Tina Turner Tina Turner was born as Anna Mae Bullock in November of 1939 in Tennessee. Her heritage is mixed between African-American, Navajo, and Cherokee ancestry. After over 30 years in the music industry, Tina has been dubbed the Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll. While she had humble beginnings, she quickly rose to the top with her powerful voice, long legs, and lively stage show. At 16 years of age Tina moved to St. Louis, Missouri where she met Ike Turner. He was the one who convinced her to change her name. It was Tina who begged Ike to let her join his singing group. Although he said no at first, after they married when Tina was 18, he let her join in the occasional vocal performance on stage. Within a couple of years, Tina Turner had become a staple of the show, being given the spotlight with Ike Turner and The Kings of Rhythm. When Tina and Ike recorded A Fool in Love the single quickly made its way into the U.S pop charts. By the 1960’s, Tina had developed a confident and unique stage show that allowed her name to rise to stardom, overshadowing Ike’s presence. By 1960 Ike and Tina’s combined children had grown to four, which included two older son’s from one of Ike’s previous relationships, a son Tina had with the saxophone player in Ike’s band two years earlier, and Ike and Tina’s own child, born in 1960.
Tina later said that although the band was quite successful touring during that time she was both verbally and physically abused by Ike. Finally, in 1976, Tina worked up the courage to leave Ike after his drug use caused him to become increasingly abusive to Tina. She left with 36 cents in her pocket and was forced to stay at friends’ houses over the next several months while hiding out from Ike. Their divorce was finalized in 1978 with Tina taking no money or possessions with her. The only thing she asked of Ike was that she could retain the use of her stage name, Tina Turner. It was during these difficult years that Tina discovered Buddhism, which is what she credits with giving her the strength to leave her husband. She later published her autobiography, I, Tina in which she publicly accuses Ike of the years of spousal abuse that he put her through. During the 1970’s Tina went on an extensive and exhaustive touring schedule in an attempt to pay the bills, and although she released several solo albums during this time, none were very successful until 1982 when she recorded a remake of the Temptations’, Ball of Confusion. The single drew the interest of Capital Records who offered her a recording deal in the UK. After the album became a huge success in Europe they released the single in the United States where it made it into the top 20. From there, they let her record a full album. With Capital Records backing her, Tina produced Private Dancer, which went on to become one of the highest selling albums of all time. In the 1990’s the public became fascinated with Tina’s amazing life, which prompted a biographical movie to be played. Angela Bassett played the part of Tina Turner and Lawrence Fishburne played the role of Ike. Both actors received Oscar nominations for their performances. Tina Turner’s last world tour was in 2000 and was a major success. Today, Tina considers herself to be semi-retired and will every once in a while record a duet with a fellow singer or perform in the odd performance. Most of the time she enjoys her time at her home in Switzerland with her German boyfriend, Erwin Bach, who is 16 years younger than she is. |
