Tina Turner, rock’n’roll’s matriarch, passes on at 83
It is with a heavy heart that we report the passing of the rock’n’roll legend, Tina Turner. At the age of 83, after an extended battle with illness, her publicist confirmed her demise this evening.
Karine Jean-Pierre, a spokesperson for the White House, expressed deep sadness over Turner’s passing, acknowledging it as a significant loss not only for the music industry but also for the numerous communities that adored her.
Roger Davies, Turner’s manager for three decades, reminisced about her as “an unmatched force of nature whose strength, energy, and towering talent made her unique. Since our first encounter in 1980, she possessed an unwavering belief in herself when the world seemed hesitant.”
In 1976, a distressed Tina Turner sought solace at the Ramada Inn in Dallas after escaping the violent clutches of her abusive husband, Ike Turner. She was bruised, her eye swollen, and her white suit drenched in blood; all she had was mere cents in her purse. A concert was due to take place that night, but Turner, overwhelmed by the torment, couldn’t perform.
The hotel’s manager came to her rescue, providing her with a safe haven and even assigning a security guard to her room to protect her from Ike, who might have tried to locate her.
In the ensuing years, Turner and her children lived off food stamps, a drastic departure from the lifestyle her music career success had afforded her. Once her divorce was completed in 1978, she found herself in a financial pitfall. The divorce had left her with an enormous debt, and to make ends meet, she had to perform at small, nondescript cocktail lounges.
Even the rights to her own name were controlled by Ike. However, she managed to keep her name in the divorce settlement but had to take on the significant tax debt that the couple had accrued throughout their music career, adding to her financial struggles.
Yet, her dignity and self-worth remained unscathed. It was the spark that not only led her to reconstruct her life but also fueled one of the most miraculous comebacks in the annals of showbiz history.
Roger Davies, an ambitious Australian promoter, took the helm as her new manager, helping her break free from the shadows of the cabaret scene and re-emerge as the ultimate rock diva.
She enlisted the support of her star-studded fan base. The Rolling Stones and Rod Stewart welcomed her as their opening act, while David Bowie advocated for her new recording contract, citing her as his “all-time favorite singer” to EMI executives.
EMI had once viewed her as nothing more than a whimsical project, an ego-soothing present for their leading star, Bowie. Little did they know, Tina Turner, who had wallowed in the obscurity for five years following her previous album, would defy their meagre expectations. It was 1984 when her single ‘What’s Love Got to Do With It’ ascended to the top of the charts, catching the label wholly off-guard. She was hurried back into the studio, emerging two weeks later with ‘Private Dancer’—an album that would go on to sell 14 million copies, earn her three Grammy awards, and spark a meteoric rise from a life of food stamps to rivalling the likes of Michael Jackson and Madonna. The once scorned, forgotten singer transformed, almost miraculously, into one of the decade’s most significant solo artists.
In the years that followed, Turner’s resurgence persisted, punctuated by a starring role in 1985’s ‘Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome’ with Mel Gibson and a memorable duet with Mick Jagger at Live Aid. Subsequent multimillion-selling albums such as ‘Break Every Rule’ (1986) and ‘Foreign Affair’ (1989) maintained her ascension, and every new release was marked by grandiose world tours. The pinnacle of these was a 1988 concert in Rio de Janeiro, attended by 180,000 fans, which etched her name into the Guinness World Records.
Her tale, a testament to unyielding resilience amid hardship, inevitably caught Hollywood’s eye. Turner’s autobiography, ‘I, Tina,’ was adapted into the critically acclaimed 1993 film ‘What’s Love Got To Do With It’, featuring Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne. But in 2000, after a triumphant fifteen-year reign, Turner decided to bow out gracefully, marking her retirement with a farewell world tour. She remained proudly defiant, continuing to wear her trademark mini-skirts well into her sixties—a decision she justified simply: “You can’t dance in a long dress.”
Despite this, retirement didn’t keep her entirely off-stage. Coaxed back for one final encore in 2008, Turner took on a 50th-anniversary tour. Five years later, she graced the cover of Vogue at 73, the magazine’s oldest feature yet. Her later years of stardom were so spectacular they cast a shadow over her early career, where she had been a notable R&B singer alongside her abusive ex-husband Ike.
However, her journey wasn’t without turmoil. Born Annie Mae Bullock in 1938 in rural Nutbush, Tennessee, Turner knew hardship from an early age. Raised by a sharecropper father and a mother who wished she hadn’t been born, “Little Annie” was shuffled between family members throughout her childhood. Her strained relationship with her mother lasted a lifetime. It was her school years that hinted at a brighter future; her high school yearbook showcased her confident ambition of becoming an entertainer. After her grandmother’s death in 1954, she relocated to St Louis, Missouri, with her older sister Alline, where they indulged their love for R&B music at local clubs. It was at one of these, the Club Manhattan, where Tina first encountered Ike Turner.
From a young age, Turner faced the harsh realities of life, struggling through abusive relationships and personal turmoil. It was the resilience she found through Buddhism and her unyielding spirit that allowed her to rise from the ashes and create a successful career that spanned decades. Despite the trials and tribulations, Tina Turner remains an icon, representing the power of persistence and strength.
Tina Turner, the luminous sovereign of rock’n’roll, first graced the world with her birth on November 26, 1939. After a prolonged battle with a tenacious illness, she departed this earthly stage on May 24, 2023, at the venerable age of 83.
