Tina Turner

Singer

• Born: November 26, 1939
• Birthplace: Nutbush, Tennessee
• Died: May 24, 2023
• Place of death: Küsnacht, Switzerland

Known for her electric stage presence and robust vocals, Turner became one of the most accomplished rock-and-roll singers of all time. After first ascending to stardom in the 1960s, she returned to prominence as a solo artist in the 1980s. During her career she sold more than 100 million copies of her albums and singles, making her one of the bestselling musical artists ever, and also earned much critical acclaim.

Early Life

Tina Turner was born Anna Mae Bullock in Nutbush, near Brownsville, Tennessee, and raised in a plantation shack in the segregated town. She was the younger of two daughters born to Zelma and Floyd Richard Bullock; her sister, Alline, was three years her senior. Turner’s mother was a spirited woman of Native American heritage, while her father was a farmer and church deacon. The couple fought bitterly throughout her childhood; Turner was largely treated as an unwanted child—the product of a stormy marriage—and afforded very little attention.

Turner’s early life was turbulent and unstable. When she was only a small child, her family was split apart: Alline went to live with their mother’s family, and Turner was sent to live with her father’s relatives. Deeply religious and strict, they were ill prepared to handle the feisty young Turner, who often found herself in trouble and was generally unhappy under their care. Turner was briefly reunited with her family in Knoxville before her parents separated, deserting both daughters, who were left in the care of an aunt. After this point, neither Turner nor Alline had any meaningful contact with their parents for some time, and both were forced to take jobs to support themselves.

In 1956, the children’s aunt died, and both Turner and Alline were reunited with their mother, who took them both to St. Louis to reside with her. A talented singer with experience in church music, Turner frequented the nightclubs of St. Louis with her sister and their friends in search of further musical opportunities. At the age of seventeen, she visited the Club D’Lisa to see a rising rhythm-and-blues group, Ike Turner and the Kings of Rhythm. Ike Turner was a charismatic, talented young man who reveled in his newfound celebrity status and the financial benefits it entailed. Turner later recalled of the singer-guitarist: “I almost went into a trance just watching him.” After weeks of watching the Kings of Rhythm perform, Turner was invited onstage to sing with the band. The crowd responded enthusiastically, and Ike was thoroughly impressed. Soon thereafter, he offered Turner a permanent spot singing backup vocals with his band.

Life’s Work

Turner soon became Ike’s sidekick in the band, serving as lead vocalist and becoming the main draw in all his live performances; the relationship cemented what would come to be known as the Ike and Tina Turner Revue. Their first hit on the rhythm-and-blues charts, “A Fool in Love” (1960), also crossed over to reach the Top 30 on the US pop charts. In the wake of the song’s success, Turner adopted the stage name Tina Turner, although she did not formally wed Ike until 1962. The song was followed by the Grammy-nominated “It’s Gonna Work Out Fine,” recorded with the pop duo Mickey and Sylvia, which reached number fourteen on the Billboard Top 100. Despite their inability to score a number one single on the pop charts, Turner and Ike became renowned as a live act, performing on national television and receiving praise from a host of famed rock artists.

In 1966, Ike and Turner embarked upon a collaboration with producer Phil Spector that would seal their reputation as a musical act: the iconic single “River Deep, Mountain High.” Although the song—which Spector considered the pinnacle of his artistic achievement—was credited to both Turners, in reality, Spector had bribed Ike to leave the recording sessions; thus, Turner and Spector ultimately worked alone together on the track. The song, which employs Spector’s famous “Wall of Sound” production technique, reached number three on the British charts but was overlooked during its initial release in the United States. Nonetheless, the song became one of Turner’s most celebrated works and a staple of her live shows.

After the success of “River Deep, Mountain High” in the United Kingdom, the Ike and Tina Turner Revue became an international phenomenon. The pair opened for the Rolling Stones in 1966 and 1969 and kept to an active performance schedule in the United States. In 1968, their album Outta Season stirred controversy: Its cover depicted the Turners in whiteface, eating watermelon. The image was intended to express the idea that African American musicians needed to appear “more white” to be commercially accepted in the music industry. Their 1969 album, The Hunter, earned Turner a Grammy nomination for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for the bluesy song “Bold Soul Sister.”

In 1970, Ike and Turner covered Sly and the Family Stone’s psychedelic single “I Want to Take You Higher.” Their version outperformed the original song on the US pop charts. That year, the Turners also debuted their cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Proud Mary” on The Ed Sullivan Show. The song, which reached number four on the U.S. charts, represents the height of the Ike and Tina Turner Revue’s success as pop artists and earned them a Grammy the next year for Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group. The group next released Nutbush City Limits (1973)—named for Turner’s hometown in Tennessee—and The Gospel According to Ike and Tina (1974).

In 1975, Turner starred in the musical film Tommy, based on the Who’s 1969 rock opera of the same name. Turner played the role of the Acid Queen, an LSD-dealing gypsy who sells drugs to the troubled Tommy. She performed the Pete Townshend song “Acid Queen” for the film’s sound track. Critics hailed Turner’s performance as an actor and singer.

By this time, the Ike and Tina Turner Revue’s commercial success had begun to decline, and the couple’s marriage was becoming increasingly rocky. Ike was a controlling perfectionist in the studio, and his demands led to bitter disputes between the couple; Turner later accused him of drug use and physical abuse. After a fight with Ike during a tour, Turner abruptly left the group and fled to a Ramada Inn with only the change in her pocket. She subsequently filed for divorce, relinquishing her financial stake in the band in return for the continued use of her stage name.

Turner went on to initially mixed success as a solo artist, faring far better in Europe than in the United States before making a significant comeback in the 1980s. Her 1984 album Private Dancer became a major hit, winning four Grammy Awards and becoming a best selling album, with worldwide sales of over 20 million copies. 1985 saw her costar in the Mel Gibson film Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, for which she also recorded two soundtrack songs that saw chart success. In 1986, she released the album Break Every Rule as well as her autobiography, I, Tina, which detailed her rise to stardom and her turbulent marriage to Ike. The book was eventually adapted into the film What’s Love Got to Do with It (1993); Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne both were nominated for Academy Awards for their portrayals of Turner and Ike, and Turner’s work on the film’s sound track was well received. She built on her success with a major European tour and another Grammy win in 1988, followed by the album Foreign Affair in 1989. The album, bolstered by the hit single "The Best," was another commercial success, especially in Europe.

Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Turner continued to record and tour. Notably, in 1995 she recorded the title song for the James Bond film GoldenEye. She released the studio albums Wildest Dreams (1996) and Twenty Four Seven (1999). In 2005, she received a Kennedy Center Honor from President George W. Bush. Bush famously commented that, in addition to being one of the most talented singers in history, Turner also possessed “the most famous legs in show business.” After going into semi-retirement, Turner reemerged in 2008 for the "Tina! 50th Anniversary Tour," which was highly successful. She then again claimed to have retired from live performance, though she remained active in other areas.

Turner became a Swiss citizen in 2013 after living in the country since 1995, officially relinquishing her US citizenship. That same year she married Erwin Bach, a record executive and her partner for years. In 2018 Turner published another autobiography, My Love Story. She also won acclaim for her work on the autobiographical musical Tina, which premiered in London in 2018 before opening on Broadway the following year. Turner coauthored another book, the self-help volume Happiness Becomes You: A Guide to Changing Your Life for Good, in 2020. She was then featured in a documentary film, also titled Tina, in 2021.

Significance

Turner is a music legend who made a name for herself in rhythm and blues and rock and roll. By 2021, she had won eight Grammy Awards, and her recordings of “River Deep, Mountain High” and “Proud Mary” with the Ike and Tina Turner Revue were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. The Ike and Tina Turner Revue was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991, while Turner was inducted as a solo artist in 2021. Famous for her high-energy performances, Turner scored hits with original songs as well as innovative covers. She collaborated with some of the most celebrated artists of the late twentieth century, including Elton John, Cher, Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, David Bowie, and Carlos Santana, and remained one of the world's most popular touring artists well into her later career, a testament to her ageless star power.

Bibliography

Armani, Eddy. My Twenty-Two Years with Tina Turner. London: John Blake, 1999. Print.

Bego, Mark. Tina Turner: Break Every Rule. New York: Taylor, 2005. Print.

Brackett, Nathan, and Christian Hoard, eds. The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. 4th ed. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2004. Print.

Bush, John. "Tina Turner." AllMusic, 2021, www.allmusic.com/artist/tina-turner-mn0000597309/biography. Accessed 20 July 2021.

Campbell, Michael, and James Brody. Rock and Roll: An Introduction. New York: Schirmer, 1999. Print.

Caulfield, Keith. "'Happily Retired' Tina Turner Set to Release 'Love Songs' Album." Billboard. Billboard, 21 Jan. 2014. Web. 22 Sept. 2015.

Gonzales, Erica. "Tina Turner's New HBO Documentary Is an Emotional Farewell. Here's Where She Is Now." Harper's Bazaar, 26 Mar. 2021, www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/art-books-music/a35938829/where-is-tina-turner-now/. Accessed 20 July 2021.

Hess, Amanda. "Tina Turner Is Having the Time of Her Life." The New York Times, 12 Sept. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/09/09/theater/tina-turner-musical.html. Accessed 20 July 2021.

Kamen, Al. "Tina Turner Formally 'Relinquishes' US Citizenship." Washington Post. Washington Post, 12 Nov. 2013. Web. 22 Sept. 2015.

Shaw, Arnold. Black Popular Music in America: The Singers, Songwriters, and Musicians Who Pioneered the Sounds of American Music. New York: Schirmer, 1986. Print.

Turner, Tina, with Kurt Loder. I, Tina. New York: William Morrow, 1986. Print.