Tina Turner, the pioneering rock’n’roll singer responsible for hits such as ‘The Best’ and ‘What’s Love Got To Do With It’, has died, aged 83.
"Tina Turner, the ‘Queen of rock’n’roll’, has died peacefully today at the age of 83 after a long illness in her home in Kusnacht near Zurich, Switzerland," her publicist, Bernard Doherty, said in a statement. "With her, the world loses a music legend and a role model."
Born Anna Mae Bullock in November 1939 and raised in Nutbush, Tennessee, she sang in the small town’s church choir and joined Ike Turner’s band in St. Louis in 1957 after grabbing the microphone at a gig where he was present and singing the B.B. King ballad ‘You Know I Love You’.
Recognising her vocal talents, he gave her the name Tina Turner and the two became a double act with Bullock being introduced to the world as Tina Turner via the 1960 single ‘A Fool In Love’. Ike quickly became abusive, however, with Tina recalling that he struck her on the head with a wooden shoe stretcher in 1960 after she told him she did not want to continue the affair that they had started not long before. She said this was the first time he made her fear him.
The duo stayed together and had a child, Ronnie, in October 1960. They married in 1962, but Ike’s abuse continued during a tumultuous relationship between the pair. She left him in 1976, and their divorce was finalised in 1978.
Following the separation, Tina pursued a career as a solo artist and released her fifth album, Private Dancer, in 1984. During a highly successful period as a solo artist through the ’80s, she released some of her best-known singles, such as ‘The Best’, ‘What’s Love Got To Do With It’ and ‘Better Be Good To Me’.
She toured through the ’80s and ’90s having long been renowned for her high-energy, expressive performance style, before eventually announcing her retirement in 2000, a year after releasing her final solo album, Twenty Four Seven.
Turner returned to the stage in 2008 to perform at the Grammy awards with Beyoncé. She also went on a final tour to mark 50 years of her career.
