Tina Turner, resilient star who sang ‘Proud Mary,’ dies at 83
For Oprah Winfrey, bearing witness to one of Tina Turner’s frenetic, high-octane performances was nothing short of a spiritual experience.
“Each electrifying swing of her miniskirt, every slide of her 3-inch Manolos across the stage, sends a message: I am here. I have triumphed. I will not be broken,” Winfrey said.
A powerhouse singer capable of squeezing every possible emotion out of songs such as “Proud Mary,” “River Deep, Mountain High” and “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” Turner died Wednesday, May 24, at her home in Küsnacht, near Zurich, Switzerland.
Turner’s death was announced in a statement from her manager, Bernard Doherty, who said she died following a long illness. She was 83.
“Even after the countless awards, the 180 million album sales, the record-breaking tours, and unforgettable acting roles, Tina will be remembered most through the sheer joy of her music,” Max Lousada, chief executive of recorded music for Warner Music Group, said in a statement. “So powerful is her extraordinary, universal appeal that there is no doubt she will continue to influence generations to come. She stands as the epitome of artistic self-empowerment.”
The Grammy-winning vocalist overcame an abusive marriage and decades of adversity before being fully embraced as a rock ’n’ roll original who exuded a raw sensuality with her commanding yet soulful voice, million-dollar legs and iconic hair.
Though she ignited her own blazing legacy in the recording studio and concert halls around the world, Turner’s personal and professional history are inextricably linked to that of her late ex-husband, Ike Turner. Her transformation into a superstar eventually eclipsed the revered and reviled Ike, who was a highly regarded talent scout, guitarist, pianist and record producer long before he discovered Tina when she was just 18.
“One evening when the drummer gave my sister the mic, I took it,” she recalled in 2005. “I could do B.B. King songs with all the emotion. Ike said, ‘Girl, I didn’t know you could sing,’ and I was so happy, because he was bigger than life. That’s when I knew I wanted to be an entertainer.”
Born Anna Mae Bullock, she changed her name to Tina at Ike’s behest and allowed him to shape her live-wire stage persona — renaming his band the Ike & Tina Turner Revue. They were married in 1962, two years after the birth of their son Ronald.
The duo rose to fame with their first single, “A Fool in Love,” which reached No. 2 on the R&B charts in 1960. They scored numerous hits in the years to follow, including “Poor Fool,” “It’s Gonna Work Out Fine,” “Proud Mary,” “I Want to Take You Higher,” “Nutbush City Limits”
and “River Deep, Mountain High.”
Tina Turner’s dynamic stage presence became as memorable as the duo’s records and took the act far beyond the R&B scene in 1969 when they opened for the Rolling Stones on the rock band’s North American tour, with her often singing duets with Mick Jagger.
When the couple’s tumultuous relationship came to an end — Turner said she walked out on Ike in the 1970s following a vicious limo dispute in Dallas and years of domestic abuse allegations — she launched her solo career but hung onto her husband’s name.
She filed for divorce in 1974 and their marriage officially ended four years later. Ike Turner died in 2007 from a cocaine overdose at 76, but their fractured history continued to make headlines even after his death.
Though brimming with confidence, Turner adopted the vulnerable persona of a survivor as she poured her struggles and hardships into her music. Her performances were often so energetic that the media referred to her as “TNTina.”
Her career stalled in the aftermath of her divorce, but she mounted a stunning comeback in 1984 with the album “Private Dancer,” which sold more than 10 million copies and scored four Grammy Awards.
Two years later, she released “Break Every Rule” and published her bestselling memoir, “I, Tina,” which detailed the years of violence she said she endured with Ike. Their stormy relationship drew attention again in 1993 when her memoir was adapted for the screen in the film “What’s Love Got to Do With It?” The biopic starred Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne, both of whom earned Oscar nominations for their portrayals of the volatile duo. A jukebox musical about Turner’s life premiered in London’s West End in 2018, then moved to Broadway, and the singer was featured in the stirring 2021 documentary “Tina.”
“How do we say farewell to a woman who owned her pain and trauma and used it as a means to help change the world?” Bassett said in a statement to the Los Angeles Times.
“Through her courage in telling her story, her commitment to stay the course in her life, no matter the sacrifice, and her determination to carve out a space in rock and roll for herself and for others who look like her, Tina Turner showed others who lived in fear what a beautiful future filled with love, compassion, and freedom should look like.”
When asked if she was surprised by the peaks and valleys of her life, Turner said no: “I’m not surprised, because I’ve always wanted this. And I won’t stop until I get that respect,” she told Rolling Stone in 1986. “I may not ever get it completely, because my life has been too hard so far. But I’ve gotten a taste of what that respect is probably like, and I like it.”
Turner was born in Nutbush, Tennessee, in 1939, and her father led a crew of sharecroppers and was a deacon at the church the family attended. She recalled that, though her parents had little formal education, they seemed filled with common sense. Her parents also fought frequently. Her mother left the family when Turner was 10, as did her father three years later.
“I’m a strong person, because I had dealt with problems when my mother and father separated and I went from relative to relative and had problems in school,” she told the Times in 1998. “It was tough all the way, so my skin was already toughened to the life and striving to get through. I didn’t dwell on it, I just kept going.”