
βTina Turner, the βQueen of Rockβn Rollβ has died peacefully today at the age of 83 after a long illness in her home in Kusnacht near Zurich, Switzerland. With her, the world loses a music legend and a role model,β her representative said in a statement toΒ Variety.
Turner was still in her teens when she began recording with future husband Ike; their tumultuous partnership produced 15 years of popular singles, culminating in the 1971 crossover smash βProud Mary.β However, in 1976 the vocalist fled her abusive marriage; she detailed her violence-scarred relationship in the 1986 bestseller βI, Tina,β which served as the basis for the 1993 biopic βWhatβs Love Got to Do With It.β
After nearly a decade in the commercial wilderness, Turner ascended to the pinnacle of pop fame with the 1984 Capitol Records album βPrivate Dancer.β The collection, which spawned a trio of top-10 pop hits, sold 5 million copies and garnered four Grammy Awards. Though she never matched that breakthrough solo success, she recorded and toured profitably until her retirement in 2000.
Raw-voiced, leggy, peripatetic and provocative onstage, the magnetic Turner segued effortlessly into bigscreen roles, appearing as the Acid Queen in Ken Russellβs 1975 adaptation of the Whoβs rock opera βTommyβ and as villainess Aunty Entity in George Millerβs action sequel βMad Max Beyond Thunderdome.β She sang the title song, penned by Bono and the Edge of U2, for the 1995 James Bond pic βGoldenEye.β
The winner of eight Grammys, Turner was a 1991 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, and was recognized at the 2005 Kennedy Center Honors for her career achievements.
She was born Anna Mae Bullock in the farming community of Nutbush, Tennessee (a locale she would commemorate in the self-penned 1973 song βNutbush City Limitsβ). With older her sister Ruby, she was shuttled between various relatives as a child; her mother left her abusive father when she was 11. At 16, the girls were reunited with their mother in St. Louis.
After graduating from high school, she began working as a nurseβs aid, but also started frequenting St. Louisβ black nightspots. Though she had no musical experience outside the church choir, she managed to sit in, at a 1958 engagement at Club Manhattan, with Ike Turnerβs Kings of Rhythm.
Turner β already a veteran guitarist, keyboardist, bandleader and indie-label A&R man β was impressed enough to give the neophyte musician a spot as a backup singer, billed as βLittle Ann,β in his group. She soon became involved with Kings of Rhythm saxophonist Raymond Hill, and bore him a son, also named Raymond, at 19.
In 1960, after vocalist Art Lassiter failed to show up for a recording session, she was drafted to take the lead on a new Turner-penned song, βA Fool in Love.β The tape found its way to Juggy Murray, president of the indie R&B label Sue Records. At Murrayβs suggestion, Ike Turner rechristened his newly minted lead vocalist Tina Turner. (She bore Turnerβs son Ronald that same year, but the musicians would not wed until 1962.)
βA Fool in Loveβ rose to No. 2 on the R&B chart, and scratched No. 27 on the pop singles list. Several other major R&B singles followed on Sue: βI Idolize Youβ (No. 5, 1960), βItβs Gonna Work Out Fineβ (No. 2, and also No. 14 pop, 1961), βPoor Foolβ (No. 4, 1961) and βTra La La La Laβ (No. 9, 1962).
The Ike & Tina Turner Revue bounced from label to label, and none of their mid-β60s singles secured chart traction. However, the actβs high-voltage live performances and dynamic frontwoman continued to draw attention. After a 1965 appearance in βThe Big TNT Showβ β a concert attraction screened in moviehouses, like its precursor βThe T.A.M.I. Showβ β the Turners were approached by producer Phil Spector, who had conducted the βTNT Showβ house band.
The architect of several huge-sounding hit pop 45s by the Ronettes, the Crystals and other R&B-skewed acts, Spector paid Ike Turner $20,000 to sit on the sidelines, and employed Tina as the lead vocalist on a single he envisioned as his crowning achievement. Penned by Spector, Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich and cut in March 1966 with a huge, thunderous orchestra at Hollywoodβs Gold Star Studio, βRiver Deep, Mountain Highβ was the apotheosis of the producerβs fabled βWall of Sound.β
It also became one of the most storied flops in U.S. record industry history. Though it reached the top five in the U.K., βRiver Deepβ peaked at No. 88 in the States, and proved to be the most crushing commercial debacle of Spectorβs career. Nonetheless, the towering number sports what may be Turnerβs most intense vocal performance; it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.
Groping for hits in the late β60s, the Turners frequently relied on covers for material. One of these, a rendition of Otis Reddingβs βIβve Been Loving You Too Long,β reached No. 23 in 1969. That same year, the Ike & Tina Turner Revue opened on the Rolling Stonesβ U.S. tour; Tinaβs sensual performance of the song became a highlight of βGimme Shelter,β directors Albert and David Mayslesβ 1970 doc about the English bandβs fateful concert trek.
In 1971, the Turners scored their biggest pop hit with the Liberty Records single βProud Mary,β a blazing rendering of Creedence Clearwater Revivalβs No. 2 single of 1969. The cover climbed to No. 4 on the pop chart and reaped a Grammy as best R&B performance by a duo or group. Its success pushed the studio album βWorkinβ Togetherβ and a subsequent live set recorded at Carnegie Hall into the pop top 25.
After a final top-40 pop hit by Ike and Tina, βNutbush City Limitsβ (No. 22, 1973), Tina embarked on a solo career with the United Artists set βTina Turns the Country Onβ; the 1974 LP, comprising renditions of country-flavored material, was not a hit, but earned Turner her first solo Grammy nomination. After returning to the U.S. after filming βTommyβ in England, she released a second solo collection, βAcid Queenβ (1975), which capitalized on her film appearance.
By that time, not only was the Ike & Tina Turner Revue over-exposed after 10 albums in just three years, but the Turnersβ marriage was coming apart. Ike Turner had long been an abusive husband, but his violence escalated along with his cocaine use. Finally, after a brutal beating inflicted on the way to a Dallas hotel in July 1976, Tina quickly left Ike, exited the revue and filed for divorce. The end of the marriage was finalized in 1978, with Tina assuming a host of business-related debts, including an IRS lien.
It took the better part of a decade for her to return to prominence in the music business. She toured the U.S. and abroad, but her recordings for UA and EMI failed commercially. Finally, with the sponsorship of David Bowie, she secured a short-term deal with Capitol Records.
After her 1983 cover of Al Greenβs βLetβs Stay Togetherβ became a hit in Europe, the label was encouraged to record a full album with Turner. Cut in England with a panoply of producers and songwriters, βPrivate Dancerβ was issued in June 1984. Its leadoff single, βWhatβs Love Got to Do With It,β shot to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart, spending six months on the 45 rolls. It was followed up by βBetter Be Good to Meβ (No. 5) and βPrivate Dancerβ (No. 7). The album peaked at No. 3, but clung to the chart for more than two years, selling more than 5 million copies.
Turnerβs solo triumph was further institutionalized at the 1985 Grammy Awards, where βWhatβs Love Got to Do With Itβ was name record of the year and best female pop vocal performance; the tuneβs writers, Terry Britten and Graham Lyle, were honored with the song of the year trophy. Additionally, βBetter Be Good to Meβ was named best female rock performance. Turner followed up the kudos with a 177-date world tour that year. That summer, βWe Donβt Need Another Hero,β drawn from the βMad Max Beyond Thunderdomeβ soundtrack, reached No. 2 on the pop chart.
Her hot streak continued in 1986 with the publication of her candid bestselling memoir βI, Tina,β co-written with MTVβs Kurt Loder, and the No. 4 album βBreak Every Ruleβ; the album contained βBack Where You Started,β which collected a best female rock vocal performance Grammy. The 1988 album βForeign Affairβ (No. 31) included the single βThe Bestβ; originally recorded by Bonnie Tyler, it became a No. 15 pop single, and later attained ubiquity through play at U.S. and international sporting events. The β88 concert set βTina Live in Europeβ was recognized with a Grammy as best female rock vocal performance.
In 1993, Turner scored her final U.S. top 10 hit with βI Donβt Wanna Fight,β a song recorded for the top-20 soundtrack of the biopic βWhatβs Love Got to Do With It.β Director Brian Gibsonβs feature starred Laurence Fishburne and Angela Bassett, who both received Oscar nods for their work as Ike and Tina. Even more than Turnerβs autobiography, upon which it was loosely based, the film focused further attention on the issues of spousal abuse and domestic violence. (Ike Turner, who maintained in interviews and his autobiography that the charges of abuse were exaggerated, died of an apparent cocaine overdose in December 2007.)
Turnerβs later solo albums for Virgin Records, βWildest Dreamsβ (1996) and βTwenty Four Sevenβ (1999), were comparatively less successful, peaking at No. 61 and No. 21, respectively. Her 2000 world tour β the most successful trek of the year, according to concert tracker Pollstar β prefaced her announcement that she was retiring.
On her sole latter-day return to the recording studio, Turner managed to make an impression: She shared in the 2008 album of the year Grammy for her restrained, jazzy performance of Joni Mitchellβs βEdith and the Kingpinβ on pianist Herbie Hancockβs βRiver: The Joni Letters.β
A devotee of Buddhist chanting since the early 1970s who never abandoned the Baptist faith of her youth, Turner released βBeyond,β a collaborative album of Buddhist and Christian music and chanting, on the indie New Earth label in 2012.
In 2013 β the same year she relinquished her American citizenship and took up residency in Switzerland β Turner married German music exec Irwin Bach, her companion of 27 years.
In 2014, Turnerβs reps denied rumors, widely reported in the European press, that the singer had suffered a stroke.
She is survived by her husband and two sons.