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Tina Turner's Life Explored In New Documentary

Eric Deggans

Tina Turner and her children, photographed in 1967. Courtesy of HBO hide caption

Near the end of HBO's new documentary, Tina , the movie implies the legendary singer has made a decision: after this film rolls out, Tina Turner just might be done appearing in public and talking about her life. It's an odd message, coming from a woman whose life story and experiences have inspired at least four books, an Oscar-nominated biopic, a Broadway musical and, now, this new film.

"Some people say the life that I've lived and the performances I gave...the appreciation is lasting with the people and I should be proud of that," Turner says in an interview. "I am. But when do you stop being proud? How do you bow out slowly – just go away?"

Her husband, Erwin Bach, speaks more bluntly in the film just moments later. "She said, 'I'm going to America and I'm going to say goodbye to my American fans, and I'll wrap it up.' I think this documentary and the [musical] – this is it. It's a closure."

If true, that's a loss for the world – if Tina reveals anything, it's that Turner's life story is one for the ages.

Born Anna Mae Bullock in poverty in Tennessee, she rose from a dysfunctional early life to international stardom alongside her abusive bandleader husband Ike Turner, eventually leaving him to forge a new identity as an even bigger solo star. It's a story about survival and the endurance of talent which continues to inspire.

Consider the numbers: Turner has a dozen Grammy awards, many millions of records sold, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and a Kennedy Center Honor. She was voted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with ex-husband Ike Turner; this year, she's on the ballot as a solo act. NPR placed her 1984 comeback album Private Dancer at Number 34 on the list of 150 Greatest Albums Made By Women .

And yet, Turner herself remains deeply ambivalent about telling her story. The film presents one of those clip montages becoming common in celebrity biopics, displaying the cluelessness and blithe cruelty of journalists, this time asking deeply invasive questions about her abuse at Ike Turner's hands. (One standout moment: when a journalist asks about Ike Turner during a publicity tour for the film Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome , as Mel Gibson sits next to Tina Turner, looking on uncomfortably.)

Bach recalls how talking about the tough times in her life can lead the singer to relive those moments – even dream about them – like a soldier with PTSD. In another well-chosen clip, the documentary shows Turner at a press conference during the Venice Film Festival for her 1993 biopic What's Love Got to Do With It , explaining why she hadn't actually watched the movie.

"The story was actually written, so that I would no longer have to discuss the issue," Turner says in the clip, as the film's star, Angela Bassett, sits next to her, a tight smile plastered on her face. "I don't love that it's always talked about... this constant reminder, it's not so good. I'm not so happy about it."

Watching the story of her life unfold in Tina , you get the sense that avoidance is an important part of Turner's survival mechanism. Which highlights a sad irony: The stories of triumph and perseverance that have led so many fans to adore her – and has fueled so many books, films and added weight to hit records like What's Love Got to Do with It – are often painful for her to recount.

Still, Tina convenes an impressive array of sources to re-examine Turner's life, including Bassett; friend Oprah Winfrey; Kurt Loder, the MTV News anchor who co-authored her bestselling biography I, Tina and playwright Katori Hall, among others. There's a wide array of archival clips showing Turner in her performing prime; Ike Turner, who died in 2007, is represented through footage from old interviews.

The facts of her life are the stuff of rock legend. Ike Turner, an early pioneer in '50s-era rock and roll, included her in his band after hearing her sing during an intermission at a show. He renamed her Tina Turner and they built an act together over about two decades, before his abusive ways led her to run away and then divorce him.

Left with little more than the stage name her ex-husband gave her, Tina Turner rebuilt her career and her life to become one of the most successful female artists in rock history. Tina the film fills in the details, describing how afraid she was of Ike Turner, how she tried to commit suicide while married to him and how she eventually fled during a trip to Dallas.

The film reveals things casual fans might not know. That Turner felt rejected by her parents, especially her mother, who left the family when she was young. That her record company, unenthused about a middle-aged Black woman who wanted to sing rock and roll, nearly dropped her (one former executive recalls his boss using the n-word in reference to her). That she initially hated the song that would become her most successful single, "What's Love Got to Do with It."

And that, until 1986 when she met Bach — a German record company executive, 16 years her junior, sent to greet her at an airport — Turner never felt loved.

"I have not received love, almost ever in my life," she told Loder during interviews in 1985 for I, Tina , which play in the film. "I had not one love affair that was genuine and sustained itself. Not one. I've been through f*****g tons of heartbreak....Why can't someone see the beauty in the woman it is that I am?"

Like all documentaries produced with the cooperation of its subject, there are blind spots in Tina . Now age 81, Turner has struggled with health problems. She had a stroke in 2013, was diagnosed with intestinal cancer in 2016 and had a kidney transplant – donated by Bach – in 2017. But none of that is mentioned in the film.

It's arguably one of the most dramatic and compelling challenges Turner has faced in a life filled with them; a woman whose public persona is built around being a vibrant force of nature, who now must cope with aging. And yet, this is a subject Tina turns away from.

The film also doesn't talk much about race. Even though Turner moved from being an artist forged in the Black-dominated R&B, soul, and blues scenes that birthed early rock and roll to becoming a classic pop and rock star popular with white audiences and living in Europe.

It's an amazing cross-cultural journey for a Black woman who spent some of her early years picking cotton with her family while growing up in rural Tennessee. But it's also an issue Tina doesn't much delve into.

Still, Tina is, in many ways, a triumph: a compelling exploration of one of rock's most important performers, crafted in a way that, finally, might allow her to stop talking about a history that remains damaging to revisit.

Tina (2021)

  TV-MA | biographies | 1 HR 58 MIN | 2021

Told in five powerful acts, this film is an intimate and revealing look at the life and career of Tina Turner.

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What's Love Got to Do With It

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Rent What's Love Got to Do With It on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV.

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With a fascinating real-life story and powerhouse performances from Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne, What's Love Got to Do With It? is a can't miss biopic.

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Tina Turner 's 1984 Private Dancer , with Tina on the cover in a black low-cut leotard, legs gloriously splayed out in an aggressive "Here I am, deal with it" rock star attitude, was a monster. If you were alive in 1984, you will remember. Like Thriller , like Purple Rain , it kept going ... and going ... and going, with single after single climbing the charts. It won four Grammys, including Best Record of the Year. “Better Be Good To Me" won Best Rock Performance by a woman while "What's Love Got to Do With It” won Best  Pop  Performance, indicative of the album's massive crossover appeal. Turner filled massive stadiums around the world during the Private Dancer  tour. To those who knew Turner's background only in connection with her fruitful (yet tormented) collaboration with ex-husband Ike Turner, this felt like just desserts as well as a long-overdue comeback. Considering all of this, it is so striking to watch the new HBO documentary "Tina", and hear current-day Tina say, : "[ Private Dancer ] wasn't a comeback. It was a debut. It was my first album."

Breaking down why she feels that way, as well as showing why it's true, is what "Tina," co-directed by Daniel Lindsay and T.J. Martin, is all about. Private Dancer  felt like it came out of nowhere. Turner had been toiling in relative obscurity ever since the breakup with Ike. She walked out of that relationship with just her name. She did a cabaret act in Vegas, she appeared on every television show under the sun. When Private Dancer  was released, she was 45 years old playing stadiums for 30,000, 50,000 people. Unheard of. This is why her career is so monumental in its impact, not just for her, but for the culture as a whole. Rock and roll is not just a young person's game. "Tina" understands this deeply.

Tina now lives in Zurich, with her husband, former record company executive Erwin Bach , and she sat down to be interviewed for the documentary (sometimes calling to her husband off-screen for confirmation of some detail). These interviews are interspersed with tape recordings of the interviews she did with Kurt Loder , who co-wrote her best-selling memoir  I, Tina . Those conversations with Loder were more free-styling expression, often proclaiming her pain in a raw way: "Kurt, why did I get so far without any love in my life?"

That's an understatement. Abandoned by both her parents, Anna Mae Bullock went to go see Ike Turner, heading up his R&B band. Tina describes almost falling into "a trance" when she saw him onstage. Ike heard Tina sing, and knew instantly she had to become part of his act. Ike had been burnt many times by collaborators abandoning him or taking credit for his work, and he used this against the young naive Tina as a way to keep her loyal and dependent. He saw dollar signs when he heard her sing, and while there's not necessarily anything sinister about that, it morphed into something extremely sinister very quickly, with Tina suffering frequent horrific beatings and violent sexual abuse. Tina was a hostage, not a wife.

The documentary doesn't rely on social-worker talking-heads to explain why women stay in abusive situations (just one example of how the doc could have gone wrong). Instead, it sticks with Turner's experiences, through home movie footage, archival interviews with one of her sons as well as Ike himself. Most powerfully, there are clips of Ike and Tina (and the Ikettes) performing, on television, in clubs, and Lindsay and Martin have made the choice to let these performances play out, almost in full. (This is true throughout the documentary.) You can't understand Tina Turner fully if you haven't see her in her "act" with Ike, and the way she attacked those stages in a primal powerful truly thrilling way, whirling with the Ikettes in bright yellow and pink dresses, whipping the audiences into a frenzy. Tina's voice came from her guts. 

Later performances also play out in full. She does an overwhelming rendition of "Help!", in front of a packed stadium, but it has the intimacy of a one-to-one interaction, as Tina howls out her confession of pain, her literal cry for help. So many documentaries cut away from performances, thinking we only want a glimpse of it to get the gist before shuttling on to the next thing. What a joy to be given the space to settle in and let Tina take you where she wants you to go.

The issue of the abuse she suffered at the hands of Ike wasn't really known by the public until she decided to tell the story to People magazine in 1981. Ever since, she has been dogged by questions about it, even as her solo reputation soared into multi-platinum status. This not only frustrated her, but re-traumatized her all over again. She speaks very movingly of this. Her book was written, in part, to tell the story herself in the hopes that it would close the subject. Of course people were even more impertinent and curious. The 1993 movie "What's Love Got to Do With It?", starring Angela Bassett (who was interviewed for the documentary), and Laurence Fishburne as Ike, brought the toxic relationship once again back to the forefront, leading to another press tour where she had to answer disgusting questions like: "What was the worst part of the abuse?"

In 2019, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical  opened on Broadway and Tina, on the arm of Oprah Winfrey , attended. Throngs of people clamored around her limousine when she arrived, and the ovation she received when she entered the theatre could have been heard in Albany. Tina Turner is 80 years old now. She's retired. She says that her attendance that night was "a goodbye to her American fans." There's a sadness in this, something the documentary allows for, even encourages. As Bassett says, in her emotional interview, "That's what happens to icons. Tina Turner belongs to the world."

I saw Tina in concert in 1988, during her Break Every Rule  tour. Sitting outside on the lawn at Great Woods, the anticipation was so palpable it felt like thousands of people were on the verge of nervous collapse. She hadn't even appeared yet. And then she rose up through the stage on a moving platform, blasted by light, like a superhero launching into the sky. Her lion's mane of hair seemed to stretch to the rafters. When she reached out her arms to us, energy like lightning bolts came out of her fingers.

You don't see performers like Tina every day. Or every year. Or every decade. There's only one. Let's not wait for the eventual obituaries to pour out our appreciation. "Tina" allows us to do it now.

Debuts on HBO on March 27.

Sheila O'Malley

Sheila O'Malley received a BFA in Theatre from the University of Rhode Island and a Master's in Acting from the Actors Studio MFA Program. Read her answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire here .

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Film Credits

Tina (2021)

118 minutes

Tina Turner as Self

Angela Bassett as Self

Oprah Winfrey as Self

Kurt Loder as Self

Katori Hall as Self

Erwin Bach as Self

Roger Davies as Self

Rhonda Graam as Self

Terry Britten as Self

Jimmy Thomas as Self

Carl Arrington as Self

Le'June Fletcher as Self

• T.J. Martin
• Daniel Lindsay

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‘Tina’ Arrives on HBO Max: Here’s How to Watch the Tina Turner Documentary Online for Free

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One of the most buzzed-about documentaries of the year is finally premiering this weekend on HBO. First teased almost three years ago , and officially announced in February , the Tina Turner doc, Tina , hits the small screen this Saturday on HBO and HBO Max . The documentary promises an intimate and revealing look into the life and career of the global superstar, who now lives in Switzerland and has largely stayed out of the public eye in recent years.

Tina Turner Documentary Date, Time, Channel

Tina premieres Saturday, March 27 at 8pm ET / 5pm PT on HBO and HBO Max. You can watch the Tina Turner documentary on TV if you have a cable plan that includes HBO. We like the AT&T “TV Choice” plan, which gets you live TV, on-demand content and 20 hours of DVR storage for just $85 a month .

The documentary is expected to repeat on HBO on TV, though it will also be available to watch on-demand online the day after its premiere.

How to Stream the Tina Turner Documentary Online Free

If you want to stream Tina  online, you’ll need to sign up for an HBO Max subscription . HBO Max is the only place where you’ll be able to watch the Tina Turner documentary online.

Watch Tina  on HBO Max here

An HBO Max subscription costs just  $14.99 a month (about the same price as Netflix) and gets you instant access to stream Tina  online for free and watch the film on-demand as many times as you want.

You can also watch the Tina Turner documentary free online if you’re an AT&T subscriber. AT&T wireless subscribers can get HBO Max for free as part of their  unlimited phone, TV and internet plans . Sign up for a plan or check to see if your current plan qualifies here .

It’s a great time to sign up for HBO Max right now, as the streaming service is home to the recently-released Zack Snyder’s Justice League , and the upcoming Godzilla vs. Kong . HBO Max is your exclusive home for all of Warner Bros.’ new release movies this year, which will debut on the streamer the same day it hits theaters.

Tina Turner Documentary Spoilers, Rating, Run Time

HBO’s Tina  has a running time of one hour and 58 minutes, and is rated TV-MA for mature audiences. The Tina Turner documentary promises an “unvarnished and dynamic account” into the singer’s life and career, per a release, addressing everything from Turner’s tumultuous childhood, to her abuse at the hands of ex-husband Ike Turner, and her subsequent solo career, full of highs and lows. The documentary is also expected to address her much-publicized health battles, following a kidney transplant in 2017, and her struggles with mental health, which the singer has spoken openly about .

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The documentary had Turner’s full participation and blessing. Filmmakers pieced the film together using new interviews with Turner and her husband Erwin Bach, along with clips of never-before-seen footage, audio tapes and personal photos from the couple’s collection. The doc also includes interviews with those who know Turner best, from friends like Oprah Winfrey and Angela Bassett (who famously portrayed Turner in the 1993 biopic, What’s Love Got to Do With It? ) to journalist Kurt Loder, who co-wrote Turner’s autobiography I, Tina , along with the singer in 1986.

“Everything changed when Tina began telling her story, a story of trauma and survival, that gave way to a rebirth as the record-breaking queen of rock ‘n’ roll,” says an HBO press release. “But behind closed doors, the singer struggled with the survivor narrative that meant her past was never fully behind her.”

Tina comes six months after the release of Tina Turner: That’s My Life , the singer’s new memoir and coffee table book, which debuted on the best-sellers charts last October. Turner also released a book of inspirational stories, anecdotes and advice in December, titled Happiness Becomes You: A Guide to Changing Your Life for Good .

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Tina Turner

Grammy-winner Tina Turner rose to fame in the 1960s by performing with then-husband Ike Turner. The singer later enjoyed an international solo career with hits like “What’s Love Got to Do With It.”

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Quick Facts

Making the charts: "a fool in love", marriage to ike turner, famed interpretation of "proud mary", divorcing ike, solo comeback: "private dancer" and "what’s love got to do with it", late ’80s: "mad max" movie, autobiography, and more albums, "wildest dreams" and final tour, second marriage to erwin bach, later years, who was tina turner.

Tina Turner began performing with musician Ike Turner in the 1950s. They became known as the Ike and Tina Turner Revue, achieving popular acclaim for their live performances and recordings like the top 5 hit “Proud Mary,” until Tina left in the 1970s after years of domestic abuse. Following a slow start to her solo career, Turner achieved massive success with her 1984 album Private Dancer . She went on to deliver more chart-topping albums and hit singles and was twice elected into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The revered singer with eight Grammys to her name later became involved in the spiritual Beyond project. Turner died May 24, 2023, at age 83.

FULL NAME: Tina Turner (nee Anna Mae Bullock) BORN: November 26, 1939 DIED: May 24, 2023 BIRTHPLACE: Nutbush, Tennessee SPOUSES: Ike Turner (1962-1978) and Erwin Bach (2013-2023) CHILDREN: Craig, Ronnie, Ike Jr., and Michael ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Sagittarius

Tina Turner was born Anna Mae Bullock on November 26, 1939, in Nutbush, Tennessee. Her parents, Floyd and Zelma Bullock, were poor sharecroppers, who split up and left Anna Mae and her sister to be raised by their grandmother. When her grandmother died in the early 1950s, Anna Mae moved to St. Louis, to be with her mother.

Barely in her teens, Anna Mae, who sang in her church’s choir, quickly immersed herself in St. Louis’s R&B scene, spending much of her time at Club Manhattan. It was there, in 1956, that she met rock ’n’ roll pioneer Ike Turner , who often played at the club with the Kings of Rhythm. Soon, she was performing with the group as “Little Ann,” and she quickly became the highlight of their show.

In 1960, when another singer failed to show up for a Kings of Rhythm recording session, Anna Mae sang the lead on a track titled “A Fool in Love.” The record was then sent to a radio station in New York and was released under the moniker Ike and Tina Turner. ( In a 2013 interview with Oprah Winfrey , Tina said Ike patented her name as a form of control.)

The song became a huge R&B success and soon crossed over to the pop charts. Before long, the group was touring as the Ike and Tina Turner Revue and earning renown for their electrifying stage performances. The group also capitalized on the success of “A Fool in Love” by releasing a string of successful follow-up singles, including “It’s Gonna Work Out Fine,” “Poor Fool,” and “Tra La La La La.”

With their popularity growing, Ike and Tina were married in Tijuana, Mexico, in 1962. They had a son, Ronnie, prior to their wedding in 1960. They shared four sons in all: Craig; Ike Jr.; Michael; and Ronnie, who was their only biological child together.

Tina had Craig with Kings of Rhythm saxophonist Raymond Hill when she was 18. Ike adopted Craig, and Tina adopted two of Ike’s sons, Ike Jr. and Michael, from his previous marriage.

In 1966, Tina and Ike’s success reached new heights when they recorded the album River Deep, Mountain High with superstar record producer Phil Spector . The title track was unsuccessful in the United States but became a massive, top 5 hit in England and brought the duo new fame. Still, they became more known for their electrifying live performances without accumulating a ton of corresponding hits.

In 1969, they toured as the opening act for the Rolling Stones , winning themselves still more fans. Their popularity was rekindled in 1971 with the release of the album Workin’ Together , which featured a renowned slow-to-fast remake of the Creedence Clearwater Revival track “Proud Mary” that reached the top 5 of the U.S. charts and won the two their first Grammy.

“Proud Mary” became a cornerstone of the couple’s shows, renowned for Tina’s vocal delivery along with the swirling, hand-rolling dance moves from accompanying vocalists, the Ikettes.

The duo later had a top 5 U.K. hit with 1973’s “Nutbush City Limits,” a rock-country-soul jam penned by Tina that included autobiographical elements. Then in 1975, Tina also appeared in her first film, playing the Acid Queen in The Who’s Tommy.

Despite their success as a musical duo, Tina and Ike’s marriage was in shambles. Tina would later reveal that Ike was often physically abusive, and she even attempted suicide because of his abuse.

In 1976, the couple separated both personally and professionally after an altercation in Dallas in which Tina fought back, according to her later book. In 1978, they were officially divorced, with Tina citing Ike’s frequent infidelities and increasing drug and alcohol use in addition to the abuse.

In the years following her divorce, Tina’s solo career got off to a slow start. According to Tina, when she left Ike, she had “36 cents and a gas station credit card.” To make ends meet and to care for her children, she used food stamps and even cleaned houses. But she also continued to perform in lower-profile venues and made guest appearances on other artists’ records, though not achieving any notable success initially.

In 1983, however, Turner’s solo career finally gained steam when she recorded a remake of Al Green ’s “Let’s Stay Together.” Noted for a related video in which she appeared in a rag dress between two dancers, Turner took her remake to the top 5 on the domestic R&B charts and the top 10 among U.K. pop songs.

The following year, she exploded back into the record industry when her much-anticipated solo album Private Dancer was released to overwhelming critical and popular success. It went on to win four Grammy Awards and eventually sold more than 20 million copies worldwide.

Private Dancer was a formidable entity in terms of its individual singles, with the empowerment anthem “What’s Love Got to Do With It” reaching No. 1 on the U.S. pop charts and earning the Grammy for Record of the Year. The smooth-jazz title track “Private Dancer” and “Better Be Good to Me” both reached the top 10 as well.

By this time, Turner was a woman in her mid-40s who was becoming even more renowned for her uniquely energetic performances and raspy singing technique along with her signature look—typically performing in short skirts that exposed her famous legs, with voluminous, punk-styled hair.

In 1985, Turner returned to the screen, starring opposite Mel Gibson in the film Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, to which she contributed the No. 2 pop song “We Don’t Need Another Hero.”

I, Tina: My Life Story

One year later, she published her autobiography, I, Tina , which would later be adapted as the 1993 film What’s Love Got to Do with It , starring Angela Bassett as Tina and Laurence Fishburne as Ike. ( Turner’s soundtrack for the film, in which she redid classic tracks and offered up the new top 10 hit “I Don’t Wanna Fight” would go double-platinum, and both Bassett and Fishburne earned Oscar nominations for their performances.)

The year 1986 also saw the release of Turner’s second solo album, Break Every Rule , featuring the fun “Typical Male.” Chronicling unfulfilled desire with a too-brainy romantic interest, the track was yet another hit for Turner, reaching No. 2 on the pop charts.

Tina Live in Europe followed in 1988 and won the Grammy for Female Rock Vocal Performance. Foreign Affair (1989), which included the top 20 hit single “The Best,” outdid Private Dancer in worldwide sales.

The following decade, Turner released Wildest Dreams (1996), featuring her cover of John Waite’s “Missing You,” and Twenty Four Seven (1999). She also made several recordings for film soundtracks, including the James Bond title song “Goldeneye,” a U.K. top 10 hit, and “He Lives in You” for The Lion King 2 .

In 1991, Ike and Tina Turner were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Ike was unable to attend the ceremony, however, as he was serving time for drug possession. (He eventually died of an overdose in 2007.)

In 2008, the iconic entertainer embarked on her Tina! 50th Anniversary Tour, which became one of the highest-selling ticketed shows of 2008 and 2009. She announced that it would be her final tour and essentially retired from the music business save for occasional appearances and recordings.

Turner nonetheless continued to be a luminary of the musical world, appearing on the cover of a 2013 Dutch Vogue that was widely shared.

Turner collaborated with spiritual musicians Regula Curti and Dechen Shak-Dagsay for the release of Beyond: Buddhist and Christian Prayers in 2010, as well as for the follow-up albums Children Beyond (2011) and Love Within (2014). “The experience of singing prayers together allows us to deeply connect on an emotional level,” Turner explained to Billboard in 2010, “a place of love and respect where worldly differences fade.”

Previously, in the 1970s, a friend had introduced Turner to Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism, from which she found peace in the rituals of chanting. She adhered to the teachings of The Soka Gakkai International, the largest Buddhist organization consisting of about 12 million Nichiren Buddhist practitioners.

In 2013, news broke that 73-year-old Turner was engaged to her longtime partner, German record executive Erwin Bach. That July, they were married in Zurich, Switzerland, only months after Turner had gained her Swiss citizenship. She lived with Bach in Küsnacht near Zurich.

In her 70s, Turner experienced several major health issues. Three months after her marriage to Bach in 2013, Turner suffered a stroke. In 2016, she was diagnosed with intestinal cancer. The next year, she had a kidney transplant, and Bach was the donor.

Returning to the spotlight in 2018, Turner was honored with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (alongside other industry legends like Neil Diamond and Emmylou Harris ) to open the year—an eventful one for the 78-year-old.

That March, Turner revealed that she had forgiven her ex-husband for his abusive behavior years ago. “As an old person, I have forgiven him, but it would not work with him,” she said in an interview with The Times of London . “He asked for one more tour with me, and I said, ‘No, absolutely not.’ Ike wasn’t someone you could forgive and allow him back in.”

Then in April, fans were treated to a showcase of her greatest hits with the opening of TINA: The Tina Turner Musical at the Aldwych Theatre in London. It opened on Broadway in New York City the next fall.

Over the summer of 2018, Turner learned that her oldest son, Craig, had been found dead at his home in Studio City, California, from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The real estate agent was 59. She wrote about his death, among other things, in her second memoir My Love Story that published in October.

Three years later, in October 2021, Turner was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame again and this time as an individual. Early in the year, HBO released a biographical documentary called Tina that featured archival footage and interviews with Turner, Angela Bassett , Oprah Winfrey , and others. Another honor that year came in the form of the Tina Turner Barbie doll.

In 2022, Turner’s son Ronnie died from colon cancer and cardiovascular disease at age 62. In an Instagram post , Turner wrote: “Ronnie, you left the world far too early. In sorrow I close my eyes and think of you, my beloved son.”

At age 83, Turner died on May 24, 2023, in her home Küsnacht, Switzerland, near Zurich. A representative said she died peacefully after a long illness. In the 2010s, she had a stroke, was diagnosed with cancer, and had a kidney transplant.

• I always had long legs. When I was young, I used to think, “Why do I look like a little pony?”
• Why did I fall so deeply in love? I think when you haven’t had that much love at home, and then you find someone you love, everything comes out.
• I came into this lifetime with a job to finish. I finished it well. I’ve been told many reasons for why I lived through what I did. But I have never felt that I deserved it.
• For anyone who’s in an abusive relationship, I say this: Go. Nothing can be worse than where you are now. You have to take care of yourself first—and then you take care of your children. They will understand later.
• I believe all religion is about touching something inside of yourself. It’s all one thing. If we would realize this, we could make a change in this millennium.
• Material things make me happy, but I am already happy before I acquire these things.
• I’m very happy in Switzerland, and I feel at home here. I cannot imagine a better place to live.
• I will never give in to old age until I become old. And I’m not old yet!
• There comes a point where it is just undignified to be a rock ’n’ roll star.
• I believe that if you’ll just stand up and go, life will open up for you.
• There is no strict regimen that says when you are in your late 40s you cannot wear a minidress.
• I don’t like to dwell on the past.
• I need that on stage. I need a burst of life. That’s entertainment for me.
• Rock songs inspire you to release whatever the frustrations and help you to go on in life. Spiritual songs do it on another level... A lot of people left my last show with the same sense of spirituality. My show gave people the drive to go and to do in their lives what they want to do and make their lives the best, do the best they can in this world... That is the mail I receive. My rock shows did the same as what my spiritual music does now.

Fact Check: We strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn’t look right, contact us !

The Biography.com staff is a team of people-obsessed and news-hungry editors with decades of collective experience. We have worked as daily newspaper reporters, major national magazine editors, and as editors-in-chief of regional media publications. Among our ranks are book authors and award-winning journalists. Our staff also works with freelance writers, researchers, and other contributors to produce the smart, compelling profiles and articles you see on our site. To meet the team, visit our About Us page: https://www.biography.com/about/a43602329/about-us

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Review/Film: What's Love Got to Do With It; Tina Turner's Tale: Living Life With Ike and Then Without Him

By Janet Maslin

• June 9, 1993

"What's Love Got to Do With It" begins perfectly. It presents Anna Mae Bullock (Rae'ven Kelly) as a shy little country girl singing with a church choir. The song is "This Little Light of Mine," and Anna Mae is letting her own light shine a lot more brightly than the choirmistress wants it to. This girl can't help herself. She has a natural talent. It's a gift that will save her from poverty and obscurity, turn her into the world-famous musical dynamo known as Tina Turner, and place her in the clutches of a sexy, smooth-talking Svengali named Ike.

In less confessional times, the tale of Ike Turner's stormy, violent relationship with his long-abused wife and star attraction might not have had the makings of a Hollywood biography. Even in the abridged, somewhat sanitized account given here (adapted by Kate Lanier from "I, Tina," the autobiography Ms. Turner wrote with Kurt Loder), this Touchstone Pictures release is hardly the Disney version. Forced into show business servitude no matter how sick or exhausted she might be, Tina Turner suffered years of vicious beatings, marital infidelities and other indignities. It took vast reserves of courage for her to break free and tell her husband, "Go straight to hell, Ike."

Depicted by this broad, savvy, entertaining film as a survivor and a victim in equal parts, Ms. Turner becomes an emblem of contemporary tell-all dramaturgy. She also remains something of a cipher, since "What's Love Got to Do With It" has the ring of an authorized version. As played by Angela Bassett, who transforms herself memorably into the kind of hard-working powerhouse Ms. Turner is onstage, this film's heroine is largely uncomplicated, motivated by decency and fear. The deeper, more painful side of her experience remains unexpressed, except through the film's depiction of its riveting villain.

The brilliant, mercurial portrayal of Ike Turner by Laurence Fishburne, formerly known as Larry, is what elevates "What's Love Got to Do With It" beyond the realm of run-of-the-mill biography. First seen as a sinuous charmer with a pompadour and pencil-thin mustache, Mr. Fishburne's Ike leaves no doubt as to how he was able to hold the young, sheltered Anna Mae (whom he renamed Tina) in such thrall. Early in the story, when Anna Mae has newly moved to St. Louis to be with the mother who had abandoned her in childhood, Ike is seen as a veritable human magnet.

Locally famous as both a bandleader and a ladies' man, Ike gives Tina her first chance to perform onstage, then marvels in true "Star Is Born" fashion at her show-stopping talent. This scene, a nicely staged version of the standard crowd-pleaser, constitutes almost the only point in the story at which Ike displays an unselfish appreciation of what Tina can do.

Smiling, cajoling and sweet-talking his way through the first part of the story, Mr. Fishburne's Ike reshapes his protegee. Ike's considerable acumen makes him understand just how Tina should dress, sing and move to best effect, and Tina obligingly becomes his creature. The film, punctuated by frequent, lively reminders of Ike and Tina's stage act and its best-known numbers, takes obvious satisfaction in charting Tina's rise to stardom. Anyone familiar with her career will appreciate the degree to which "What's Love Got to Do With It" gets the wigs, the clothes and the choreography just right.

When a film's subject is as familiar visually as Ms. Turner is, verisimilitude can become limiting and unrewarding, movie-of-the-week style. This film is wise to avoid the aspects of Ms. Turner's life that would have been impossible to recreate for a video-literate audience (like her early days on tour with the Rolling Stones) and keep the celebrity tie-ins to a minimum. Instead of dropping famous names, the film evokes the 1960's and 70's through gleefully garish props, outfits and coiffures, most notably on the perpetually hip and fashion-minded Ike. Even at his most embittered and dangerous, Ike never forgets to try and look his best.

Mr. Fishburne finds something unexpectedly moving in Ike's decline, despite the terrible effect his problems had on his wife. Under the influence of drugs, Ike becomes a desperate, jive-talking mess, venting his jealousy of Tina's success in excruciating ways. The film retains its fundamentally glossy tone despite the fact that Ike is seen beating Tina with his boot in a limousine, raping her during a domestic quarrel, blackening her eye before a performance and forcing her to leave her hospital bed when she says she's too weak to work. It understands that the dream of success that intoxicated Ike somehow damaged him as badly as it hurt those around him.

"What's Love Got to Do With It" has been directed by Brian Gibson with the sweep of an old-fashioned biopic and the energy of a more contemporary kind of musical. Mr. Gibson also directed "Breaking Glass," with a punk ethos very different from this film's rhythm-and-blues atmosphere but with similar commercial verve.

This biography steadily teases its audience with hints of the real Ms. Turner, who is heard on the soundtrack singing old and rerecorded versions of her hit songs. Ms. Turner also appears, at least figuratively, in those uncanny moments when Ms. Bassett pulls her lips taut, bares her teeth, flaunts her hair and legs and captures the star's muscular, kinetic stage style to a T. In the film's closing moments, when the real Ms. Turner takes a kind of curtain call, she arrives with the power of a pop prophecy fulfilled.

"What's Love Got to Do With It" is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). It includes violence, profanity and sexual situations. What's Love Got to Do With It

Directed by Brian Gibson; screenplay by Kate Lanier, based upon the book "I, Tina," by Tina Turner and Kurt Loder; director of photography, Jamie Anderson; edited by Stuart Pappe; music by Stanley Clarke; production designer, Stephen Altman; produced by Doug Chapin and Barry Krost; released by Touchstone Pictures. Running time 120 minutes. This film is rated R. Tina Turner . . . Angela Bassett Ike Turner . . . Laurence Fishburne Jackie . . . Vanessa Bell Calloway Anna Mae Bullock . . . Rae'ven Kelly Zelma Bullock . . . Jenifer Lewis Fross . . . Chi Alline Bullock . . . Phyllis Yvonne Stickney Darlene . . . Khandi Alexander Club Owner . . . Robert Guy Miranda Lorraine . . . Penny Johnson

10 revelations about Tina Turner's life from her 2021 documentary

• Tina Turner died at the age of 83 on Wednesday after a "long illness," her family said.
• The legendary singer rose to fame in the 1960s and is regarded as the Queen of Rock 'n' Roll.
• Here are the biggest revelations from "Tina," the 2021 HBO Documentary about her turbulent life.

Tina Turner said her first husband Ike Turner "tortured" her during their relationship.

While Tina Turner has spoken about her abusive marriage with Ike Turner before, we got to hear her own words describe the situation in HBO's 2021 documentary "Tina."

In fact, the recording of Tina's interview with People in 1981 about her life and abuse is played throughout the documentary.

Tina and Ike began working together after meeting in 1957 and married in 1962. During the relationship, Ike had control of all her music and physically and verbally abused her. Tina has spoken out about domestic violence on numerous occasions after her 1978 divorce.

"My ex-husband was a physically violent man. I went through basic torture," Tina said in People's recording used in the documentary. "I was living a life of death. I didn't exist."

Tina said that Ike was insecure about the singer leaving him when she became a star, so he tried to control her. Tina said that Ike would then physically harm her and have sex with her afterward.

"He beat me with a shoe stretcher," Tina said. "And after that he made me go to bed and he had sex with me and I was all swollen and that was the beginning of the torture."

Tina said that she felt loyal to Ike, which is why she stayed for so long.

Later in the documentary, Tina said that she hated Ike "for a long time," but the "What's Love Got To Do With It?" singer said she realized her ex-husband was "a sick person" after he died in 2007.

Tina Turner's name was inspired by a TV character.

Tina's birth name was Anna Mae Bullock and she used that name until she met Ike in 1956.

After they recorded their first hit record "A Fool In Love," Ike gave Bullock the name "Tina Turner" so that they could be paired together as Ike and Tina Turner.

In the documentary, Tina said that Ike was inspired by his obsession with "Sheena: Queen of the Jungle," a '50s TV show based on the comic of the same name about an orphan who grew up in an African jungle.

During their divorce in 1978, the legendary singer specifically asked if she could keep the name. According to Tina, Ike fought to keep the name, but she won the right in court.

Phil Spector paid Ike to stop him from interfering with the recording of "River Deep Mountain High."

Ike produced many of Tina's early songs while they were in a partnership.

However, in 1996, Phil Spector, who music journalist Kurt Loder described as "the greatest pop producer of that period" in the documentary, wanted to work with Tina by herself when they were recording their hit song "River Deep Mountain High."

Rhonda Graam, Tina's tour manager at the time, said in the documentary that Spector actually paid Ike to stay away from the recording studio when they were making the song.

"Spector didn't want Ike nowhere near the studio," Graam said. "So he paid Ike X amount of dollars to get him taken care of, so to speak, so that he wouldn't interfere with Tina. And that was the first time they gave Tina her chance to sing differently."

According to Rolling Stone , Spector paid $20,000 up front to produce Tina.

"I was excited about singing a different type of song," Tina said in the documentary. "I was excited about getting out of the studio on my own. It was a freedom to do something different."

While the song has since become popular, at the time it wasn't successful in the US.

Tina grew up in a turbulent home.

The documentary also delves into Tina's childhood. The Queen of Rock 'n' Roll was born in Tennessee in 1939 to Floyd and Zelma Bullock and initially lived in the small town of Nutbush.

Tina said that her parents fought "from the very beginning," but her mother "always fought back."

One day, Tina recalled, her mother left the house. After her father found out, he "panicked" and also left. As a result, Tina and her older siblings had to become independent and fend for themselves.

"That's when I found out how much I loved her, because I also began to hate her then," Tina said of her mother. "That's when you learn the difference between love and hate, because I felt that she left, which is fine, but I wanted her to come for us and I waited. She never did."

Tina tried to end her life using sleeping pills.

The documentary recounts the unraveling of Tina and Ike's relationship as they tried to create a hit record. Tina said that Ike began taking drugs and physically abusing her more frequently. He also would become angry more quickly.

In the doc, Tina described a time when she got a prescription for sleeping pills from her doctor and almost died after swallowing the whole bottle.

"I felt [like], this is it, no more," Tina said. "I did not make it to the stage. I remember being in the car and him sticking his fingers down my throat, trying to make me throw up, and finally I went unconscious."

"I was insanely afraid of that man," she said of Ike.

The documentary then aired an interview Ike did in 2000, in which he gave his point of view on Tina's attempted suicides.

"At first, Tina attempted suicide two or three times, I think that this was some form of attention," Ike said. "She was unhappy about the things that I was doing. Me being a womanizer, being with all these women. And I think that the real truth is she was trying to be something that she wasn't."

He added: "She was trying to be what she thought I wanted, not what she really was. She was trying to please me and so therefore she was going through a lot of hurt. And I think she had a very unhappy life because of that."

Tina's discovery of Buddhism helped her decide to leave Ike.

In the doc, the "Proud Mary" singer describes her decision to divorce Ike — and an interest in spirituality helped her make the choice.

Valerie Bishop, whom Tina met through Ike, introduced her to Buddhism. "Buddhism was a way out, and it changed your attitudes towards the situation that you're in," she said in the documentary. "The more you chant, the more you become liberated mentally."

After learning about Buddhism, Tina said she realized she had to make a change. She began to fight back and hit Ike. Then, on July 3, 1976, when the pair were in a hotel in Dallas, Texas, Tina packed her bag and left while Ike was asleep.

Tina went to another hotel and almost got hit by a truck on the highway. Then she went into hiding in Los Angeles and prepared to file for divorce.

After the divorce, Tina had to foot the bill for all her canceled concerts.

Since Tina and Ike were on tour as a duo, they were forced to cancel their shows once they divorced. Soon, mounting lawsuits over the canceled concerts, coupled with the fact that Tina was never given the money that she had made during her marriage to Ike, put Tina into debt .

She had to perform in any venue she could get in order to make back the money to pay the bills and support her children.

Graam said that she started to book her gigs on TV shows in order to make more money. However, the singer was always asked about Ike, since their relationship was so public.

Tina originally hated "What's Love Got To Do With It?" and was persuaded to sing the track by her manager.

While Tina's 1984 track "What's Love Got To Do With It?" is one of her greatest hits, the rock singer said in the documentary that she initially hated the track.

"I was rock and roll. I was not ... that was a pop song," she said. 

Her manager Roger Davies was convinced that the song could be a "big song," so Tina eventually agreed to meet the producer, Terry Britten, and they reworked the track.

According to Britten, Turner even told him she didn't like the song to his face and said she only showed up because of Davies.

Tina said that she doesn't think her mother Zelma liked her.

In the documentary, Tina described her relationship with her mother Zelma, whom she reconnected with after she left her as a child.

"Ma was not kind," Tina said. "When I became a star, of course then she was happy because I bought her a house. I did all kinds of things for her. She was my mother. I was trying to make her comfortable because she didn't have a husband. She was alone, but she still didn't like me."

She added: "Even after I became Tina, Ma still was a little bit, 'Who did that?' and 'Who did this?' and I said, 'I did it, Ma.' I was happy to show my mother what I did. I had a house. I had gotten the car and she said, 'I don't believe it. You're my daughter. I know you didn't...' something to this effect. She didn't want me. She didn't want to be around me even though she wanted my success."

Tina met her second husband at an airport.

In 2013, Tina married Swiss producer Erwin Bach, 67, after being together for 27 years.

In the documentary, Bach recalls how they met at Dusseldorf airport and began a relationship.

"Her manager Roger asked me to pick up Tina," Bach said. "I enjoyed the ride. I enjoyed driving the artist. Actually a superstar for us, where you're normally a little nervous but I wasn't nervous either. I was just doing the job."

Tina said that Erwin had the "prettiest face" and her heart started racing. Tina said that when Bach found out she liked him, he came to America and she made a move on him.

"He was just so so different," she said. "So laid back. So comfortable. So unpretentious. And that was the beginning of our relationship."

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Where To Stream ‘What’s Love Got to Do With It’ And More Tina Turner Movies

Where to Stream:

• What's Love Got to Do With It
• Tina Turner

Oscars In Memoriam 2024: Who is The Most “Important” Celebrity That Died In The Last Year?

Stream it or skip it: ‘the greatest night in pop’ on netflix, a documentary about how “we are the world” became a reality, patti labelle’s tina turner tribute at the bet awards foiled by teleprompter troubles: “i can’t see the words”, joy behar cracks cutting joke about being “forced” off ‘the view’ in 2013.

Rock ‘n Roll legend Tina Turner died today at 83.

The iconic performer leaves behind a legacy that includes over 100 million albums sold, 12 Grammy Awards, a 2021 induction into the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, a Kennedy Center Honor, and much more.

While Turner was and will primarily be remembered as a musician, she starred in a few movies and was the subject of a 2021 documentary.

She was also famously portrayed by Oscar nominee Angela Bassett in the 1993 biopic What’s Love Got to Do with It , based on Turner’s memoir I, Tina .

If you want to celebrate the Queen of Rock ‘n Roll’s life today, we’ve rounded up where you can stream What’s Love Got to Do with It , a few of her movies, and the documentary below.

Where to Stream What’s Love Got to Do with It :

Angela Bassett starred as Turner in What’s Love Got to Do with It , alongside Laurence Fishburne as Ike Turner, her abusive ex-husband. The biopic charts Turner’s early career, up to the point where she leaves Ike and achieves superstardom. Bassett received her first Oscar nomination for the film.

What’s Love Got to Do with It is available to rent from Prime Video , Apple TV , and Microsoft Movies for $4.

Where to Stream Tina :

Turner was the subject of a 2021 documentary , Tina , which the singer described as a parallel to her second memoir, …Happiness Becomes You . She appeared in the doc alongside Angela Bassett, Oprah Winfrey, Kurt Loder, Katori Hall, Erwin Bach, Carl Arrington, Jimmy Thomas, Le’Juene Fletcher, Rhonda Graam, Roger Davies and Terry Britten.

Tina aired on HBO and is still streaming on Max , which starts at $10/month.

Where to Stream Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome :

Turner starred opposite Mel Gibson in the third Mad Max movie. She played Aunty Entity, the glamorous and ruthless leader of Bartertown.

Mad Max Beyond is available to rent on Prime Video , Apple TV , and Microsoft Movies for $4.

Where to Stream Tommy :

In 1975, Turner appeared as The Acid Queen in The Who’s rock opera, Tommy .

You can rent Tommy for $4 on Prime Video , Apple TV , and Microsoft Movies .

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Tina Turner

• Born November 26 , 1939 · Brownsville, Tennessee, USA
• Died May 24 , 2023 · Küsnacht, Zürich, Switzerland (natural causes)
• Birth name Anna Mae Bullock
• The Queen of Rock 'n' Roll
• The Acid Queen
• Height 5′ 4″ (1.63 m)
• With almost fifty years in the music business, Tina Turner became one of the most commercially successful international female rock stars. Her sultry, powerful voice, her incredible legs, her time-tested beauty and her unforgettable story all contributed to her legendary status. Born to a share-cropping family in the segregated South, Anna Mae Bullock and her elder sister were abandoned by their sparring parents early on. After her grandmother's death, she eventually moved to St. Louis, Missouri to reunite with her mother. This opened up a whole new world of R&B nightclubs to the precocious 16-year-old. Called up to sing onstage with Ike Turner 's Kings of Rhythm in 1956, she displayed a natural talent for performing which the bandleader was keen to develop. Soon, Anna Mae's aspirations of a nursing career were forgotten and she began to hang around with the group. When the singer booked to record "A Fool in Love" failed to turn up for the session, Ike drafted Anna Mae to provide the vocal with the intention of removing it later. However, once he heard her spine-tingling performance of the song, he soon changed his plans. He changed her name to Tina Turner, and when the record became a hit, Tina became a permanent fixture in Ike's band and his quest for international stardom. One thing led to another: they were married in Mexico after the births of Tina's two sons - the first a result of an earlier relationship with a musician, the second with Ike. Before too long, the Ike and Tina Turner Revue was tearing up large and small R&B and soul venues throughout the early and mid-1960s. The hits were relatively few, but the unsurpassed energy and excitement generated by the live stage show, primarily Tina, made the Revue a solid touring act, along with the likes of James Brown and Ray Charles . Their greatest attempt to "cross over" came in 1966 with the historic recording of the Phil Spector production, "River Deep, Mountain High". While it was a commercial flop in the United States, it was a monster hit in Europe - and the start of Tina's European superstar status, which never faded during her long stint of relative obscurity in America in the late 1970s. The Revue entered that decade as a top touring and recording act, with Tina becoming more and more recognized as the star power behind the group's international success. Ike, while having been justly described as an excellent musician, a shrewd businessman and the initial "brains" behind the Revue, was also described (by Tina and others) as a violent, drug-addicted wife-beater who was not above frequently knocking Tina (and other women) around both publicly and privately. Despite hits such as "Proud Mary" and Tina's self-penned "Nutbush City Limits", further mainstream success eluded the group and Ike blamed Tina. After years of misery and a failed suicide attempt, Tina finally had enough in July 1976, when she fled the marriage (and the Revue) with the now-famous 36 cents and a Mobil gasoline credit card. Tina, nearing 40, endured a long and, at times, humiliating trek back to superstardom through working many substandard gigs and performing a repertoire of current Top 40 hits and old Ike & Tina tunes in hotel ballrooms and supper clubs. She later admitted she was having the time of her life at this point, simply putting together her own show and performing. She refused to wrangle for a settlement from the divorce, despite being in huge debt to all the tour promoters she had let down by fleeing the Revue. After an appearance on Olivia Newton-John: Hollywood Nights (1980) , Tina - in a wise business move - persuaded Newton-John's management team to take her on. With Roger Davies at her side, Tina's profile began to rise, and performances alongside the likes of Rod Stewart and The Rolling Stones introduced her to the rock market she so wanted to pursue. The European release of her cover of Al Green 's "Let's Stay Together" in 1983 was a major turning point in Tina's career. The record hit #6 on the British chart, and Capitol Records were soon demanding a full album. "Private Dancer" was hurriedly produced in England in two weeks flat. The rest is rock and roll history. The next single - "What's Love Got to Do with It?" - became Tina's first #1 single the following year, and the album hung around the Top 10 for months, spawning two further hits. At the 1985 Grammy Awards, her astonishing comeback was recognized with nominations in the rock, R&B and pop categories and rewarded with four trophies. After that time, the successes just kept coming: a starring role in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985) ; duets with Bryan Adams , David Bowie , Eric Clapton and Mick Jagger amongst others; several sell-out world tours; a string of hit albums and awards; a bestselling autobiography, "I, Tina"; and the blockbuster biopic What's Love Got to Do with It (1993) chronicling her life. After her "Twenty Four Seven Millenium Tour" in 2000, Tina announced she would retire from the concert stage, but continue to record and play live on a smaller scale. Four years later, at age 65, she released a career retrospective entitled "All the Best" featuring new recordings, and reached #2 in the American album chart, her highest ever placing for an album there. She ended 2005 as one of five recipients of the Kennedy Center Honors, the highest form of recognition of excellence in the arts in America. Despite changing the direction of her working life, she will always be remembered as a dynamic live performer and recording artist, able to thrill audiences like no other woman in music history. Tina Turner is the undisputed Queen of Rock and Roll. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Anonymous
• Spouses Erwin Bach (July 4, 2013 - May 24, 2023) (her death) Ike Turner (November 26, 1962 - March 29, 1978) (divorced, 1 child)
• Children Raymond Craig Turner Ike Turner Jr Michael Turner Ronnie Turner
• Parents Floyd Richard Bullock
• Relatives Jamaica Owens (Niece or Nephew) Amaka Kai'ro (Cousin)
• Legs, lips and hair
• Powerful sultry voice
• Energetic dancing while wearing high heels
• World's most successful female rock artist ever. Record sales: over 60 million (1983-99). Sold more concert tickets than any other female performer in history. Seven-time Grammy Award-winner.
• Grew up believing she had significant Native American ancestry. A DNA test presented on African American Lives (2006) showed she was of only 1% Native American descent, as well as of 33% European ancestry.
• In 1994, she moved to Zurich, Switzerland and has been residing in a lake house, Chateau Algonquin since then. She owned property in Cologne, London and Los Angeles, and a villa on the French Rivera named Anna Fleur.
• She had two biological sons: Craig Raymond Turner (August 20, 1958-July 3, 2018, committed suicide by gunshot at the age 59) with her now late ex-boyfriend Raymond Hill and (Ronald Renelle Turner; b. October 27, 1960) with her late ex-husband Ike Turner . She also adopted Ike Turner's two sons Ike Turner Jr. (b. October 3, 1958) and Michael Turner (b. February 23, 1960).
• Songwriter Holly Knight wrote "(Simply) the Best" (1989) with British pop singer Paul Young in mind. However, when Young passed on the offer, Tina recorded the song after adding a bridge and key change, and it became one of her most high-profile signature tunes.
• I'm the only person left doing the kind of work that I do.
• I will never give in to old age until I become old. And I'm not old yet!
• Sometimes, you've got to let everything go--purge yourself. If you are unhappy with anything . . . whatever is bringing you down, get rid of it. Because you'll find that when you're free, your true creativity, your true self comes out.
• This is what I want in heaven . . . words to become notes and conversations to be symphonies.
• There comes a point where it is just undignified to be a rock 'n' roll star.
• Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985) - $120 .000

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On Tina Turner and what it meant to be the Queen of Rock & Roll

A fool in love. An acid queen. A private dancer. Tina Turner was all that, and so much more.

Lester Fabian Brathwaite is a staff writer at Entertainment Weekly , where he covers breaking news, all things Real Housewives , and a rich cornucopia of popular culture. Formerly a senior editor at Out magazine, his work has appeared on NewNowNext , Queerty , Rolling Stone , and The New Yorker . He was also the first author signed to Phoebe Robinson's Tiny Reparations imprint. He met Oprah once.

Tina Turner was a woman. She was a Black woman. She was a human being.

It's easy to forget that someone so monumental is also human. Because humans have to die — it's part of the deal. But when someone like Tina Turner dies … it doesn't feel quite fair.

She is a monument.

I say that in the present tense because when someone like Tina Turner dies, their memory lives on, eternally. As the Queen of Rock & Roll, she was the last living monument to the contributions and the sacrifices that Black people have made to rock & roll — until hip hop, the most potent U.S. export.

Turner was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice — first as part of the duo Ike & Tina Turner, with her ex-husband, in 1991, and then as a solo act in 2021. Ike and Tina released their first record, "A Fool in Love," in 1960. Turner was just 20, but she arrived sounding like a fully formed hurricane, growling, "What you say?! Hey, hey, hey, hey, heeeeeeeey !"

Her voice was a spiritual successor to that of Big Mama Thornton, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, LaVern Baker, and many other Black women who laid the foundations of rock & roll. On wax, Turner was explosive. In concert, she was out of this world.

Much has been made of Mick Jagger learning his moves from Turner. But with all due respect to Jagger, he could literally never. At 70, during her 50th Anniversary Tour, she was still a whirling dervish of miniskirts, fringe, sequins, and legs for days.

At a time when Black artists were more closely identified with soul and R&B, Ike and Tina were rockin' and rollin' down the river. Their most famous song, "Proud Mary," was an infinitely superior cover of the Creedence Clearwater Revival song.

Ike and Tina's output, from 1960-1976, featured some of the most dynamic, hip-shaking, earth-shattering music ever put to tape, climaxing with 1966's "River Deep, Mountain High" — if "epic" were a song.

Produced and cowritten by rock pioneer and noted abuser Phil Spector, "River Deep, Mountain High" was the like the horns of Jericho to Spector's Wall of Sound. Spector considered it the greatest record he ever produced, and everything crumbled in its wake.

Ike Turner's contributions to rock are often overshadowed by the nightmarish abuse he unleashed upon his wife, but what he and Turner did together changed the course of music. Similarly, Turner's contributions are often overshadowed by that abuse, her story reduced to that of a victim.

The period between her split from Ike and her massive 1984 comeback with her album Private Dancer rarely gets much attention, but this is my favorite Tina Turner era. This was Tina slumming it on Hollywood Squares , Tina popping into The Sonny and Cher Show to hang out in matching Bob Mackies with Cher. This was disco Tina, Tina struggling to find her way and forge a new path on her own terms. This was Tina the survivor.

Through it all, she kept a fire that always burned brighter and hotter than Ike could handle. When she did make her triumphant return at 45, at an age when fame — Hollywood, the music industry — has usually sucked a woman, particularly a Black woman, dry, she had already been the Queen of Rock & Roll. Private Dancer was the re -coronation, for anyone who had forgotten.

Record execs dismissed Turner for her age, her race, her gender — but you don't count out Tina Turner. Private Dancer smoothed out and glossed up her sound, giving it a mainstream-pop sheen, but songs like "Show Some Respect" and "Better Be Good to Me" proved she hadn't lost the ferocity she had let loose on "A Fool in Love."

The album went on to sell 12 million copies worldwide, win four Grammys, and establish Turner as one of the biggest live acts in the world for decades to come.

The singer's appeal transcended genre, but rock was always her domain, and she reigned over it benevolently. Some Black people may have never heard of CCR, but they knew "Proud Mary." Turner was an access point to music that had been created by Black artists and then co-opted by white artists and white businessmen.

That Tina Turner was the Queen — unrivaled, undisputed, unchallenged — of Rock & Roll meant that Black people could look to her to be reminded where this music came from, how it had developed, what it had given, what it had taken, and the possibilities it possessed.

Heavy is the head that wears the crown, but for more than 60 years Tuna Turner wore it regally. Long live the Queen.

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