Tina Turner, a soul and rock powerhouse best known for her octave-defying voice and mesmerizing stage moves, has died at the age of 83.
He died on Wednesday at his home in Switzerland after a long illness, according to a statement from his publicist. In her 2018 memoir Tina Turner: My Love Story, Turner had suffered health problems since 2013, including stroke, bowel cancer and kidney failure. Her second husband Erwin Bach donated a kidney to her in 2017, which saved her life.
In a recording career that spanned six decades, Turner rose to fame both as a solo artist and in duets with her first husband, Ike Turner. With the latter, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and became a staple of the US R&B and pop charts in the 1960s and ’70s. The duo’s energy was informed by Tina’s disparate vocal influences. He grew up listening to country music, but had several idols: 1950s R&B singers Laverne Baker and Faye Adams; gospel great Mahalia Jackson and rock pioneer Sister Rosetta Tharpe; Blues Legend B.B. King; and soul greats Ray Charles and Sam Cooke. As a result, he had an malleable and versatile voice, and could unleash a brooding rock rumble, or dip into his lower register and sing smoky blues or velvety R&B numbers. One of Ike and Tina’s best-known songs, “River Deep, Mountain High,” was also an orchestral, gospel triumph produced by Phil Spector. (Rock And Roll Icon Tina Turner Dies At 83)
As an agile vocal artist, Turner has also appropriated other people’s iconic songs, adding a tone of longing and despair to The Beatles’ already pleading “Come Together” and “Come Together” by The Rolling Stones. “Honky Tonk” further boosting a country lead. , Woman.” Her signature tune, a fiery variation of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s laid-back “Proud Mary,” became a showcase for her sultry soul sighs and raspy rock ‘n’ roll howls. The final song earned Turner her first Grammy. Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals, she would go on to win a total of eight Grammy Awards, including Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for three consecutive years during the 80s.
In addition to his vocal prowess, Turner had a commanding stage presence that was often referred to as “electrifying”. In some ways, that description has always felt like an understatement: At the microphone, Turner pulsated with energy like a boiling pot about to simmer, and she had a natural athleticism that translated into a lively but powerful dance on stage. Used to be Ben Fong-Torres of Rolling Stone wrote in 1971, “Somebody once called Tina ‘the female Mick Jagger'”. Exaggeration: In the same Rolling Stone article, Turner himself indicated that Jagger studied his moves quite closely when he and Ike were on tour with the Rolling Stones in 1969). Shock at Live Aid in 1985″, the combination was incendiary.
“I am deeply saddened by the passing of my best friend, Tina Turner,” Jagger said in a statement on Instagram. “She was truly a very talented artist and singer. She was inspirational, warm, funny and generous. She helped me a lot when I was younger and I will never forget her.” (Rock And Roll Icon Tina Turner Dies At 83)
Born Anna Mae Bullock on November 26, 1939, Turner grew up in rural Nutbush, Tennessee, but also spent time in Knoxville as her parents moved there for work. Growing up, he had a distant relationship with both his father, who left the family when he was 13, and his mother. But acting came naturally and became his comfort. In Tina Turner: My Love Story, she describes a shopping trip filled with music (she was 4 or 5 and paid by salesgirls to sing radio hits she had memorized) and her cousin, her The pleasure of guiding half-sister Evelyn, and her sister. Aline in stage show. Later, he further improved his performance presence by singing at a picnic with a locally famous trombonist named Mr. Bootsy Whitelaw. (Rock And Roll Icon Tina Turner Dies At 83)
Turner moved to St. Louis at age 16 to live with Eileen and her mother, and began going to the famous Manhattan clubs in East St. Louis, where he first saw Ike Turner and the Kings of Rhythm. In 1957, he did B.B. ended up joining the group after his improvised rendition of K. The king wore the bandleader. The company was eventually renamed the Ike and Tina Turner Revue, in keeping with its elevated role.
By all accounts, Ike was extremely cruel to Tina, both personally and professionally. Looking back, I realize that my relationship with Ike was doomed. The day she found out I was going to make her meal ticket, her money,” Turner wrote in My Love Story. She then described how she was a last-minute replacement to sing “A Fool in Love”, which became the duo’s first hit, reaching No. 2 on the R&B chart in 1960, and was influential enough that a record label head asked Ike to make Tina the centerpiece of the group.” he continued. “He had to find a way to protect his interests
