One of rock’s greatest vocalists and most captivating entertainers, Tina Turner, has passed away at the age of 83.
The singer started off singing with her controversial ex-husband Ike Turner, who is known for abusing her for years; which was documented in a 1993 movie starring Angela Bassett, which won three Oscars. She revived her career in the early 1980s, pushing it to new heights and becoming one of the biggest music performers in the world.
“She was truly an enormously talented performer and singer,” said Rolling Stones frontman Jagger. “She was inspiring, warm, funny and generous. She helped me so much when I was young and I will never forget her.”
The American singer, whose singles included The Best, Proud Mary, Private Dancer, and What’s Love Got to Do With It, was one of rock’s most recognisable vocalists. Sir Mick Jagger, Sir Elton John, Diana Ross, Bette Midler, and Giorgio Armani were among the first to pay respect.
Turner said in 2018 that her husband had given her a kidney to save her life when she was thinking about assisted suicide. Turner previously had intestinal cancer and had experienced a stroke.
With singles like River Deep, Mountain High, and Nutbush City Limits, Turner and her ex-husband Ike Turner achieved stardom in the 1960s. Turner’s life story was also made famous in a hit West End production that is still playing today.
Turner has not had life easy. She had four children. Her oldest child, died in what appeared to be a suicide five years ago. He was 59 years old when he cruelly passed away, ‘but he will always be my baby’, she stated on Twitter. In 2022, grief came yet again as her second son Ronnie passed away from cancer.
At a segregated hospital in Tennessee Annie Anna Bullock was born in November 1939. Tina began her career as a performer under the stage name “Little Ann.” Ike Turner, her lover, gave her the nickname “Tina Turner” in 1960.