoyed commercial success with Fool in Love and It’s Gonna Work Out Fine, both of which charted in the United States in the early 1960s.
Their other hit was 1973’s Nutbush City Limits, which was about Tina’s hometown. But Ike’s physical and emotional abuse were having an effect.
He was the one who changed her name from Anna Mae Bullock to Tina Turner without her knowledge, just one example of his domineering behavior.
In her 2018 memoir, My Love Story, she recalled the trauma she experienced throughout their relationship, comparing sex with the late musician to “a kind of rape.”
“He used my nose as a punching bag so many times that I could taste blood running down my throat when I sang,” she explained.
After leaving her abuser, she rebuilt her career and went on to become one of the biggest pop and rock stars of the 1980s and 1990s, with hits such as Let’s Stay Together, Steamy Windows, Private Dancer, James Bond theme GoldenEye, I Don’t Wanna Fight, and It Takes Two, a duet with Rod Stewart.
She also appeared as the Acid Queen in the 1985 film Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, which featured another of her hits, We Don’t Need Another Hero, and in The Who’s 1975 rock opera, Tommy.
Her second husband, German music executive Erwin Bac, brought her happiness. They started dating in the mid-1980s and married in 2013.
Turner obtained Swiss citizenship while living in Switzerland. In 2017, he donated one of his kidneys to her after it was discovered she had kidney failure.
In 2018, she also experienced tragedy with the suicide of her eldest son Craig. Raymond Hill, Turner’s former bandmate, was his father.
Another son, Ronnie, died in 2022, as the son of Ike Turner. She also had two adopted sons, Ike Jr. and Michael, who were Ike’s children from a previous marriage.
Tina’s life story inspired a 1993 biopic titled What’s Love Got To Do With It, for which Angela Bassett received an Oscar nomination for her performance as the star, as well as a hit stage musical titled Tina: The Musical. In 2021, she was also the subject of the HBO documentary Tina.
Turner told Marie Claire South Africa in 2018: “People think my life has been difficult, but I think it’s been a wonderful journey.” The older you get, the more you realize that what happened isn’t as important as how you deal with it.”
