‘Queen of Rock’ Tina Turner dies at 83 | World News

tina turnerThe American-born singer, who left a poor farming community and abusive relationship to become one of the top recording artists of all time, died Wednesday at the age of 83.

She passed away peacefully after a long illness at her home in Küsnacht, near Zurich, Switzerland, her representatives said.

Turner started her career in the early days of rock and roll in the 1950s and evolved into an MTV phenomenon.

In the video for her chart-topping single “What’s Love Got to Do with It,” Turner calls love a “second-hand emotion,” as she struts through the streets of New York City in a spiky 1980s mop of blond hair. 1990s style with a cropped denim jacket, mini skirt and stilettos.

With her taste for musical experimentation and outspoken ballads, Turner fit perfectly into a 1980s pop scene where fans valued electronically produced sounds and defied the idealism of the hippie era.

Turner, sometimes nicknamed “The Queen of Rock and Roll,” won six of the eight fights grammy awards in the 80s. She had a dozen Top 40 hits during that decade, including “Typical Male,” “The Best,” “Private Dancer,” and “Better Be Good to Me.” Her 1988 show in Rio de Janeiro drew 180,000 people, still one of the largest concert audiences for any performer.

By then, Turner had emerged from his decade-long marriage to guitarist Ike Turner.

The superstar has opened up about being abused by her ex-husband during her marriage and musical partnerships in the 1960s and ’70s. She described bruised eyes, cracked lips, a broken jaw and other injuries that sent her to the emergency room on multiple occasions.

“Tina’s story is not a victim, but an incredible triumph,” singer Janet Jackson Wrote about Turner in an issue of Rolling Stone magazine that listed Turner at number 63 on its list of the top 100 artists of all time.

“She transformed herself into an international sensation — a graceful powerhouse,” Jackson said.

In 1985, Turner fabricated her reputation as a survivor. She played the ruthless leader of a nuclear wasteland outpost opposite Mel Gibson in the third installment in the Mad Max series, “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.”

Most of Turner’s hits were written by other people, but she brings them to life with a voice that New York Times music critic Jon Parelles called “one of the strangest instruments in popular music.” become lively.

“It’s three-layered, with a nasal low register, a growling, cutting midrange and a high register so startlingly clear it sounds like falsetto,” Pareles wrote in a 1987 concert review.

Actor Angela Bassett, who was nominated for an Academy Award for her portrayal of Turner in the 1993 film “What Has Love to Do,” said she was “honored to help present her to the world.”

“She gave us her whole self,” Bassett said in a statement. “Tina Turner is an eternal ‘best’ gift.”

Rolling Stone’s Mick Jagger said he was saddened by Turner’s death, calling her “inspiring, warm, funny and generous”.

“She helped me a lot when I was young and I’ll never forget her,” Jagger said.

“The world just lost a powerful woman,” said Canadian singer Bryan Adams, who paired Turner on the 1985 single “It’s Only Love.”

U.S. President Joe Biden described Turner as a “once-in-a-lifetime talent” and called her “extraordinary personal strength.”

“She has overcome adversity, even abuse, to build a career that spans generations and a life and legacy that is entirely hers,” Biden said in a statement.

“One Horse City”

Turner was born on November 26, 1939 in the rural community of Nutbush, Tennessee, which she describes in her 1973 song “Nutbush City Limits” as “a quiet little old community, a small town with one horse “.

According to the singer’s 2018 memoir, “My Love Story,” her father oversaw a farm and her mother left the family when the singer was 11. As a teenager, she moved to St. Louis to be with her mom.

Ike Turner discovered her when she was 17 when she took up the microphone and sang during a 1957 St. Louis club gig.

The bandleader later recorded a hit “Fool in Love” with his protégé, giving her the stage name Tina Turner before the two married in Tijuana, Mexico.

Tina leads vocals in an ensemble called Ike and Tina Turner, with her booming voice and painstakingly rehearsed dance moves. She collaborated with rock royalty in the 1960s and 1970s, including The Who and Phil Spector, and in 1967 was on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine’s second issue.

Ike and Tina Turner vacillated between record labels, and owed much of their commercial success to relentless touring. Their biggest hit was a cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Proud Mary”.

According to her memoir, Turner left her husband at a tourist stop in Dallas one night in 1976 after he hit her while driving and she fought back. Their divorce was finalized in 1978.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted Ike and Tina Turner in 1991, calling them “one of the most awe-inspiring live acts in history.” Ike Turner died in 2007.

European route

After leaving her husband, Turner spent years trying to get back into the limelight, releasing unsuccessful solo albums and singles, and blazing corporate conventions.

In 1980, she met new manager Roger Davies, the Australian music executive who took over her 30-year run. This led to a number one single – “What’s Love Got To Do With It” – and then in 1984, her album “Private Dancer” catapulted her to the top of the charts.

“Private Dancer” would go on to become Turner’s biggest album, the pinnacle of her career, with total record sales exceeding 200 million copies.

In 1985, Turner met German music director Erwin Bach, who became her longtime collaborator, and in 1988 she moved to London, beginning a decades-long European residency. She released two best-selling studio albums in the 1990s, notably in Europe, recorded the theme song for the 1995 Bond film GoldenEye, and went on a successful world tour in 2008 and 2009.

After that, she quit acting. She married Bach, renounced her American citizenship and became a Swiss citizen.

After battling many health issues in retirement, she faced family tragedy in 2018 when her oldest son, Craig, took his life in Los Angeles at the age of 59. Her youngest son, Ronnie, died in December 2022.

Years after her retirement, her name continues to captivate audiences. The musical Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, originally performed by Adrienne Warren and singing the star’s life story, first hit London’s West End in 2018, It was then played on Broadway and is still being played today. In 2021, HBO will release a documentary about her life, Tina.

She is survived by Bach and her adopted sons of Ike.