Legendary singer Tina Turner has died. The iconic singer died at her home in Switzerland after a long illness. Turner, the ‘Queen of Rock’n Roll’ died peacefully on Wednesday after a long illness in her home in Küsnacht near Zurich, Switzerland.
Turner was born in Brownsville, Tennessee, in 1939. She first gained fame in the 1970s as a member of the Ike and Tina Turner duo before beginning one of the most successful solo singing careers in music history. She began her career in the 1950s during the early years of rock and roll and evolved into an MTV phenomenon.
A Legend Is Gone
An accompanying statement on the singer’s social media pages read: “It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Tina Turner. With her, the world loses a music legend and a role model.”
“Today we say goodbye to a dear friend who leaves us all her greatest work: her music. All our heartfelt compassion goes out to her family.
Turner was born in Brownsville, Tennessee, in 1939. She was dubbed the Queen of Rock ‘N’ Roll and is survived by her husband Erwin Bach and two adult sons. The couple got married in 2013 after several years of friendship.
Turner sold more than 100 million records globally with huge hit singles including “The Best” and “What’s Love Got to Do With It.”
She scored her first and only No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with the latter tune during her career comeback in 1984. Turner was 44 at the time, making her the oldest solo female artist to top the Hot 100 chart.
Turner received her third Grammy Hall of Fame Award when the song, which had already won three Grammys in 1985, was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2012.
She won 12 Grammy awards in all, including three Grammy Hall of Fame honors, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and eight awards in competition.
Turner ended her musical career in 2009 after finishing her “Tina!: 50th Anniversary Tour.”
A Life and Career Worth Remembering
Turner, a Brownsville, Tennessee, native, who was born Anna Mae Bullock in 1939, spent a large portion of her youth harvesting cotton and singing at a neighboring church.
Turner, who joined the band Ike Turner’s Kings of Rhythm in 1957 to launch her career, featured her future husband. She had already released her debut song, “Boxtop,” under the moniker Little Ann before returning as Tina Tuner in 1960 with “A Fool in Love.”
However, she had her first substantial taste of success while performing with Ike and Tina Turner in the 1960s and 1970s.
In her biography “I, Tina: My Life Story,” published in 1986, Turner charged Ike with domestic abuse while they were married. In 2007, Ike overdosed on drugs and died.
Turner had a son named Craig with musician Raymond Hill while still in high school. Ike adopted Craig when they were married. Craig died by suicide in 2018.
Turner also adopted Ike Jr. and Michael, two of Ike’s children from a previous relationship. In October 1960, she gave birth to their son Ronnie. In 2022, Ronnie died from cardiovascular disease and late-stage cancer-related complications.
In 2013, the “Proud Mary” singer married German music executive Erwin Bach, her longtime partner and second husband. Turner even gave up her US citizenship during their lengthy relationship in Switzerland. In January 2022, they bought a Swiss “weekend retreat”.
In a clip from an interview Turner gave to the late Larry King in 1997, she admitted that her fame was one of the main reasons she left the country.
“[We] feel very comfortable in Switzerland,” Bach said in an interview local publication Daily Handelszeitung. “Due to the [COVID-19] pandemic and its consequences we â like many other Swiss â unfortunately, are refraining from travel.”
“I have left America because my success was in another country and my boyfriend was in another country,” Turner said, pointing to the popularity of “Private Dancer” in the UK as a driving factor. “Basically, Europe has been very supportive of my music.”
Turner also appeared in a number of films, such as “Tommy” (1975), “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome” (1985), and “Last Action Hero” (1993). In the same year, she released the biographical movie based on her biography, “What’s Love Got to Do with It.”
In October 2022, on the occasion of the song’s 40th anniversary, Mattel presented the singer with the Tina Turner Barbie Doll, replete with her recognizable volumized hairstyle and classic “What’s Love Got to Do With It” video dress.
