Tina Turner, the world-renowned trailblazer in rock and soul music, passed away at her home on Lake Zurich in Switzerland on May 24, 2023, after quietly battling a long-term illness. She was 83.
Known for her signature deep, gravelly vocal register and belted notes, the songstress carved out her own lane in R&B in the late 1950’s and became an international superstar in the decades since.
As a representative for Turner told TMZ, “It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Tina Turner. With her music and her boundless passion for life, she enchanted millions of fans around the world and inspired the stars of tomorrow.”
“Today we say goodbye to a dear friend who leaves us all her greatest work: her music. All our heartfelt compassion goes out to her family. Tina, we will miss you dearly.”
Tuner was born Anna Mae Bullock in the rural town of Nutbush, Tennessee on November 6, 1939. Raised there and nearby Brownsville until her teen years, she later relocated to St. Louis. There, she frequented nightclubs and had an opportunity to show off her strong vocal ability to local musician Ike Turner, who she saw perform frequently on the live music scene alongside his band The Kings of Rhythm.
Their chance meeting led to her introduction to the recording industry, as she impressed him enough with her vocal skills to land a singing slot with the band and eventually led to her first recording alongside the Kings of Rhythm, the single “Boxtop.” Seeing Bullock’s potential after she wrote and sang the demo for “A Fool In Love,” originally meant for soul singer Art Lassiter, Turner decided to revamp her image – dubbing her “Tina” and adding his own last name, giving her a new stage persona and name that he then trademarked in case he ever needed to replace her with another songstress.
Tina Turner took off. “A Fool in Love” landed her at number 27 on the Billboard Hot 100 and she began touring constantly as part of the Ike & Tina Turner Revue. After the group entered a production deal with popular mainstream producer Phil Spector, Tina Turner skyrocketed – becoming the first Black woman to cover Rolling Stone magazine in 1967 and earning a Grammy nomination for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance in 1970 for her feature on “The Hunter.”
In the midst of her skyrocketing success, Turner was deep in the throes of a physically, mentally, and emotionally abusive relationship with her musical collaborator Ike Turner. Though their affair turned physically violent in its early stages in 1960, Tina mothered a child, a son named Ronnie with Turner later that year and wed him in 1962. The twists and turns of their abusive relationship were famously documented in the 1993 film What’s Love Got To Do With It? starring Angela Bassett, which earned the actress an Academy Award Nomination.
Turner famously fled her marriage with nothing more than 36 cents in her pocket on July 1, 1976. She filed for divorce later that month, finally granted in 1978, where she retained all rights to her stage name, which she continued to use until her death in 2023.
As a free woman and solo artist, Turner gained her first and only Number 1 Billboard Hot 100 hit with “What’s Love Got to Do with It” in 1984. She became world-renowned for her multiple international tours and explosive live stage show, with her signature short fringed stage outfits showing off her notoriously toned legs.
She took control of her narrative across 9 studio albums and 4 autobiographical books, including 2018′ s My Love Story: A Memoir.
Turner candidly revealed in her 2018 memoir that she had fallen ill with multiple ongoing conditions later in life, including a stroke, intestinal cancer, and kidney failure.
Turner had two biological sons, Raymond Craig Hill (with Kings of Rhythm saxophonist Raymond Hill), and Ronald “Ronnie” Renelle Turner (with Ike Turner), who sadly each passed away in 2018 and 2022, respectively. Turner also adopted Ike Turner’s two older sons and raised them as her own. She is survived by two grandchildren from her son Ronnie and a husband, German music executive Erwin Bach, with whom she shared her Lake Zurich home.
Tina’s legacy lives on through her 24 studio albums and 8 live albums under Ike & Tina Revue, 9 solo studio albums, 2 memoirs, 2 autobiographical books, the famed biopic starring Angela Bassett, an HBO documentary on her life and times, and a Broadway musical, TINA – The Tina Turner Musical. One of Turner’s last public sightings was while attending the play’s 2019 debut, with her adoring fans excitedly chanting her name outside the theater doors.