Tina Turner, the ‘Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll’ has died at the age of 83

Tina Turner–the ‘Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll’– has passed away at 83 in her home in Küsnacht, Switzerland, after battling a long illness.

Turner was a legendary singer, songwriter, author, and actress, who is best known for her powerful voice that reached the highest highs and lowest lows, coupled with her energetic and captivating live performances.

Beginning her career in the 1950s, and reaching fame in the 1960s alongside her ex-husband, Ike Turner, she found her biggest success when she began performing solo in the 1980s.

“It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Tina Turner. With her music and her boundless passion for life, she enchanted millions of fans around the world and inspired the stars of tomorrow,” read an official statement on Turner’s social media accounts on Wednesday, May 24.

“Today we say goodbye to a dear friend who leaves us all her greatest work: her music. All our heartfelt compassion goes out to her family. Tina, we will miss you dearly.”

Early career

Turner was born Anna Mae Bullock in Nutbush, Tennessee, on November 26, 1939. Always finding solace in music, she grew up singing at Nutbush’s Spring Hill Baptist Church.

At the age of 16, Turner and her sister moved to St. Louis after their grandmother died, to reunite with their mother, who moved to the city years prior.

It was while living in St. Louis that Turner first saw Ike Turner perform with his band the Kings of Rhythm. After he rejected her request to join the band, she later literally sang her way into the band, after grabbing hold of the microphone one night during intermission and singing the B.B. King song ‘You Know I Love You.’

From that point on, the two began a successful but tumultuous partnership and relationship, marrying in 1962, and releasing hit songs, including the 1971 cover of the song ‘Proud Mary’.

But after 16 years, Turner fled the abusive relationship, with their divorce finalized in 1978.

“My relationship with Ike was doomed the day he figured out I was going to be his moneymaker,” Turner wrote in her 2018 biography ‘My Love Story’. “He needed to control me, economically and psychologically, so I could never leave him.”

Mainstream success as a solo artist

Turner began releasing solo music in 1974. But it wasn’t until a decade later, in 1984, when Turner released the single ‘Private Dancer’ from her fifth solo album of the same name, that she found huge success.

The album also included the hit, ‘What’s Love Got to Do With It’, her first song to hit the top spot of the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

“I don’t consider it a comeback,” Turner said of the album in the 2021 documentary ‘Tina’. “Tina had never arrived.”

Shortly after, she appeared in both the movie and the soundtrack of 1985’s ‘Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome’, alongside Mel Gibson.

A year later, she released her bestselling memoir ‘I, Tina’, which was later adapted into the 1993 movie ‘What’s Love Got to Do with It’ starring Angela Basset and Laurence Fishburne.

In 2021, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist, after she was previously inducted in 1991 with her ex-husband, Ike.