Tina Turner Born: The Queen of Rock and Roll

Tina Turner escaped an abusive marriage to Ike Turner and rebuilt her career from scratch, staging the greatest comeback in rock history with the 1984 album Private Dancer. Born Anna Mae Bullock in Nutbush, Tennessee, in 1939, she joined Ike Turner's Kings of Rhythm as a teenager and became the duo's electrifying frontwoman. Their partnership produced hits including "Proud Mary" and "Nutbush City Limits," but behind the stage Ike subjected her to systematic physical and psychological abuse for nearly two decades. She left him in 1976 with thirty-six cents and a gas station credit card, walking out of a Dallas hotel after a particularly savage beating. The divorce cost her everything: she gave up royalties, publishing rights, and real estate in exchange for the right to keep her stage name. She spent the late 1970s and early 1980s playing small clubs and dinner theaters, working to pay off debts while rebuilding her voice and her confidence. Capitol Records signed her in 1983, and Private Dancer, released the following year, sold over twenty million copies worldwide. "What's Love Got to Do with It" reached number one and won three Grammy Awards. The comeback defied every entertainment industry assumption about age, gender, and marketability. She was forty-four years old. Her subsequent tours broke attendance records across the world, and her live performances were considered the most physically demanding in rock music. She became a Swiss citizen in 2013, renouncing her American citizenship. She died on May 24, 2023, at eighty-three, in Kusnacht, Switzerland. Her eight Grammy Awards and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame confirmed her status as the Queen of Rock and Roll.