Tina Turner

Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939 – May 24, 2023) was a singer, songwriter, actress, and author. Dubbed the "Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", Turner's vocal prowess, dynamic voice and electrifying stage presence helped to break racial and gender barriers in rock music. She is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with estimated sales of over 100 million records worldwide.

Turner rose to prominence in the 1960s as the lead vocalist of the husband-wife duo Ike & Tina Turner, known for their explosive live performances with the Ikettes and Kings of Rhythm. After years of marital abuse, she left in 1976 and embarked on a solo career. She made a comeback with her multi-platinum fifth solo album Private Dancer (1984), whose single "What's Love Got to Do with It" won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year and became her only number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100. Her worldwide chart success continued with "Let's Stay Together", "Better Be Good to Me", "Private Dancer", "We Don't Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)", "It's Only Love", "Typical Male", "The Best", "I Don't Wanna Lose You", "I Don't Wanna Fight" and "GoldenEye".

Turner's Break Every Rule World Tour became the highest-grossing tour by a female artist of the 1980s and set a Guinness World Record for the then-largest paying audience in a concert (180,000). Her success as a live performer continued with the Wildest Dreams Tour, the second-highest-grossing tour by a female artist of the 1990s, and the Twenty Four Seven Tour, the highest-grossing tour of 2000 in North America. In 2009, she retired from performing after completing the Tina!: 50th Anniversary Tour. As an actress, Turner appeared in the feature films Tommy (1975), Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985) and Last Action Hero (1993). Her life was dramatised in the biographical film What's Love Got to Do with It (1993), based on her autobiography I, Tina: My Life Story (1986). She was also the subject of the jukebox musical Tina (2018) and the documentary film Tina (2021).

Turner received 12 Grammy Awards, which include a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and three Grammy Hall of Fame inductions. Rolling Stone ranked her among the greatest artists and greatest singers of all time. She was the first black artist and first woman to be on the cover of Rolling Stone, the first female black artist to win an MTV Award and the first solo artist with UK Top 40 singles across seven decades. Turner has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and on the St. Louis Walk of Fame. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice: with Ike Turner in 1991, and as a solo artist in 2021. She was also a 2005 recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors and the Women of the Year award.

Illness and death

Turner revealed in her 2018 memoir My Love Story that she had multiple life-threatening illnesses. She had had high blood pressure since 1978, which remained mostly untreated, and resulted in damage to her kidneys and eventual kidney failure. In 2013, three weeks after her wedding to Erwin Bach, she had a stroke and needed to learn to walk again. In 2016, she was diagnosed with intestinal cancer. She attempted to treat her health problems with homoeopathy, which worsened her condition.

Her chances of receiving a kidney transplant were considered low, and she was urged to start dialysis. She signed up with an organisation that facilitates assisted suicide, a procedure which is legal in Switzerland, becoming a member of Exit International. However, her husband offered to donate a kidney for transplant. She accepted his donation and had kidney transplantation surgery on April 7, 2017.

Death and tributes

On May 24, 2023, Turner died at her home in Küsnacht, Switzerland, aged 83, following years of illness. Turner's body was cremated after a private funeral.

Following news of her death, her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was covered with flowers from fans. Fans around the world paid respect with flowers and candles lit outside her home in Switzerland and outside London's Aldwych Theatre – the home of the musical Tina. On May 25, 2023, theatres across the West End of London dimmed their lights for two minutes to mark Turner's death.

Many fellow artists mourned her loss, including Beyoncé, Dolly Parton, Debbie Harry, Jimmy Barnes, Bette Midler, Peter Andre, Bryan Adams, Lionel Richie, Elton John, Madonna, Rod Stewart, Lizzo, Brittany Howard, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and Cher.

Turner also received tributes from British model Naomi Campbell, as well as film and television figures such as Oprah Winfrey, Angela Bassett, Jenifer Lewis, Forest Whitaker, and theatre producer Joop van den Ende. U.S. President Joe Biden, as well as former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, and Swiss President Alain Berset, also paid tribute to Turner through public statements. King Charles III paid tribute by allowing "The Best" to be performed during the changing of the guard.

Patti LaBelle paid tribute to Turner with a rendition of "The Best" at the 2023 BET Awards in June 2023. In February 2024, Fantasia paid tribute to Turner with a performance of "Proud Mary" at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards.

Musical legacy and accolades

Often referred to as "The Queen of Rock and Roll", Turner is considered one of the greatest singers of all time. An article in The Guardian in 2018 noted her "swagger, sensuality, gravelly vocals and unstoppable energy", while The New York Times in 1996 noted that she was known for the appearance of her legs. Journalist Kurt Loder asserted that Turner's voice combined "the emotional force of the great blues singers with a sheer, wallpaper-peeling power that seemed made to order for the age of amplification". Daphne A. Brooks, a scholar of African-American studies, wrote for The Guardian:

Turner merged sound and movement at a critical turning point in rock history, navigating and reflecting back the technological innovations of a new pop-music era in the 60s and 70s. She catapulted herself to the forefront of a musical revolution that had long marginalised and overlooked the pioneering contributions of African American women and then remade herself again at an age when most pop musicians were hitting the oldies circuit. Turner's musical character has always been a charged combination of mystery as well as light, melancholy mixed with a ferocious vitality that often flirted with danger.

Awards, honours and achievements

Turner previously held a Guinness World Record for the largest paying audience (180,000 in 1988) for a solo performer. In the UK, Turner was the first artist to have a top 40 hit in seven consecutive decades; she has a total of 35 UK top 40 hits. Turner was ranked as one of the most successful female singles artists in German chart history. She sold over 100 million records worldwide, including certified RIAA album sales of 10 million. As of May 2023, Turner has reportedly sold around 100 to 150 million records worldwide.

Turner won a total of 12 Grammy Awards. These awards include eight competitive Grammy Awards; she shares the record (with Pat Benatar and with Sheryl Crow) for most awards (four) given for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. Three of her recordings, "River Deep – Mountain High" (1999), "Proud Mary" (2003), and "What's Love Got to Do with It" (2012) are in the Grammy Hall of Fame. Turner is the only female artist to have won a Grammy in the pop, rock, and R&B fields. Turner received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018. Turner also won Grammys as a member of USA for Africa and as a performer at the 1986 Prince's Trust concert.

Turner received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1986 and a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame in 1991. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a duo with Ike Turner in 1991.

In 2005, Turner received the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors. President George W. Bush commented on her "natural skill, the energy and sensuality", and referred to her legs as "the most famous in show business". Several artists paid tribute to her that night including 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"). Oprah 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."

In 2021, Turner was inducted by Angela Bassett into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist. Keith Urban and H.E.R. performed "It's Only Love", Mickey Guyton performed "What's Love Got to Do with It", and Christina Aguilera performed "River Deep – Mountain High".

In September 2025, Turner was selected for induction into the National Rhythm and Blues Hall of Fame and is slated to be inducted on October 26, 2025.

Turner's wealth was estimated at 225 million Swiss francs (about US$250 million) in 2022 by the Swiss business magazine Bilanz.