Tina Turner (1939-2023): An Unmatched Legend
To call her “Simply the Best” is an understatement. Generations of fans have adored her, and though she has passed, she will never be forgotten.
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Born Anna Mae Bullock, Tina Turner was born on Nov. 26, 1939 in Brownsville, Tenn., and spent her early life on a farm in nearby Nutbush where her father worked as the farm’s overseer. As a child, she moved several times between her parents and grandmother. Eventually, she moved to be with her mother in St. Louis. It was there that her future began to take hold.
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One night she saw Ike Turner, performing in the Manhattan Club in East St. Louis, Ill., and asked if she could sing with his band. He turned her down, but wound up impressing him with her singing talents during a show in 1957. Turner, already a prolific musician, incorporated her voice into his sound. By 1960, the two had found their way into the recording studio with a tune Ike Turner had written entitled, “A Fool In Love.” To create a performance character around Bullock, Turner gave her the stage name ‘Tina.’
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The two married in 1962, and nearly from the beginning of their relationship, Turner became abusive. It began while he was involved with a different woman, and according to her autobiography ‘I, Tina’ she decided to stay with him despite his violent tendencies. Professionally they formed The Ike & Tina Turner Revue and became one of the most well-known and powerful R&B acts of the 1960s, and arguably one of the greatest live music acts of all time.
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Joined with backup singers The Ikettes, the duo recorded a string of unstoppable hits that helped to define Black music over the course of several decades including ‘River Deep – Mountain High,” “I’m Fed Up,” “It’s Gonna Work Out Fine,” and their signature song “Proud Mary,” a cover of the 1969 Creedence Clearwater Revival hit. Turner transformed the song from a bluesy guitar strum to a high-energy stage explosion.
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By the mid-1970s, Ike and Tina Turner were household names, but behind the scenes, it was anything but magic. Ike’s abuse of both Tina and drugs had destroyed their marriage and their music career. After a 1976 physical fight between the two, Tina left her husband, having virtually no money. She soon filed for divorce. Over a two year period they wound up splitting their professional properties, but Tina was adamant that she keep her stage name.
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Although she continued to perform, Tina had to rebuild her career, sometimes having to play the same types of small nightclubs she did years earlier to pay off her debts. She continued to sing and slowly with the aid of celebrities who invited her to perform in their shows like the Rolling Stones and Rod Stewart, whom she performed with on ‘Saturday Night Live’ in 1981.
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In 1984, Turner released her fourth studio album “Private Dancer” one of the most successful pop albums of the decade, certified five-times platinum, featuring her only Billboard Hot 100 hit “What’s Love Got To Do With It,” and selling more than 10 million copies. She joined fellow pop superstar Lionel Richie on his tour after the strength of her act had been proven. “Private Dancer” won four Grammy awards, including Record of the Year and Song of the Year.
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Turner’s fame began to skyrocket higher than before. Her “Private Dancer” worldwide tour sold $40 million in box office sales. She also sang on the USA For Africa charity song “We Are The World.” Even Hollywood came calling when she starred opposite Mel Gibson in the third of his post-apocalyptic sci-fi thrillers, “Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome,” introducing her to a new generation of fans through her song off its soundtrack “We Don’t Need Another Hero.”
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For her contributions in music, Turner has been honored many times over. She has won eight Grammy awards, had a star placed on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1986, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991 with Ike Turner, and alone in 2021. She received a Kennedy Center Honor in 2005 along with Tony Bennett, Robert Redford, Julie Harris, and Suzanne Farrell.
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Tina Turner continued to be one of the most prolific music artists in the world. Her “Twenty-Four Seven” tour in 2000 was the highest grossing of all tours that year. Her final tour, 2008’s “Tina!: 50th Anniversary Tour" grossed $132 million in box office sales. Tina Turner’s shows are estimated to have grossed more than $500 million in sales.
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Tina Turner also inspired and opened doors for generations of newer performers whose stage presence descends directly from hers. During the Kennedy Center Honors in 2005, Beyoncé paid tribute to her, saying “every now and then, I think of the two Tina’s in my life, that’s my mother Tina (Knowles) and of course, the amazing Tina Turner….I never in my life saw a woman so powerful, so fearless, so fabulous…”
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