Tina Turner, the Queen of Rock’n Roll best known for her powerfully raw vocals and blistering performances, died after a long illness at her residence in Switzerland. She was 83 years old.
Her manager released a statement, saying, “It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Tina Turner. With her music and her boundless passion for life, she enchanted millions of fans around the world and inspired the stars of tomorrow. Today we say goodbye to a dear friend who leaves us all her greatest work: her music. All our heartfelt compassion goes out to her family. Tina, we will miss you dearly.”
Tina Turner’s career started in the 1950s in rock and roll’s early stages, eventually evolving into an MTV phenomenon. She was born Anna Mae Bullock in 1939 in the rural Tennesse town of Nutbush, which she detailed in the 1973 song “Nutbush City Limits” as a “quiet, one-horse town.” Ike Turner, a rock and roll pioneer in his own right, discovered Turner when she was 17 after she grabbed the mic to sing at his St. Louis show in 1957.
Ike recorded a hit song with Tina, “A Fool In Love,” and later gave her the stage name Tina Turner before the couple married in Mexico. Tina used her robust voice and vigorously rehearsed dance routines as the lead singer of the Ike and Tina Turne Revue ensemble. She collaborated with rock and roll royalty, like Phil Specter and The Who, in the 1960s and 1970s, gracing the cover of Rolling Stone twice.
After years of a tumultuous relationship, detailed in her biopic “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” Tina left Ike in 1976 after a Dallas tour stop, where the two got into a physical altercation during a car ride; their divorce was finalized in 1978. The duo was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1991, described as “one of the most formidable live acts in history.”
Tina spent years struggling to regain popularity after leaving Ike, releasing singles and solo albums that flopped and taking jobs at corporate conferences. However, her luck turned around in 1980 when she met her new manager Roger Davies. Their partnership led to Tina’s number-one solo single, “What’s Love Got to Do With It.” In 1984, her album “Private Dancer” reached the top of the charts.
“Private Dancer” became Turner’s biggest album, the capstone of a career that saw her sell over 200 million records. Turner won six of her eight Grammy Awards in the 1980s. The decade saw her land a dozen songs on the Top 40, including “Typical Male,” “The Best,” and “Better Be Good to Me.” Her 1988 show in Rio de Janeiro drew 180,000 people, one of the largest concert audiences for any single performer.
After marrying her longtime partner, German music executive Erwin Bach, Turner became a Switzerland resident. She battled several health problems after retiring. In 2018 she faced a family tragedy when her oldest son, Craig, took his life at age 59 in Los Angeles. Her younger son Ronnie died in December 2022.
Still, Turner’s name and story continued to draw in audiences years after her retirement. The musical stage show “TINA: The Tina Turner Musical” was an instant hit in London and later on Broadway and is still running. In 2021, HBO released a documentary about her life titled “Tina.” She leaves behind her husband, Erwin, and two of Ike Turner’s sons, whom she adopted.