Reflecting on the Life and Legacy of Tina Turner, a True Icon of Music History

On May 24, 2023, Tina Turner, the legendary soul singer and performer, passed away at her home in Küsnacht, Switzerland, at the age of 83. She had been struggling with various illnesses, including a stroke and kidney disease, in recent years. Ms. Turner was known for her explosive energy and raspy, bluesy voice, and she became one of the most successful recording artists of all time, with a career spanning over half a century.

## The Rise to Fame

Born Anna Mae Bullock on November 26, 1939, in Brownsville, Tennessee, she grew up singing in the choir of the Spring Hill Baptist Church on the Poindexter farm in Nutbush. After attending high school in St. Louis, Missouri, she began singing with Ike Turner and his band, the Kings of Rhythm, where she soon became the group’s star attraction and Ike Turner’s wife. Their ensemble, later renamed the Ike and Tina Turner Revue, became one of the premier touring soul acts on the so-called chitlin’ circuit.

After opening for the Rolling Stones, their performances soon caught white listeners’ attention, leading to enormous new audiences. In 1971, Ms. Turner’s version of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Proud Mary” gave the Ike and Tina Turner Revue their first Top 10 hit, and they received a Grammy Award for best R&B vocal performance by a group.

## A Turbulent Relationship

The Ike and Tina Turner Revue’s success did not translate to Ike Turner’s marriage to Ms. Turner, as he was abusive and addicted to cocaine. After she escaped the marriage in her 30s, her career faltered. Her solo album “Private Dancer,” released in 1984, returned her to the spotlight, lifting her into the pop stratosphere. Ms. Turner worked with younger songwriters, backed by a smooth, synthesized sound, which provided a lustrous wrapping for her raw, urgent vocals. She was catapulted to worldwide fame with three mammoth hits: the title song, “Better Be Good to Me,” and “What’s Love Got to Do With It.”

## A Second Career

After the runaway success of “Private Dancer,” Ms. Turner released two more hit albums, “Break Every Rule” and “Foreign Affair,” and became one of the most durable performers on the concert stage. In 1985, she played Aunty Entity in “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome,” which provided her with two more hit singles, “We Don’t Need Another Hero (Thunderdome),” and “One of the Living.”

## Retirement and Legacy

Ms. Turner announced her retirement after releasing the album “Twenty Four Seven” in 1999, but it did not last. In 2008, after performing with Beyoncé at the Grammy Awards, she embarked on an international tour marking her 50th year in the music business. While officially retired in her 70s, she remained active in other ways. She was the executive producer of “Tina: The Tina Turner Musical,” a stage show based on her life and incorporating many of her hits, which opened in London in 2018 and in Hamburg and on Broadway in 2019.

Throughout her career, Ms. Turner’s music endured. In the words of Ralph J. Gleason, writing in 1969