Correction: This story has been updated to correct that Tina Turner died Tuesday.
A powerful and pioneering figure in music, a two-time Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Famer, a 12-time Grammy winner and one of the most enduring hitmakers in history, Tina Turner died Tuesday at the age of 83.
Her death was reported on her official Instagram account.
Turner’s manager says she died Tuesday after a long illness in her home in Küsnacht near Zurich, Switzerland, according to the Associated Press.
Turner, a longtime resident of Switzerland, had reportedly been in poor health for several years, and only made rare public appearances since retiring from the stage in 2009.
“It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Tina Turner … Today we say goodbye to a dear friend who leaves us all her greatest work: her music,” reads a statement from her longtime friend and collaborator, Peter Lindbergh.
Born Anna Mae Bullock in 1939 in Brownsville, Tennessee, and raised in nearby Nutbush, Turner had an unsettled childhood after her parents divorce, living with various grandparents, before eventually moving to St. Louis to reunite with her mother.
Little Ann to the Ike & Tina Turner Revue
Although she’d grown up singing in church choir, she would launch her musical career under the auspices of her former husband, Ike Turner, in the late 1950s. Ike Turner had been a talent scout for the Modern and Chess label, as well as a bandleader, guitarist, bassist and vocalist touring around Memphis and the Mid-South. Turner relocated to St. Louis in the mid-‘50s and hooked up with Bullock in 1957 after they met in nightclub in East St. Louis.
She would join Turner’s band, first as a guest vocalist, and then eventually as its star. She cut her first record, “Boxtop,” in 1958 under the name Little Ann, along with Turner. Two years later, Ike renamed her Tina Turner, and the pair scored their first hit for the Sue label in 1960 with “Fool in Love.”
Although they began as platonic friends and musical partners, Ike and Tina would marry in 1962, in what would prove to be a turbulent relationship fraught with abuse by the controlling Ike Turner.
Still, over the next two decades, the Ike & Tina Turner Revue tallied a string of R&B classics including “River Deep, Mountain High,” “Proud Mary” and the funk anthem “Nutbush City Limits.” Ike Turner largely stayed in the background, playing bass and producing, while Tina Turner provided the act’s visual and musical spark, leading a backing group of singers dubbed the Ikettes, and turning heads with her provocative high-energy dance routines.
The couple’s live performances made them an enormously popular attraction into the 1960s. Their international star grew after serving as the opening act for a Rolling Stones tour in 1969. But domestic turmoil split the Turners in the 1970s, resulting in the demise of the revue in 1976 and a formal divorce in 1978.
Tina Turner’s solo career
After several years struggling to find her footing as a solo artist, Tina Turner enjoyed a massive comeback and her greatest success with the release of 1984’s “Private Dancer.” A multi-platinum smash, the record would top the charts, earn her a Grammy for Record of the Year, and make her the oldest woman — at 44 — to ever appear on the Hot 100 charts.
Her 1986 follow-up LP, “Break Every Rule,” was another international triumph, selling over 5 million copies, earning her another Grammy, and seeing her stage some of the largest and highest-grossing concerts and tours headlined by a female artist in history.
In addition to her recording career, Turner also worked in films, making an appearance in the big screen version of The Who’s rock opera “Tommy” in 1975 and starring with Mel Gibson in “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome” in 1985.
But it was her own life story that would become iconic, as the biopic “What’s Love Got to Do With It” — based on her memoir, “I, Tina” — would become a critical and commercial success upon its release in 1993. Angela Bassett, who portrayed Tina Turner, and Laurence Fishburne, who portrayed Ike Turner, were both nominated for Oscars for their work.
Broadway, books and more
After a nearly decade-long absence from the road, Turner returned to the stage for a 50th anniversary world tour in 2008. She announced her retirement from performing at the conclusion of the tour in 2009.
In later years, Turner remained prolific, helping develop a West End and Broadway production based on her life and career, “Tina: The Tina Turner Musical.” Co-written by Pulitzer-Prize winning Memphis playwright Katori Hall, the musical was nominated for 12 Tony Awards.
In addition to her autobiography, Turner penned a pair of other books, 2018’s “My Love Story: A Memoir,” and the self-help volume, “Happiness Becomes You: A Guide to Changing Your Life for Good. In 2021, she was also the subject of an HBO documentary film, “Tina.”
In addition to being elected to the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame twice (once alongside Ike Turner in 1991 and again as solo artist in 2021). Turner was also recognized with a Kennedy Center Honor, as well as three Grammy Hall of Fame awards and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
