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Tina Turner – one of rock’s great vocalists and most charismatic performers – has died aged 83.

Her spokesperson said: “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.”

‘The world loses a music legend and a role model’ – latest tributes | Live updates

The US-born star was one of rock’s iconic singers, known for her electric stage presence and hits including The Best, Proud Mary, Private Dancer and What’s Love Got to Do With It.

Among the first to pay tribute were Sir Mick Jagger, Sir Elton John, Diana Ross, Bette Midler and Giorgio Armani.

“She was truly an enormously talented performer and singer,” said Rolling Stones frontman Jagger.

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“She was inspiring, warm, funny and generous. She helped me so much when I was young and I will never forget her.”

Sir Elton posted a picture of himself with Turner and said she was “untouchable” and a “total legend on record and on stage”.

Turner previously had intestinal cancer and a stroke, revealing in 2018 that her husband had donated a kidney to save her life as she contemplated assisted suicide.

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Turner’s stage presence and dance moves were legendary
Ike And Tina Turner With The Ikettes in 1976. Pic:AP
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Ike And Tina Turner With The Ikettes in 1976. Pic:AP

Turner found fame in the 1960s alongside ex-husband Ike Turner, with the classics River Deep, Mountain High and Nutbush City Limits among their hits.

The domestic abuse Ike subjected her to – and her struggle to break free – was documented in a 1993 film starring Angela Bassett, which won three Oscars.

Turner’s life story was also immortalised in a popular West End show that is still running.

Pic: AP
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Turner lived in Switzerland with her husband. Pic: AP

The singer’s popularity waned by the end of the 1970s and her days in the limelight appeared over, with Turner mainly playing the cabaret circuit as a heritage act.

However, her career was dramatically resurrected in 1983 when a cover of Al Green’s Let’s Stay Together became a huge hit.

Turner, then in her forties, signed a new contract with Capitol Records which led to the Private Dancer album in 1984.

It went on to sell more than 10 million copies and established her as a mega-star.

Tina Tuner meets the King, then Prince Charles, at a screening of the James Bond film Goldeneye, for which she sang the theme. Pic: AP
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Turner sang the theme to 1995 Bond film Goldeneye (pictured at the UK premiere)
Tina Turner performs in a concert in Cologne, Germany in 2009. Pic: AP
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At a concert in Cologne, Germany in 2009. Pic: AP

The title track from Private Dancer, as well as What’s Love Got to Do With It, and I Can’t Stand the Rain were among the album’s seven singles.

Her most well-known song – with its distinctive intro, steady build and powerful chorus – is probably The Best.

Released in 1989, part of the Foreign Affair album, it’s actually a cover of a song by Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler.

Proud Mary is also an established classic, with Turner performing up-tempo dance moves to its “rolling down the river” refrain well into her seventies at live shows.

Tina Turners most streamed songs in UK

  • 1. The Best
  • 2. What’s Love Got To Do With It?
  • 3. Proud Mary
  • 4. What’s Love Got To Do With It? (with Kygo)
  • 5. River Deep Mountain High (with Ike Turner)
  • 6. We Don’t Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)
  • 7. Nutbush City Limits (with Ike Turner)
  • 8. Private Dancer
  • 9. It’s Only Love (with Bryan Adams)
  • 10. Proud Mary (with Ike Turner)

Off the back of her comeback, there was also a foray into film alongside Mel Gibson in 1985’s Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.

The movie spawned another hit, We Don’t Need Another Hero.

Born Annie Anna Bullock in a segregated Tennessee hospital in November 1939, Turner became a Swiss citizen a decade ago.

Read more:
Simply The Best: Tina Turner in pictures

Tina Turner with her husband Erwin Bach in Zurich, Switzerland in 2011
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Turner pictured with her husband Erwin Bach in Zurich, Switzerland

She lived on a sprawling estate on Lake Zurich with her husband and former EMI record executive, Erwin Bach, some 16 years her junior.

The couple met in 1985, with Turner once telling Oprah Winfrey it was love at first sight when he was sent to pick her up from an airport in Germany.

“He had the prettiest face. You could not miss it,” she said.

“It was like saying, ‘Where did he come from?’ He was really that good looking. My heart went bu-bum. It means that a soul has met. My hands were shaking.”

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US-EU trade war fears reignite as Europe strikes back at Trump’s threat

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US-EU trade war fears reignite as Europe strikes back at Trump's threat

Fears of a US-EU trade war have been reignited after Europe refused to back down in the face of fresh threats from Donald Trump.

The word tariff has dominated much of the US president’s second term, and he has repeatedly and freely threatened countries with them.

Money blog: Trump sends message to UK on energy bills

This included the so-called “liberation day” last month, where he unleashed tariffs on many of his trade partners.

On Friday, after a period of relative calm which has included striking a deal with the UK, he threatened to impose a 50% tariff on the EU after claiming trade talks with Brussels were “going nowhere”.

The US president has repeatedly taken issue with the EU, going as far as to claim it was created to rip the US off.

However, in the face of the latest hostile rhetoric from Mr Trump’s social media account, the European Commission – which oversees trade for the 27-country bloc – has refused to back down.

EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic said: “EU-US trade is unmatched and must be guided by mutual respect, not threats.

“We stand ready to defend our interests.”

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters after signing executive orders regarding nuclear energy in the Oval Office of the White House, Friday, May 23, 2025, in Washington, as Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth listen. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
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Donald Trump speaks to reporters in the Oval Office on Friday

Fellow EU leaders and ministers have also held the line after Mr Trump’s comments.

Polish deputy economy minister Michal Baranowski said the tariffs appeared to be a negotiating ploy, with Dutch deputy prime minister Dick Schoof said tariffs “can go up and down”.

French trade minister Laurent Saint-Martin said the latest threats did nothing to help trade talks.

He stressed “de-escalation” was one of the EU’s main aims but warned: “We are ready to respond.”

Mr Sefcovic spoke with US trade representative Jamieson Greer and commerce secretary Howard Lutnick after Mr Trump’s comments.

Mr Trump has previously backed down on a tit-for-tat trade war with China, which saw tariffs soar above 100%.

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US and China end trade war

Sticking points

Talks between the US and EU have stumbled.

In the past week, Washington sent a list of demands to Brussels – including adopting US food safety standards and removing national digital services taxes, people familiar with the talks told Reuters news agency.

In response, the EU reportedly offered a mutually beneficial deal that could include the bloc potentially buying more liquefied natural gas and soybeans from the US, as well as cooperation on issues such as steel overcapacity, which both sides blame on China.

Stocks tumble as Trump grumbles

Major stock indices tumbled after Mr Trump’s comments, which came as he also threatened to slap US tech giant Apple with a 25% tariff.

The president is adamant that he wants the company’s iPhones to be built in America.

The vast majority of its phones are made in China, and the company has also shifted some production to India.

Shares of Apple ended 3% lower and the dollar sank 1% versus the Japanese yen and the euro rose 0.8% against the dollar.

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Trump accused of ‘pouring salt on the wounds’ five years after murder that shook America

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Trump accused of 'pouring salt on the wounds' five years after murder that shook America

In the dozens of framed images and newspaper clippings covering the walls of his office in downtown New York City, Al Sharpton is pictured alongside presidents and leading protests.

He has spent decades campaigning and is perhaps the most famous civil rights activist in the US today.

Many of those clippings on the wall relate to one moment in May 2020 – the murder of George Floyd.

George Floyd was killed while under arrest in Minneapolis in May
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George Floyd was killed while under arrest in Minneapolis in May 2020

Speaking to Sky News ahead of the five-year anniversary of that moment, Mr Sharpton remembered the combination of “humiliation and deep anger” he felt seeing the footage of Mr Floyd’s death that swept the world.

“The more I watched, the more angry I felt,” he said.

Mr Floyd was murdered in Minneapolis by Derek Chauvin, a 44-year-old white police officer.

Mr Floyd had been arrested after a store clerk reported he had made a purchase using counterfeit money.

Chauvin knelt on Mr Floyd’s neck for over nine minutes, while he was handcuffed and lying face down in the street.

Chauvin pressed his knee on Mr Floyd's neck for more than nine minutes, as the victim repeatedly said "I can't breathe" Pic: AP
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Chauvin pressed his knee on Mr Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes, as the victim repeatedly said ‘I can’t breathe’. Pic: AP

‘A seismic moment’

For Mr Sharpton, who has marched with countless other families, this felt different because it was “graphic and unnecessary”.

“What kind of person would hear somebody begging for their life and ignore them?” he said.

“I had no idea this would become a seismic moment,” he continued.

“I think people would accuse civil rights leaders, activists like me of being opportunistic, but we don’t know if one call from the next one is going to be big, all we know is we have to answer to the call.”

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Has US changed five years after George Floyd’s death?

Trump ‘pouring salt on the wounds’

Mr Floyd’s death took place during Donald Trump’s first term in the White House.

During Trump’s second term, his administration has moved to repeal federal oversight plans for the Minneapolis Police Department – a move originally supported by Joe Biden’s administration.

Mr Sharpton believes Mr Trump and the Department of Justice have purposely timed this for the 5th Anniversary of Mr Floyd’s Death.

“It’s pouring salt on the wounds of those that were killed, and those that fought,” he said.

“I think Donald Trump and his administration is actively trying to reverse and revoke changes and progress made with policing based on the movement we created after George Floyd’s death, worldwide.”

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Protesters took to the street the day before jury selection, due to take three weeks, started
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The murder of George Floyd sparked Black Lives Matter protests around the world

Mr Sharpton still supports George Floyd’s family and will be with them this weekend in Houston, Texas, where many of them will mark the anniversary.

He said the legacy of Mr Floyd’s death is still being written.

Evoking the civil rights movement of the 1960s he said: “The challenge is we must turn those moments into permanent movements, it took nine years from 1955 to 1964 for Dr [Martin Luther] King in that movement to get a Civil Rights Act after Rosa Parks sat in the front of a bus in Montgomery.

“We’re five years out of George Floyd, we’ve got to change the laws.

“We can do it in under nine years, but we can’t do it if we take our eye off the prize.”

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Trump threatens EU with 50% tariffs – as Apple faces 25% unless iPhones are made in US

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Trump threatens EU with 50% tariffs - as Apple faces 25% unless iPhones are made in US

Donald Trump has threatened to impose 50% tariffs on the EU, starting from next month, after saying that trade talks with Brussels were “going nowhere”.

Mr Trump made the comments on his Truth Social platform. It is a fresh escalation in his trade row with the European Union, which he has previously accused of ripping off the US.

It comes as he also announced that Apple will be forced to pay 25% tariffs on its iPhones unless it moves all its manufacturing to the US.

Apple shares dropped more than 2% in premarket trading after the warning, also posted on Truth Social.

“I have long ago informed Tim Cook of Apple that I expect their iPhone’s that will be sold in the United States of America will be manufactured and built in the United States, not India, or anyplace else,” wrote the president.

“If that is not the case, a Tariff of at least 25% must be paid by Apple to the U.S.”

Production of Apple’s flagship phone happens primarily in China and India, which has been an issue brought up repeatedly by President Trump.

On Thursday, the Financial Times reported Apple was planning to expand its India supply chain through a key contractor.

Taiwanese company Foxconn is planning to build a new factory in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, according to the paper, to help supply Apple.

Sky News has contacted Apple for comment.

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