Legendary rock and roll singer Tina Turner, who had a lengthy run of rhythm and blue (R&B) hits in the 1960s and '70s and struck major pop stardom in the '80s, died on Wednesday, May 24 in Switzerland, reports Variety. “Tina Turner, the Queen of Rock 'n' Roll has died peacefully today at the age of 83 after a long illness in her home in Kusnacht near Zurich, Switzerland. With her, the world loses a music legend and a role model,” her representative said in a statement to Variety.
More than a decade after her crossover hit 'Proud Mary' with husband Ike, Tina Turner ascended to the pinnacle of pop fame with the 1984 Capitol Records album Private Dancer. The collection, which spawned a trio of top-10 pop hits, sold five million copies and garnered four Grammy Awards, adds Variety. Though she never matched that breakthrough solo success, she recorded and toured profitably until her retirement in 2000.
Raw-voiced, leggy, peripatetic and provocative onstage, writes Variety, the magnetic Turner, born Anna Mae Bullock in the farming community Nutbush, Tennessee, segued effortlessly into big screen roles. She appeared as the Acid Queen in Ken Russell's Tommy, 1975 adaptation of the Who's rock opera, and as villainess Aunty Entity in George Miller's action sequel Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. She sang the title song, penned by Bono and the Edge of U2, for the 1995 James Bond pic GoldenEye.
The winner of eight Grammys, Turner was a 1991 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, and was recognised at the 2005 Kennedy Center Honors for her career achievements, adds Variety. She was still in her teens when she began recording with future husband Ike Turner; their tumultuous partnership produced 15 years of popular singles, culminating in the 1971 crossover smash 'Proud Mary'.
In 1976, the vocalist fled her abusive marriage and she detailed her violence-scarred relationship in the 1986 bestseller I, Tina, which served as the basis for the 1993 biopic What's Love Got to Do With It, notes Variety.
In 1993, according to Variety, Turner scored her final US top 10 hit with 'I Don't Wanna Fight', a song recorded for the top-20 soundtrack of the biopic What's Love Got to Do With It. Director Brian Gibson's feature starred Laurence Fishburne and Angela Bassett, who both received Oscar nods for their work as Ike and Tina.
Even more than Turner's autobiography, upon which it was loosely based, the film focused further attention on the issues of spousal abuse and domestic violence. Ike Turner, who maintained in interviews as well as in his autobiography that the charges of abuse were exaggerated, died from an apparent cocaine overdose in December 2007.
A devotee of Buddhist chanting since the early 1970s who never abandoned the Baptist faith of her youth, Turner released Beyond, a collaborative album of Buddhist and Christian music and chanting, in 2012. In 2013 — the same year she relinquished her American citizenship and took up residency in Switzerland — Turner married German music executive Irwin Bach, her companion of 27 years, according to Variety. She suffered a number of ailments in her later years, but the most severe of these seems to have been kidney disease.
On World Kidney Day this past March, notes Variety, Turner posted on Instagram: “My kidneys are victims of my not realising that my high blood pressure should have been treated with conventional medicine. I have put myself in great danger by refusing to face the reality that I need daily, lifelong therapy with medication. For far too long I believed that my body was an untouchable and indestructible bastion.”
Music makers and entertainers penned touching tributes to 'Queen of Rock 'N' Roll' immediately after her death was announced on Wednesday, reports Variety. Mick Jagger, Gloria Gaynor, Diana Ross and more, from Barack Obama to Beyonce to Viola Davis, Variety adds, lauded Turner as a revolutionary performer and music legend for her contributions to the R&B, rock and pop landscapes, and as a courageous woman for reclaiming her freedom in the face of domestic violence.
In a statement shared with Variety, Angela Bassett, who earned an Oscar nomination for her role as Turner in the 1993 biopic, said: "How do we say farewell to a woman who owned her pain and trauma and used it as a means to help change the world? Through her courage in telling her story, her commitment to stay the course in her life, no matter the sacrifice, and her determination to carve out a space in rock and roll for herself and for others who look like her, Tina Turner showed others who lived in fear what a beautiful future filled with love, compassion, and freedom should look like."
Beyonce updated her website with a post dedicated to Turner, whom she called the "epitome of power and passion". The featured image was taken on the stage of the 2008 Grammys when the duo delivered an unforgettable duet of Turner's 'Proud Mary', according to Variety. "My beloved Queen. I love you endlessly. I'm so grateful for your inspiration, and all the ways you have paved the way. You are strength and resilience. You are the epitome of power and passion. We are all so fortunate to have witnessed your kindness and beautiful spirit that will forever remain. Thank you for all you have done."
Oprah shared a lengthy remembrance on Instagram recalling the moment she transformed from Turner's "groupie" to her friend, says Variety. "She was a role model not only for me but for the world. She encouraged a part of me I didn't know existed," Oprah said. "Once she claimed her freedom from years of domestic abuse, her life became a clarion call for triumph."
In a statement, former US President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama said: "Tina Turner was raw. She was powerful. She was unstoppable. And she was unapologetically herself — speaking and singing her truth through joy and pain; triumph and tragedy. Today we join fans around the world in honouring the Queen of Rock and Roll, and a star whose light will never fade."
Viola Davis, according to Variety, called Turner "brilliant" and "a survivor", going on to describe the singer as “our first symbol of excellence and unbridled ownership of sexuality.” You were my childhood, she added.
Music legend Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones tweeted a very personal tribute, remembering how she helped him when he was young. Jagger said: "I'm so saddened by the passing of my wonderful friend Tina Turner. She was truly an enormously talented performer and singer. She was inspiring, warm, funny and generous. She helped me so much when I was young and I will never forget her."
Gloria Gaynor, adds Variety, credited Turner for having "paved the way for so many women in rock music, black and white," and said she did so "with great dignity and success what very few would even have dared to do in her time and in that genre of music."