WeeklySA_AdminINDOMITABLE: From being utterly downgraded in an abusive marriage, she picked up the pieces to rise to be Simple The Best…
By WSAM, TMZ, NBC News and E Correspondents
The world is still mourning the death of the Queen of Rock ’n Roll, and one of the most successful recording artists of all time, Tina Turner. She died on Wednesday at her home in Küsnacht, Switzerland, near Zurich, at the age of 83.
TURNER:
HOW SHE
TURNED
‘POISON INTO
MEDICINE’
Tina had a stroke in recent years, and had struggled with a kidney disease and other illnesses.
Tina’s death comes five months after the passing of her and her late former hubby Ike Turner’s son, Ronnie, on December 8 last year, from complications of metastatic colon carcinoma. He was 62.In the wake of his death, Tina remembered her son in a heart-wrenching tribute, writing in a December 9 Instagram post, “Ronnie, you left the world far too early. In sorrow I close my eyes and think of you, my beloved son.” In 2018, Tina lost his first child and son, Craig, who died of self-inflicted gunshot wound, while her sister, Alline Bullock, passed away in 2010. She gave birth to Craig before meeting Ike, who adopted Craig once they wed. Ike Turner died in 2007.
On Craig’s death, the legendary singer tweeted, “My saddest moment as a mother. On Thursday, July 19, 2018, I said my final goodbye to my son, Craig Raymond Turner, when I gathered with family and friends to scatter his ashes off the coast of California. He was fifty-nine when he died so tragically, but he will always be my baby.”
Tina’s many career accolades, include three American Music Awards, 12 Grammys and a Kennedy Center Honor. She was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, alongside Ike in 1991, and again as a solo artist in 2021.
Born Anna Mae Bullock on November 26 1939, Tina grew up in the rural town of Nutbush, Tennessee. She spent much of her childhood singing in the church choir, though her home life was strained due to her father’s alleged abusive behaviour toward her mother. When Tina was 11, her mom left the family and relocated to St. Louis, leading the young girl and her two older sisters to be raised by their maternal grandparents and other relatives.
Tina spent her teenager years split between Tennessee and Missouri, and, while in St. Louis, she and her sisters began frequenting the local blues lounges, including the Manhattan Club. It was there that her future husband Ike and his band Kings of Rhythm played in the late 1950s.
In her 2018 memoir My Love Story, Tina recalled she wasn’t physically attracted to Ike at first, but he’d “hit one note, and I thought, ‘Jesus, listen to this guy play.’”
Though Ike was initially against Tina joining his band, he agreed after hearing her perform B.B. King’s “You Know I Love You” one night during intermission. Their relationship began as a professional one—with Tina dating and welcoming son Craig with saxophone player Raymond Hill in 1958—before turning romantic.
“My relationship with Ike was doomed the day he figured out I was going to be his money-maker,” Tina wrote in her memoir, adding that Ike’s control even extended to changing her name against her wishes. “He needed to control me, economically and psychologically, so I could never leave him.”
She gave birth to Ronnie in 1960 and married Ike two years later. Throughout their relationship, the singer claimed that she was subjected to verbal and physical abuse from her partner behind closed doors.
However, on stage, the couple rose to fame with hits like A Fool in Love, It’s Going to Work Out Fine, I Idolize You, I Can’t Believe What You Say during the 1960s. Under the banner of Ike & Tina Turner Revue, their covers of The Beatles’ Come Together and Creedence Clearwater Revivals’ Proud Mary cemented their superstardom, with Tina being dubbed the “Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll.”
It wasn’t until 1976, after years of torment and abuse, that Tina left Ike. As depicted in the 1993 biopic What’s Love Got to Do With It, the pair were on tour—and Ike was asleep—when Tina snuck out of their hotel room, with just a Mobil credit card and 36 cents in her pocket. She filed for divorce days later, and the split was legally finalised in 1978. Ike died in 2007 at the age of 76.
Though critics at the time believed that the breakup would be the end of Tina’s musical career, she proved them wrong. “Considering my age, 39, my gender, my colour, and the times we lived in, everything was strong winds against me,” she wrote in My Love Story.
“But you keep going.”
Her 1984 solo album Private Dancer included smashes like Better Be Good To Me and the now-iconic What’s Love Got to Do with It, earning her four Grammys. From there, Tina’s success continued with We Don’t Need Another Hero (Thunderdome) for the Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome soundtrack and the titular James Bond theme song in 1995’s Golden Eye.
In her personal life, Tina found love with music executive Erwin Bach, who she first met in 1986. The pair tied the knot in July 2013 after 27 years of dating.
OPRAH WINFREY TRIBUTE
I started out as a fan of Tina Turner, then a full-on groupie, following her from show to show around the country, and then, eventually, we became real friends. She is our forever goddess of rock ‘n’ roll who contained a magnitude of inner strength that grew throughout her life. She was a role model not only for me but for the world. She encouraged a part of me I didn’t know existed.
Once she claimed her freedom from years of domestic abuse, her life became a clarion call for triumph. I’m grateful for her courage, for showing us what victory looks like wearing Manolo’s and a leather miniskirt. She once shared with me that when her time came to leave this earth, she would not be afraid, but excited and curious. Because she had learned how to LIVE surrounded by her beloved husband, Erwin, and friends. I am a better woman, a better human, because her life touched mine. She was indeed simply the best.
TRIBUTE – CAST OF TINA MUSICAL
We are deeply saddened to share the news that Tina Turner passed away.
Tina Turner’s contribution as an iconic music artist and performer, her influence on fellow artists and her inspiration to generations who followed, is legendary. Through her life story and her music, Tina Turner inspired and taught so many people around the world to find strength from within. This is a loss that will be deeply felt.
Words can’t express our feelings, so we look to one another to share the love, respect and kindness that she shared with us. Her legacy lives on in so many beautiful ways as we mourn a legendary woman. Our love, thoughts, and prayers are with Erwin Bach and Tina’s family.
The Tina Turner Musical is a true celebration of this exceptional woman, and, in our mourning, we continue to celebrate her life, her talent and her joy. The musical had its world premiere on April 17 2018 at the Aldwych Theatre in London. And, the Broadway production opened on November 7 2019.
From humble beginnings in Nutbush, Tennessee, to her transformation into the global Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll, she didn’t just break the rules, she rewrote them. This stage musical reveals the untold story of a woman who dared to defy the bounds of her age, gender and race.
One of the world’s best-selling artists of all time, Tina Turner has won 12 Grammy Awards and her live shows have been seen by millions, with more concert tickets sold than any other solo performer in music history.
Featuring her much loved songs, TINA – The Tina Turner Musical is written by Olivier award-winning playwright Katori Hall and directed by the internationally acclaimed Phyllida Lloyd.
Of the play, Tina Turner said: “It’s really important to me to have the chance to share my full story. This musical is not about my stardom. It is about the journey I took to get there. Each night I want audiences to take away from the theatre that you can turn poison into medicine.”
