Tina Turner

Tina Turner

Turner performing in 1985
Born Anna Mae Bullock
(1939-11-26) November 26, 1939
Nutbush, Tennessee, U.S.
Residence Küsnacht, Zurich, Switzerland
Other names
  • Anna Mae Turner
  • Tina Turner Bach
  • Little Ann
  • Ann
Citizenship Swiss
Occupation
  • Singer
  • actress
  • dancer
  • Author
  • Record producer
  • choreographer
Years active 1958–present
Net worth Increase US$350 million (2013)
Religion Nichiren Buddhism (Soka Gakkai International)
Spouse(s) Ike Turner (m. 1962; div. 1978)
Erwin Bach (m. 2013)
Children 2

Musical career

Genres
Instruments Vocals
Labels United Artists, Capitol, Parlophone, Virgin
Associated acts
Website http://www.tina-turner.nl

Tina Turner (born November 26, 1939), née Anna Mae Bullock, is a singer, dancer, actress and author, whose career has spanned more than half a century, earning her widespread recognition and numerous awards. Born and raised in the Southeastern United States, she is now a Swiss citizen.

She began her musical career in the mid-1950s as a featured singer with Ike Turner's Kings of Rhythm, first recording in 1958 under the name "Little Ann."[1] Her introduction to the public as Tina Turner began in 1960 as a member of the Ike & Tina Turner Revue.[2] Success followed with a string of notable hits credited to the duo, including "A Fool in Love",[3] "River Deep – Mountain High" (1966), "Proud Mary" (1971) and "Nutbush City Limits" (1973), a song which she herself wrote. In her autobiography, I, Tina, she revealed several instances of severe domestic abuse against her by Ike Turner prior to their 1976 split and subsequent 1978 divorce. Raised as a Baptist, she encountered faith with Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism in 1971, crediting the spiritual chant of Nam Myoho Renge Kyo, which Turner claims helped her to endure during difficult times.[4][5]

After her divorce from Ike Turner, she rebuilt her career through live performances. In the early 1980s, she launched a major comeback with another string of hits, starting in 1983 with the single "Let's Stay Together" followed by the 1984 release of her fifth solo album Private Dancer which became a worldwide success. "What's Love Got to Do with It", the lead single won three Grammy Awards including Record of the Year. Her solo success continued with the multi platinum albums Break Every Rule and Foreign Affair and with singles such as "We Don't Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)", "The Best" and "GoldenEye" for the James Bond film of the same name. "What's Love Got to Do with It" was later used as the title of a loosely based biographical film adapted from her autobiography. In addition to her musical career, Turner has also experienced success in films, including the role of Acid Queen in the 1975 rock musical Tommy, a starring role alongside Mel Gibson in the 1985 action film Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, and a cameo role in the 1993 film Last Action Hero.

One of the world's best-selling music artists of all time, she has also been referred to as The Queen of Rock 'n' Roll.[6][7][8] Turner has been termed the most successful female Rock 'n' Roll artist,[9] receiving eleven Grammy Awards, including eight competitive awards and three Grammy Hall of Fame awards. Turner has also sold more concert tickets than any other solo performer in history.[10] Her combined album and single sales total approximately 180 million copies worldwide, making her one of the biggest selling females in music history.[11] She is noted for her energetic stage presence,[7] powerful vocals, and career longevity.[12] In 2008, Turner returned from semi-retirement to embark on her Tina!: 50th Anniversary Tour.[13] Turner's tour became one of the highest selling ticketed shows of 2008–09.[14] Rolling Stone ranked her no. 63 on their 100 greatest artists of all time.[15] In 1991, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.[16]

Early life

Turner was born Anna Mae Bullock on November 26, 1939, in Nutbush, an unincorporated area in Haywood County, Tennessee. Her parents were Zelma Priscilla (née Currie) and Floyd Richard Bullock. Anna Mae was born at Poindexter Farm on Highway 180, where her father worked as an overseer of the sharecroppers.[17][18][19][20][21] She is of African-American descent, with approximately 33% European[22][23][19][24][25] and 1% Native American ancestry. (The latter was revealed when she appeared on the PBS documentary African American Lives 2, and the host Henry Louis Gates shared the results of Turner's ancestral tests.)[26][27][21]

Anna Mae had an older sister, Ruby Aillene. As young children, Anna Mae and Aillene were separated when their parents relocated to Knoxville, Tennessee, to work at a defense facility during World War II.[18] Anna went to stay with her strict, religious paternal grandparents, Alex and Roxanna Bullock, who were deacon and deaconess at the Woodlawn Missionary Baptist Church, which was located on Woodlawn Road off Highway 19.[28][18] After the war, the sisters reunited with their parents and moved with them to Knoxville.[18] Two years later, the family returned to Nutbush to live in the Flagg Grove community, where Anna attended Flagg Grove Elementary School from first through eighth grade. In 1889, her great-great uncle had sold the land on which the school was built to the school trustees.[21][29]

As a youngster, Anna Mae sang in the church choir at Nutbush's Spring Hill Baptist Church.[30][31] When she was 11, her mother ran off without warning, seeking freedom from her abusive relationship with Floyd Bullock.[32] Zelma relocated to St. Louis to live with Anna Mae's great-aunt.[32] As a preteen, Anna Mae worked as a domestic worker for the Henderson family. When Anna Mae was 13, her father married another woman and moved to Detroit. Anna Mae and her sister were sent to live with their grandmother Georgeanna in Brownsville, Tennessee.[32] Anna Mae later stated in her memoir I, Tina that she felt her mother had not loved her, and that she "wasn't wanted", stating further that her mother had planned to leave her father when pregnant with Anna Mae.[33] "She was a very young woman who didn't want another kid", Anna Mae wrote.[33][34] Her relationship with her mother remained estranged until Bullock's death in 1999.[35]

A self-professed tomboy, Anna Mae joined both the cheerleading squad and the female basketball team at Carver High School in Brownsville, and "socialized every chance she got."[17][32] Her first boyfriend, while she was living in Brownsville, was Harry Taylor, who originally attended a rival school to hers. Taylor relocated to Anna's school to be near her.[36] The relationship ended after Anna Mae learned Harry had married another woman.[37]

When Anna Mae was 16, her grandmother died suddenly. After the funeral, Anna Mae went to live with her mother in St. Louis, where she was reunited with her sister. There, Anna Mae graduated from Sumner High School[38] in 1958. After her graduation, she worked as a nurse's aide at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and dreamed of becoming a nurse.

Ike & Tina Turner

Origins

Turner performing with Ike Turner at Hamburg, Germany, in 1972.

Anna and her sister began to frequent nightclubs in the St. Louis and East St. Louis areas around this time.[32] At Club Manhattan, a nightclub in the East St. Louis area, she first saw Ike Turner and his band, the Kings of Rhythm, perform.[32] Anna was impressed by the band's music and of Ike's talent, claiming the bandleader's music put her "into a trance."[39][32] Anna felt the urge to sing on stage with Ike's band despite the fact that few women had ever sung with him.[31] One night, 18-year-old Anna was given a microphone by Kings of Rhythm drummer Gene Washington during an intermission. Upon hearing her sing, Ike asked her if she knew more songs, she was allowed to sing that night, becoming a guest vocalist from then on.[40][41][42] Through this period, Ike taught her the points of voice control and performance.[40] Her first studio recording was in 1958, singing background, under the name "Little Ann", on the Ike Turner song, "Box Top", alongside singer Carlson Oliver.

In 1960, Ike wrote an R&B song, "A Fool in Love", originally for Kings of Rhythm vocalist Art Lassiter. Lassiter failed to show up to the recording studio and Anna eventually was allowed to sing the song after much pleading to Ike. Ike agreed to use her voice as a "dummy vocal", with the intention of erasing her vocals and adding Lassiter's at a later date.[40] Although some felt that the demo with Anna's voice was "high pitched" and "screechy", the song received decent airtime in St. Louis.[43] Local St. Louis deejay Dave Dixon convinced Ike to send the tape to Juggy Murray, president of R&B label, Sue Records.[43] Upon hearing the song, Murray was impressed with Anna's vocals, later stating that her vocals "sounded like screaming dirt... it was a funky sound."[44][43] Murray bought the track and paid Ike a $25,000 advance for recording and publishing rights.[43][45][46] Murray also convinced Turner to make Anna "the star of the show."[46] It was at this point that Ike Turner renamed Anna Mae Bullock "Tina", because the name rhymed with the television character Sheena.[43][47] It has also been said that the renaming of Anna Mae Bullock was intended to keep her from running off and making a name for herself. Ike Turner felt that, if Anna Mae Bullock left him, he could replace her with another singer and have her perform as Tina.[43]

Early success

"A Fool in Love" was released in July 1960 and became an immediate hit, peaking at number 2 on the Hot R&B Sides chart and number 27 on the Billboard Hot 100 that October. Kurt Loder described the track as "the blackest record to ever creep into the white pop charts since Ray Charles' gospel-styled 'What'd I Say' that previous summer."[43][48] A second pop hit, "It's Gonna Work Out Fine" (1961), reached the top 20 and earned the duo a Grammy Award nomination for Best Rock and Roll Performance. Notable singles released during the duo's Sue Records period included the R&B hits, "I Idolize You", "Poor Fool" and "Tra-La-La-La." In 1964, Ike & Tina left Sue and signed with Kent Records, releasing the modest single, "I Can't Believe What You Say." The following year, they signed with Loma Records, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Records and run by Bob Krasnow, who had become their manager shortly after they left Sue Records. Between 1964 and 1969, Ike & Tina signed with more than ten labels.[49]

The duo maintained a popularity through a rigorous touring schedule across the United States, gigging 90 days straight in dates around the country.[50] During the days of the chitlin' circuit, the Ike and Tina Turner Revue built a reputation that a writer for the History of Rock site cited as "one of the most hottest, most durable and potentially most explosive of all R&B ensembles" with its show rivaling that of the James Brown Show in terms of musical spectacle.[51] The shows, organized by Ike Turner, provided them financial success. Due to their successful performances, the couple were able to perform in front of diverse crowds in the American South due to the money they made from performing in Southern clubs.[52] Between 1963 and 1966, the band toured constantly without the presence of a hit single. Tina's own profile was raised after several solo appearances on shows such as American Bandstand and Shindig!, while the entire Revue appeared on shows such as Hollywood A Go-Go, The Andy Williams Show and, in late 1965, in the concert film The Big T.N.T. Show.

Mainstream success

In 1965, Phil Spector caught an Ike & Tina performance in Los Angeles and sought to work with Tina. Working out a deal, Spector gave Ike a $20,000 advance to keep out of the studio to which Ike agreed.[53][54] With Spector, Tina produced the song "River Deep - Mountain High", which was released in 1966 on Spector's Philles label. Spector considered that record, with Tina's maximum energy over a symphonic sound, to be his best work.[55] It was successful overseas, particularly in the United Kingdom, where it eventually reached number 3 on the singles chart, but it failed to go any higher than #88 in the United States. Crushed, Spector never signed another act to Philles and seldom produced again. But the impact of the record gave Ike and Tina an opening spot for The Rolling Stones' UK tour later that fall, which the Revue later extended by performing all over Europe and Australia.[56] Signing with Blue Thumb Records in 1968, the Revue issued the blues-heavy albums, Outta Season and The Hunter. Outta Season produced the Revue's charted cover of Otis Redding's "I've Been Loving You Too Long", while the latter earned Tina a Grammy nomination for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for her rendition of the title track, originally recorded by Albert King. The success of the albums led to the Revue headlining at Las Vegas where their shows were attended by a variety of celebrities including David Bowie, Sly Stone, Janis Joplin, Cher, James Brown, Ray Charles, Elton John and Elvis Presley.[57]

Turner performing 1972

In 1969, the Revue's profile in their home country was raised after opening for the Rolling Stones on their US tour. In 1970, they performed on The Ed Sullivan Show. The tour's success resulted in the Revue signing with Liberty Records, where they released two albums, Come Together and Workin' Together, released in 1970 and 1971 respectively.[58] Come Together produced the duo's first top 40 single with their cover of Sly and the Family Stone's "I Want to Take You Higher." Come Together marked a turning point in their careers in which they switched from their usual R&B repertoire to incorporate more rock tunes. In early 1971, their cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Proud Mary" became their biggest hit, reaching number 4 on the Hot 100 and selling over a million copies, winning them a Grammy for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group.[59][60][61] Later in 1971, their live album, What You Hear Is What You Get, taken from a performance at Carnegie Hall, was their first to be certified gold. In 1972, Ike Turner created the studio, Bolic Sounds, near their home in Inglewood.[62] After Liberty was bought by United Artists Records, the duo was assigned to that label, releasing ten albums in a three-year period. The duo's final major hit single, "Nutbush City Limits", was released in 1973, reaching number 22 on the Hot 100, and peaking at number 4 in the UK.[63] In 1974, Tina released her first solo album, Tina Turns the Country On!, winning a Grammy nomination.

That year, Tina traveled to London to participate in the filming of the rock musical, Tommy, in which she played The Acid Queen, and sang the song of the same name. Turner's performance was critically acclaimed. Shortly after filming wrapped, Turner appeared with Ann-Margret on her TV special in London. Returning to the United States, Turner continued her career with the Revue. Following the release of Tommy, another Turner solo album, Acid Queen, was released in 1975.

Decline of the duo

By the mid-1970s, Ike Turner's excessive cocaine habit had gotten out of hand. During this period, Tina adopted the Nichiren Buddhism faith and chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo to help her deal through a stressful marriage and career. Due to Ike Turner's drug abuse, some shows were either canceled or postponed.[64] In July 1976, Ike Turner had plans to leave United Artists Records for a five-year, $150,000 deal with Cream Records. The deal was to be signed on July 6.[65] On July 2, 1976, Ike and Tina were en route from Los Angeles to Dallas where the Revue had a gig at the Dallas Statler Hilton. The couple engaged in a bloody fight during their ride to the hotel. Shortly after arriving to the hotel, Tina fled from the hotel and later hid at a friend's house.[66] On July 27, Tina sued for divorce in the grounds of irreconcilable differences.[67][68][69]

Tina later credited the Nichiren Buddhist faith and chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo with giving her the courage to strike out on her own. However, by walking out on Ike in the middle of a tour, she learned she was legally responsible to tour promoters for the canceled shows. After a year in court, their divorce was made final on March 29, 1978. In the divorce, she completely parted ways with him, retaining only her stage name and assuming responsibility for the debts incurred by the canceled tour as well as a significant Internal Revenue Service lien.[70]

First solo performances

In 1977, with finances given to her by United Artists executive Richard Stewart, Tina returned onstage, giving a round of shows in Las Vegas in a cabaret setting, influenced by the cabaret shows she witnessed while a member of the Ike & Tina Turner Revue. She took her cabaret act to smaller venues in the United States. Turner earned further income by appearing on shows such as The Hollywood Squares, Donny and Marie, The Sonny & Cher Show and The Brady Bunch Hour.[71] Later in 1977, Turner headlined her first solo concert tour, throughout Australia. In 1978, United Artists released Turner's third solo album, Rough, with distribution both in North America and Europe with EMI. That album, along with its followup, Love Explosion, which included a brief diversion to disco rhythms, failed to chart.[72]

The albums completed her United Artists/EMI contracts and Turner left the labels. Continuing her performing career with her second headlining tour, Wild Lady of Rock 'n' Roll, she continued to be a successful live act even without the premise of a hit record.[73] Following an appearance on Olivia Newton-John's US TV special, Hollywood Nights, in 1979, Turner sought contract with Newton-John's manager Roger Davies. Davies agreed to work with Turner as her manager after seeing her perform at the Venetian Ballroom in the Fairmont San Francisco hotel in February 1980.

Davies advised Turner to drop her band and remodel her show into a grittier rock'n'roll showcase. In 1981, Davies booked Tina at The Ritz in New York City. Following the performance, Rod Stewart hired Turner to perform a duet version of his hit, "Hot Legs", on Saturday Night Live, and later hired Turner to open for him on his U.S. tour. One show with Rod Stewart and Kim Carnes, on 19 December 1981, at the L. A. Forum, Inglewood, was filmed. Afterwards, Turner opened three shows for The Rolling Stones. A recorded cover of The Temptations' "Ball of Confusion" for the UK production team B.E.F. featuring Robert Cray, became a hit in European dance clubs in 1982.[74] Following performances with Chuck Berry and several short tours in the U.S. and Europe, Turner again performed at the Ritz in December of the year, which resulted in a singles deal with Capitol Records under the insistence of David Bowie.

Mainstream success

Turner during a concert in 1984

In November 1983, Tina released her cover of Al Green's "Let's Stay Together", with Capitol. The record became a hit, reaching several European charts, including a top 10 placement in the United Kingdom. The song peaked at number 26 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Turner's first solo entry into the U.S. charts. It also peaked at the top 10 of the Hot Dance Club Songs and Hot Black Singles charts.[75][76][77][78][79] The success of the song forced Capitol to rethink its contract with Turner, offering the singer a three album deal, demanding an album on short notice, which had Turner staging what Ebony magazine later called an "amazing comeback."[80] Recorded in two months in London, the album, Private Dancer, was released in June 1984. That same month, Capitol issued the album's second single, "What's Love Got to Do with It." It reached the top 10 within a month and in September had reached number 1 on the Hot 100 in the U.S. Featuring hit singles such as "Better Be Good to Me" and "Private Dancer", the album peaked at number 3 on the Billboard 200, selling five million copies alone in the states and selling over twenty million copies worldwide, making it her most successful album.[9][81][82][83] Turner's comeback was culminated in early 1985 when she won four Grammy Awards, including Record of the Year for "What's Love Got to Do with It." In February of that year, she embarked on her second world tour supporting the Private Dancer album, where she toured to huge crowds. One show, filmed at Birmingham, England's NEC Arena, was later released on home video. During this time, she also contributed on vocals to the USA for Africa benefit song "We Are the World."

Turner's success continued when she travelled to Australia to star opposite Mel Gibson in the 1985 post-apocalyptic film Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. The movie provided her with her first acting role in ten years—she portrayed the glamorous Aunty Entity, the ruler of Bartertown.[84] Upon release, critical response to her performance was generally positive, and the film became a global success, making more than $36 million in the United States alone.[85] Turner later received the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress for her role in the film. She also recorded two songs for the film, "We Don't Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)" and "One of the Living"; both became hits, with the latter winning Turner a Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. In July, Turner performed at Live Aid alongside Mick Jagger.[86] Encouraged by a performance together during Tina's filmed solo concert in England, singer Bryan Adams released their duet single together, "It's Only Love", later resulting in a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.

Subsequent releases

Turer and Clapton, on stage, sharing a microphone stand, singing.
Turner on tour with special guest Eric Clapton, June 17, 1987 in Wembley Arena, England

Turner followed up Private Dancer with Break Every Rule in 1986. Featuring "Typical Male", "Two People" and "What You Get Is What You See", the album sold over four million copies worldwide. Prior to the album's release, Turner published her memoirs, I, Tina, which later became a bestseller, and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Turner's European Break Every Rule Tour, which culminated in March 1987 in Munich, Germany, contributed to record breaking sales and concert attendances. In January 1988, Turner made history alongside Paul McCartney when she performed in front of the largest paying audience (approximately 184,000) to see a solo performer in Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, earning her a Guinness World Record.[87] The success of Turner's two live tours led to the recording of Tina Live in Europe which was released that April. Turner lay low following the end of her Break Every Rule Tour, emerging once again with Foreign Affair which included one of Turner's signature songs, "The Best." She later embarked on a European tour to promote the album. While Foreign Affair went gold in the United States, with its singles "The Best" and "Steamy Windows" becoming Top 40 hits there. It was hugely successful in Europe, where Turner had personally relocated.

In 1991, Ike & Tina Turner were inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Phil Spector later accepted on their behalf. That same year, the ex-couple signed away their rights to have their lives dramatized in the semi-autobiographical film What's Love Got to Do with It, later released in 1993 and starring Angela Bassett as Tina and Laurence Fishburne as Ike, with the actors receiving Best Actress and Best Actor Academy Award nominations for their portrayals of the former husband-and-wife team. Turner contributed to the soundtrack for What's Love Got to Do with It, re-recording songs from her Revue days and recording several newer songs, including what turned out to be her last Top 10 U.S. hit, "I Don't Wanna Fight." Other than helping Bassett with her wardrobe and teaching her dance steps as well as providing songs for the soundtrack, and appearing as herself at the end of the film, she refused to be involved fully in the film, telling an interviewer, "Why would I want to see Ike Turner beat me up again? I haven't dwelled on it; it's all in the past where it belongs."[88] Following the film's and soundtrack's release, Turner embarked on her first US tour in seven years. Following the tour's end, Turner moved to Switzerland and took a year off from the road at the end of the tour.

Turner's handprints at the Rotterdam Walk of Fame on May 26, 1996

Turner returned in 1995 with the U2 composition, "GoldenEye" for the James Bond film of the same name. Its huge success in Europe and modest success in her native United States led Turner to record a new album, releasing the Wildest Dreams album in 1996. Though the album itself was not as hugely successful in the United States, thanks to a world tour and a much played Hanes hosiery commercial, the album went gold in the United States. The album reached platinum success in Europe where Turner had hits with "Whatever You Want", "Missing You", which briefly charted in the U.S., "Something Beautiful Remains", and the sensual Barry White duet "In Your Wildest Dreams." Following the tour's end in 1997, Turner took another break before re-emerging again in 1999 appearing on the VH-1 special Divas Live '99.

In 1998 the duet with Italian musician Eros Ramazzotti in "Cose della vita" became a European hit. Before celebrating her 60th birthday, Turner released the dance-infused song, "When the Heartache Is Over" and its parent album, Twenty Four Seven the following month in Europe, releasing both the song and the album in North America in early 2000. The success of "When the Heartache Is Over" and Turner's tour supporting the album once again helped in the album going gold in the U.S. The Twenty Four Seven Tour became her most successful concert tour to date and became the highest-grossing tour of 2000 according to Pollstar grossing over $100 million. Later, Guinness World Records announced that Turner had sold more concert tickets than any other solo concert performer in music history.[12][14] Afterwards Turner announced a semi-retirement.

Recent years

In 2002, Tennessee State Route 19 between Brownsville and Nutbush was named "Tina Turner Highway."[89][90][91] The following year, she recorded the duet "Great Spirits" with Phil Collins for the Disney film, Brother Bear. In 2004, Tina made her first professional appearances following her semi-retirement, releasing the compilation album, All the Best, which produced the single "Open Arms", and sold more than a million copies in the US.

U.S. President George W. Bush congratulates Turner during a reception for the Kennedy Center Honors in the East Room of the White House on December 4, 2005. From left, the honorees are singer Tony Bennett, dancer Suzanne Farrell, actress Julie Harris, and actor Robert Redford.

In December of the following year, Turner was recognized by the Kennedy Center Honors at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. and was elected to join an elite group of entertainers.[92] President George W. Bush commented on Turner's "natural skill, the energy and sensuality",[93] and referred to her legs as "the most famous in show business."[94] Several artists paid tribute to her that night including Oprah Winfrey, Melissa Etheridge (performing "River Deep - Mountain High"), Queen Latifah (performing "What's Love Got to Do with It"), Beyoncé (performing "Proud Mary"), and Al Green (performing "Let's Stay Together"). Winfrey stated, "We don't need another hero. We need more heroines like you, Tina. You make me proud to spell my name w-o-m-a-n,"[95] In November, Turner released All the Best – Live Collection and it was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. Turner participated in the soundtrack to All the Invisible Children, providing duet vocals to the song "Teach Me Again", with singer Elisa, finding success in Italy where it peaked at the top spot.

In 2007, Turner gave her first live performance in seven years, headlining a benefit concert for the Cauldwell's Children Charity at London's Natural History Museum. That year, Turner performed a rendition of Joni Mitchell's "Edith and The Kingpin" on Herbie Hancock's Mitchell tribute album, River: The Joni Letters. Turner's original vocals for Carlos Santana's "The Game of Love" were included in a Santana greatest hits compilation. Label demands led to Turner's vocals being replaced at the last minute by Michelle Branch.

On December 12, 2007, Turner's former husband Ike Turner died from a cocaine overdose. He had also been suffering from emphysema and cardiovascular disease. Reached for comment, Turner issued a brief statement through her spokesperson stating: "Tina hasn't had any contact with Ike in more than 30 years. No further comment will be made."[96] Turner made her public comeback in February 2008 at the Grammy Awards where she performed alongside Beyoncé.[97][98] In addition, she picked up a Grammy as a featured artist on River: The Joni Letters. In October 2008, Turner embarked on her first tour in nearly ten years with the Tina!: 50th Anniversary Tour.[99] In support of the tour, Turner released another hits compilation. The tour became a huge success and culminated in the release of the live album/DVD, Tina Live. In 2009, Turner participated in the singing project Beyond with fellow musicians Regula Curti, Selda Bagcan, and Dechen Shak Dagsay. Their first album Buddhist And Christian Prayers combined Buddhist chants and Christian choral music along with a spiritual message read by Turner. The album was released only in Germany and a handful of other countries. It peaked at number 7 in Switzerland.

In April 2010, mainly due to an online campaign by fans of the Rangers Football Club, Turner's 1989 hit, "The Best", returned to the UK singles chart, peaking at number 9 on the chart.[100] In 2011, Beyond's second album Children - With Children United In Prayer followed and charted again in Switzerland. Turner promoted the album by performing on TV shows in Germany and Switzerland in December that year. In May 2012, Turner was spotted attending a fashion show in Beijing to support Giorgio Armani.[101] Turner appeared on the cover of the German issue of Vogue magazine in April 2013, becoming at the age of 73 the oldest person worldwide to feature on the cover of Vogue.[102] On February 3, 2014, Parlophone Records released a new compilation titled Love Songs. Later in the year, Beyond's third album Love Within' was released with Turner contributing some gospel tracks.

Personal life

Relationships and marriages

Raymond Hill

After moving to St. Louis, Tina (then called Anna Mae Bullock) and her sister became acquainted with members of the Kings of Rhythm, and Anna Mae dated the band's saxophonist Raymond Hill. After Anna Mae gave birth to their son Craig, the couple's relationship became strained. Allegedly, after a fight between the two broke out, Ike and other Kings of Rhythm members confronted Hill and beat him up, with one member tackling him to the ground, instantly breaking his leg. The injury was so severe that Hill had to return to his hometown of Clarksdale, Mississippi.[103] Ike later adopted Anna Mae and Hill's son, adding his own last name legally.[104]

Ike Turner

Tina and Ike's early relationship was friendly and "like siblings." In late 1958, Tina moved into Ike's home in East St. Louis.[105] During that period, Ike began musically training Tina.[106] At the beginning, the two had no mutual attraction; Tina felt Ike was not the "ideal-looking man", while Ike viewed her as a sister and favored "curvaceous women." Ike was still married to his common-law wife, Lorraine Taylor, during this period.[105]

Ike and Tina began a sexual relationship in 1959, much to Tina's chagrin.[107] Ike also felt guilt over the relationship, stating later that having sex with Tina felt as if he were having sex with a sibling.[108] In her book, Tina stated the couple married in Tijuana, in 1962.[109] She recalled the first time Ike physically abused her began after she told him she was considering leaving Ike's group due to financial disputes and their own confusing relationship. Tina said Ike grabbed a shoe stretcher and hit her in the head with it.[110][111] Afterwards, Tina said, Ike asked her to have sex with him.[110][48] Tina wrote in her memoirs, I, Tina, that the incident was the first time Ike had "instilled fear" in her.[110][48]

Ike's accounts of his relationship with Tina, including the incidents of abuse, differed. In a 1985 interview with Spin magazine, Ike admitted, "Yeah I hit her, but I didn't hit her more than the average guy beats his wife.... If she says I abused her, maybe I did."[112] He worded this slightly differently in his memoirs, Taking Back My Name (1999), writing: "Sure, I've slapped Tina.... There have been times when I punched her to the ground without thinking. But I have never beat her."

Ike also claimed on more than one occasion that he and Tina weren't even legally married. In the 1985 Spin article, Ike said, "As God is my judge, of all my wives, Tina is the only one I was never legally married to."[112] He explained in later years that Tina took his name in order to discourage a former lover from returning to her.[113]

Ike said he had married at least 14 times, and five times before he allegedly married Tina.[114] Tina admits she "never felt like [she] was married" to Ike.[115] A musician associate of Ike's later recounted that, except for a few arguments, he never witnessed Ike being abusive to Tina or anyone else in his close circle.[65]

Before a show in Los Angeles, in 1968, Tina tried to commit suicide by swallowing 50 Valiums, after a fight with Ike.[31] After their July 1976 fight in Dallas, Tina filed for divorce.[116] In the final divorce decree, Tina took responsibility for missed concert dates as well as an IRS lien, and requested to be allowed to retain use of her stage name as a means to find work as a performer.[117] Following the divorce, Turner claimed she had corrective surgery on her nasal septum, which she says was injured by Ike's frequent hitting.[118] Turner dismissed popular notions that she was a "victim" of Ike Turner's abuse, stating she had argued with producers of her loosely based biopic What's Love Got to Do with It (1993) over her depiction in the film.[115]

Friends and relatives of Ike's said he never fully got over their divorce. Their son Ronald once alleged that Ike used to come to his house occasionally and snoop through his address book to locate Tina.[114]

After divorcing Ike in 1978, Tina abstained from relationships for a long time, as she set on bringing her career back on track.[119]

Erwin Bach

While at a record label party in London in 1985, Tina met German music executive Erwin Bach. Initially friends, Turner and Bach began dating the following year, and have remained together ever since. In July 2013, after a 27-year romantic partnership, the couple married in a civil ceremony on the banks of Lake Zurich, in Küsnacht, northern Switzerland.[120]

Children

Turner has two sons. Her first, Raymond Craig, born in 1958 when Turner was 18, is the child of Kings of Rhythm saxophonist Raymond Hill.[40] Her second, Ronald, born in October 1960,[121] is Turner's only child with Ike Turner.

After moving to Los Angeles in 1960, Ike Turner's estranged wife, Lorraine Turner, left her and Ike's sons, Ike Jr. (born 1958) and Michael (born 1959), to be raised by Ike and Tina. During Ike and Lorraine's divorce trial, Ike sent the four boys to live with Tina at her home.[122] In 1985, Ike accused Tina of bad parenting, even alleging she had sent Michael to a mental hospital.[123] Tina denied his claims, telling Australian magazine TV Week, "he gave me those children and not a penny to look after them with."[124]

Religion

Turner has sometimes referred to herself a "Buddhist-Baptist," alluding to her upbringing in the Baptist church and her later conversion to Buddhism. In a 2016 interview, Turner stated that "I consider myself a Buddhist."[125][5] Throughout her childhood and early adulthood, Turner was Baptist.[126]

Turner was introduced to Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism in 1971 by co-dancer Jackie Stanton, recalled in scene from her film autobiography What's Love Got to Do with It. [127] Turner wrote in her autobiography that she first recited the Buddhist chant Nam Myoho Renge Kyo before performing at a recording session at Ike's Bolic Sound studio.[127] She observed that Ike, instead of beating her or hitting her for supposed wrong notes, sent her money to go shopping, something she took to her advantage later on.[127]

That same year, she began practicing Nichiren Buddhism and later credited the religion for getting her through the rough times. After Nichiren Shoshu excommunicated the Soka Gakkai International on 28 November 1991, Turner became an independent Buddhist. In a 2011 public interview with Shambala Sun, Turner indicated that she no longer follows the morning and evening Gongyo practice in a regimented schedule and hosts various types of Buddhist statues in her home altar located in the upper attic of one of her guesthouses in Switzerland.[5][128] Turner says she prays and chants each day, stating that "Nam Myoho Renge Kyo is like a song.[125][5]

Residences and citizenship

Turner has been living in a lake house, Château Algonquin in Küsnacht, next to Zurich, since moving there in 1994.[129][130][131] She owned property in Cologne, London, and Los Angeles, and a villa on the French Riviera named Anna Fleur.[132]

On January 25, 2013, it was announced that Turner had applied for Swiss citizenship,[133][134] and that she would relinquish her U.S. citizenship.[135][136] In April, she undertook a mandatory citizenship test which included advanced knowledge of the German language and of Swiss history. On April 22, 2013, she became a citizen of Switzerland and was issued a Swiss passport.[137] Turner signed the paperwork to give up her American citizenship at the U.S. embassy in Bern on October 24, 2013.[136]

Awards and accolades

Discography

Tours

Filmography

Film
Year Film Role Notes
1970 Gimme Shelter Herself Documentary
1971 Taking Off Herself
1975 Tommy The Acid Queen
1976 All This and World War II Herself Documentary
1978 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Our Guests at Heartland
1979 John Denver and the Ladies Herself Variety Show
1985 Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome Aunty Entity Won (1986) – NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture
1993 What's Love Got to Do with it Herself Singing voice for Angela Bassett, also archive footage
1993 Last Action Hero The Mayor
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1966 The Big T.N.T. Show Herself Documentary
1970 It's Your Thing Herself Documentary
1971 Soul to Soul Herself Documentary
1985 Saturday Night Live Herself Performed "What's Love Got to Do With It", "Better Be Good to Me", and "Private Dancer"; appeared as Mrs. Malone in skit with Martin Short as Ed Grimley
2000 Ally McBeal Herself cameo appearance
one episode: "The Oddball Parade"
2005 Care Bears Cheer Bear Season 3-5

References

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  5. 1 2 3 4 Andrea Miller (March 7, 2016). "What's Love Got to Do With It?". Lion's Roar. Retrieved March 2016.
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Bibliography

External links

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