The life span of Tina Turner, real name Anna Mae Bullock, spanned from November 26, 1939, until May 24, 2023. She was a Swiss singer who was of American descent and was referred to as the “Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll.”
Before beginning a lucrative solo career, she first gained notoriety as the lead singer of the Ike & Tina Turner Revue. She was known for her swagger, her spirited performances, and her stunning legs.
In 1957, Tina joined Ike Turner’s band Kings of Rhythm to launch her career. She made her recording debut in 1958 on “Boxtop” under the name Little Ann. With the number-one duet “A Fool in Love” in 1960, she made her solo debut as Tina Turner.
Tina’s marriage to Ike Turner, her first husband was dissolved on March 29, 1978 on the bases of promiscuity and abusiveness.
What’s Love Got to Do with It, Tina’s number-one hit from 1984, earned her the Grammy Award for Record of the Year and became her sole song to reach the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. She was the oldest female solo artist to reach the Hot 100 at the age of 44.
She broke Guinness World Record ‘solo performer’s highest paying audience’ (180,000) during her Break Every Rule World Tour in 1988.
Tina appeared as a cast member in the films Tommy (1975) and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985). Her autobiography I, Tina: My Life Story was the basis for the 1993 biographical movie What’s Love Got to Do with It.
After concluding her Tina!: 50th Anniversary Tour, the 15th-highest-grossing tour of the 2000s, Turner announced her retirement in 2009. She was the focus of the Tina jukebox musical in 2018.
Tina reportedly had between 100 and 150 million records sold as of May 2023, making her one of the best-selling recording artists of all time. Twelve Grammy honours were given to her, including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, three Grammy Hall of Fame honours, and eight prizes given in competition.
She was the first female artist and the first person of colour to appear on the Rolling Stone cover. She was listed among the 100 Greatest Singers and Artists of All Time by Rolling Stone.
Tina has stars on both the St. Louis and Hollywood Walks of Fame. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice: once in 1991 with Ike Turner and again in 2021 as a solo performer. She also won the Women of the Year and Kennedy Centre Honours awards in 2005.
Tina made her many life-threatening illnesses known in her 2018 memoir My Love Story. Since 1978, she had high blood pressure, which was largely untreated, damaged her kidneys, and ultimately led to kidney failure. Three weeks after getting married to Erwin Bach in 2013, she suffered a stroke and needed to retrain her legs to walk. She received an intestine cancer diagnosis in 2016. Her health issues grew worse as she used homoeopathy to try to treat them.
She was advised to begin dialysis since doctors believed she had a minimal probability of getting a kidney donor. She joined Exit International, a group that supports assisted suicide, a process that is permitted in Switzerland.
Bach, her husband, did, however, agree to donate a kidney for donation. On April 7, 2017, Turner underwent a kidney transplant after accepting his donation.
Tina, 83, passed away on May 24, 2023 at her home in Küsnacht, Switzerland, following years of ailments.
