Tina Turner: The trauma and triumph of a music legend
“Look what I have done in this lifetime, with this body,” said Tina Turner, in a documentary released about her life in 2021. “I’m a girl from a cotton field, that pulled myself above what was not taught to me.”
Tina Turner‘s life was a story of trauma and triumph – she was the star known for her energetic stage performances and her incomparable soulful, husky voice, who overcame several personal and professional struggles to become the Queen of Rock ‘n Roll.
Following her death at the age of 83, tributes have been paid to a “legend”, an “icon” and a “remarkable force of nature,” from fellow music stars to the White House, with clips of her biggest hits – including Proud Mary, Nutbush City Limits, The Best, We Don’t Need Another Hero, and What’s Love Got To Do With It – flooding social media.
‘The world loses a legend’ – tributes to Tina Turner
Throughout her career, Turner won a total of 12 Grammys and was a two-time inductee into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall Of Fame, as a solo artist and as part of the duo she formed with ex-husband, Ike Turner, in the 1960s.
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Tina Turner sings The Best
She was the first woman to appear on the cover of Rolling Stone and a record breaker – previously holding the Guinness World Record for the largest paying audience for a solo performer, attracting an audience of 180,000 for her show at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1988.
And she also inspired an award-winning musical based on her incredible life – the story of the star who achieved stratospheric success, including sales of more than 100 million records worldwide, after overcoming years of abuse from both her father and ex-husband, and pushback from those who told her she could not make it as a solo star.
Tina Turner was born Anna Mae Bullock in Nutbush, Tennessee, on 26 November 1939, to parents Zelma Priscilla and Floyd Richard Bullock. At the age of 11, she moved to live with her grandmother after her mother left her abusive relationship with her father.
Tina with her abusive ex-husband and musical partner Ike Turner in 1966. Pic: AP
Aged 16, she joined her mother and sister Alline in the city of St Louis in Missouri, which is where she encountered her future husband for the first time.
She soon joined his band The Kings Of Rhythm as its first female member – and when she reimagined herself as Tina Turner in 1960, the group reformed to become the Ike And Tina Turner Revue.
That same year, Turner gave birth to their first child Ronnie and the couple wed in Tijuana, Mexico, in 1962. Ronnie was her second child; her first, Craig Raymond Turner, was with the saxophonist for the Kings Of Rhythm, Raymond Hill.
Turner’s famous legs were reportedly insured for millions. Pic: AP
The group produced a string of RnB hits, including A Fool In Love and It’s Gonna Work Out Fine, but it was the release of River Deep – Mountain High in 1966 that saw their popularity soar around the world. The release was followed by a UK tour with The Rolling Stones as the band’s support act.
Songs such as Come Together, Honky Tonk Woman and Proud Mary helped cement their status, with the latter winning them a Grammy in 1972.
But behind the scenes, Turner was enduring abuse at the hands of her husband.
She stayed with him until 1976, but later revealed she had attempted suicide during their relationship. “I simply couldn’t take any more,” she wrote in her 2018 memoir, of the moment she hit rock bottom.
Flowers were left on her Hollywood Walk of Fame star following news of her death
During their divorce, she reportedly asked for nothing more than the right to keep the use of her stage name, and she went on to reinvent herself as a solo star.
It wasn’t easy, with a slow start for debut album Tina Turns The Country On! in 1974, followed by Acid Queen in 1975, but Turner pushed back against those who told her that, as a black woman approaching 40, she would never make the transition to rock.
Read more:
Simply The Best: Tina Turner in pictures
Throughout the 1980s, she rebuilt her career, with a string of hits starting in 1983 with a cover of Al Green’s Let’s Stay Together, and the 1984 release of her album Private Dancer. Her most recognisable song, a cover of The Best, was released in 1989. By then, her image of big hair and mini-skirts had become iconic, her famous legs becoming almost as famous as her distinctive voice.
In 1986, Turner was honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame. Her first induction into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall Of Fame, for her work with Ike, came in 1991, though neither attended the ceremony. Her induction as a solo artist came some 30 years later, in 2021.
“If they’re still giving me awards at 81, I must have done something right,” she said in a recorded acceptance speech.
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Turner on recognition and achievements
She was inducted by Angela Bassett, the actress who portrayed Turner in the 1993 film What’s Love Got To Do With It. Both Bassett and Laurence Fishburne, who played Ike, were nominated for Oscars for their performances.
“Imagine, a black girl from Nutbush, Tennessee, who embodied more talent than her small town could have ever dreamed,” Bassett said at the Hall Of Fame ceremony. “Imagine that same girl breaking through every barrier to one day make history.
“People still tell me how much Tina has meant to them. I know exactly what they mean, because she has meant that much and more to me. I too am one of those people blessed by Tina’s remarkable gift to inspire.”
In the 1990s, Turner joined the list of Bond musicians, voicing the title song for Pierce Brosnan’s Goldeneye.
Sir Mick Jagger and Turner at a Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall Of Fame performance in 1989
After a brief break from showbusiness, she returned to the limelight in 2008 at the Grammy Awards, where she performed Proud Mary alongside Beyonce. Other notable duets through her career included performing with David Bowie, and with The Rolling Stones during Live Aid in 1985.
In 2008, she embarked on her 50th-anniversary tour, and in 2016 she announced Tina – The Tina Turner Musical.
In 2021, she sold the rights to her back catalogue after reaching an agreement with BMG for an undisclosed sum, and the last of her 34 UK Top 40 hits was released in 2020, when she re-recorded What’s Love Got To Do With It with Norwegian DJ Kygo.
Turner and her husband at the opening night of the Tina musical in April 2018
Turner’s solo works include 10 studio albums, two live albums, two soundtracks and five compilations, which together have sold more than 100 million records. As well as her music, Turner also starred in films including Tommy in 1975, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome in 1985, and Last Action Hero in 1993.
In her personal life, she met music producer Erwin Bach in the 1980s and the pair married years later on the banks of Lake Zurich in Switzerland, where they lived. In 2013, Bach saved her life by donating her one of his kidneys, she revealed in her memoir in 2018.
She faced heartache that year, when her eldest son Craig died by suicide, and again in 2022 when her second son Ronnie died of cancer.
Pic: AP
Known for her strength and resilience throughout her life, in an interview with the New York Times in 2019, she said: “I don’t necessarily want to be a ‘strong’ person. I had a terrible life. I just kept going.”
Turner always kept going.
And in what must have been one of her last interviews before she died, she told The Guardian exactly how she wanted to be remembered – as the Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll. “A woman who showed other women that it is okay to strive for success on their own terms.”
About 300 people have been arrested during police crackdowns on protests at US universities.
In the early hours of Wednesday, police were called into Columbia University in New York, and also broke up protests at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) as demos over the Israel-Hamas war reached boiling point.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams said about 300 people were arrested at Columbia and nearby City College.
Columbia’s Hamilton Hall was occupied by protesters and Mayor Adams said this particular group was “led by individuals who were not affiliated with the university”.
“There is a movement to radicalize young people,” he said. “And I’m not going to wait until it is done to acknowledge the existence of it.”
Police entered Columbia’s Hamilton Hall. Pic: Reuters
Pic: Reuters
Arrested protesters from Columbia were put on a bus. Pic: Reuters
On the west coast, all classes at UCLA were cancelled on Wednesday due to “distress” caused by the overnight violence, according to a notice on its website.
Students and staff have been advised to avoid Royce Quad, the area where clashes between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protesters resulted in police wielding pepper spray being drafted in.
Pro-Palestinian protesters had erected barricades and plywood for protection, which counter-protesters tried to pull down.
The protesters shoved and kicked one another, sometimes beating people with sticks or throwing chairs.
Read more:
Why are students protesting?
Protesters were held back by officers near the encampment at UCLA in Los Angeles. Pic: Reuters
Counter-protesters tried to remove barricades at UCLA. Pic: Reuters
Pic: Reuters
Pic: Reuters
Sky News US correspondent Martha Kelner, reporting from UCLA, said: “Just look at this scene on a US university campus – California highway patrol wearing riot shields, riot masks, gas masks underneath their helmets.”
She said they were wearing gas masks “because throughout the course of the evening from inside this encampment, or at least the vicinity, a substance was released, I think, probably, pepper spray”.
“But the police here are not taking any chances, wearing gas masks – preparing, I guess, potentially to access this encampment.”
She said a protester appeared to pray at the feet of officers, adding: “She’s a pro-Palestinian protester. She’s refusing to move for the California Highway Patrol.
“She appears to be kneeling down, perhaps in prayer, at the feet of the patrol.
“It is a remarkable sight to see. These are scarcely fathomable scenes on a US university campus.”
By 5am local time, Kelner said the “volatile” situation at the campus had calmed down.
A protester appeared to pray in front of a line of officers at UCLA
Officers were forced to separate demonstrators at UCLA. Pic: Reuters
‘Occupied, vandalised, and blockaded’
On the other side of the country, police in riot gear raided Columbia University and arrested pro-Palestinian protesters occupying one of its buildings.
About 30 to 40 people were removed from the Manhattan university’s Hamilton Hall, according to police.
Those behind the protest said they had renamed the building “Hind’s Hall” in honour of Hind Rajab, a six-year-old girl killed in a strike on Gaza in February.
The raid came hours after Mayor Adams said the demonstration at the Ivy League school “must end now”.
Protesters hang banners on the exterior of Hamilton Hall building. Pic: Reuters
University bosses said they called in police after protesters “chose to escalate the situation through their actions”.
“After the university learned overnight that Hamilton Hall had been occupied, vandalised, and blockaded, we were left with no choice,” a spokesman said.
“The decision to reach out to the NYPD was in response to the actions of the protesters, not the cause they are championing.
“We have made it clear that the life of campus cannot be endlessly interrupted by protesters who violate the rules and the law.”
Protesters unfurled a flag with the words ‘Hind’s Hall’. Pic: Reuters
Demonstrators said they had planned to remain at the hall until the university conceded to the Columbia University Apartheid Divest’s (CUAD) three demands: divestment, financial transparency and amnesty.
“Columbia will be proud of these students in five years,” said Sweda Polat, one of the student negotiators for CUAD.
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A large group of officers dressed in riot gear entered the campus late on Tuesday evening.
Officers were also seen entering the window of a building via a police-branded ladder vehicle nicknamed “the bear”.
Protesters blocked the entrance of Hamilton Hall at Columbia University. Pic: AP
Pic: AP
Protests have also spread to other campuses around the country.
Dozens were arrested on Monday at universities in Texas, Utah, Virginia, and New Jersey.
The president of the University of Southern California, also based in Los Angeles, issued a statement on Tuesday after a swastika was drawn on campus.
“I condemn any antisemitic symbols or any form of hate speech against anyone,” Carol Folt said.
“Clearly it was drawn there just to incite even more anger at a time that is so painful for our community.
“We’re going to work to get to the bottom of this immediately, and it has just been removed.”
National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby has said President Biden believes students occupying buildings was “absolutely the wrong approach” and “not an example of peaceful protest”.
Hollywood star Melissa McCarthy has responded by saying, “I win the day”, after Barbra Streisand was criticised for asking her if she had taken a weight-loss drug.
Bridesmaids star McCarthy had posted an image of herself on Instagram at a charity gala alongside US director Adam Shankman on Monday.
Streisand, the legendary singer and actress, replied in a comment below: “Give him my regards, did you take Ozempic?”
The drug can only be prescribed for patients with Type 2 diabetes and is not licensed as a weight-loss treatment in the UK or US.
Streisand posted an apology on X for her original comment which was swiftly deleted after it sparked a backlash online.
In a short video shared on Instagram, hours after the apology, McCarthy said: “The takeaway: Barbra Streisand knows I exist, she reached out to me and she thought I looked good. I win the day.”
McCarthy was holding up a magazine with Streisand on the cover in the video, which was filmed at the premiere of the new Netflix movie Unfrosted, in Los Angeles on Tuesday.
The 53-year-old will appear in the film alongside Jerry Seinfield and Hugh Grant when it is released this month.
McCarthy was earlier asked by a photographer in Los Angeles what she thought of Streisand’s comments and replied: “I think Barbra is a treasure, and I love her.”
Melissa McCarthy poses at the premiere of the Netflix film Unfrosted. Pic: AP
‘I forgot the world is reading’
Streisand, 82, had said in her apology earlier on Tuesday: “I went on Instagram to see the photos we’d posted of the beautiful flowers I’d received for my birthday.
“Below them was a photo of my friend Melissa McCarthy, who I sang with on my Encore album.
“She looked fantastic! I just wanted to pay her a compliment, I forgot the world is reading!”
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Barba Streisand apologised for the comment. File pic: Reuters
In response to Streisand’s original comment referring to Ozempic, one social media user wrote: “Omg somebody please teach Barbra Streisand how to send a DM.”
Another wrote: “Omg…this comment from Barbra Streisand. Yes, it’s real, but she’s deleted it.”
Ozempic works by suppressing the appetite and lengthens the amount of time food stays in the stomach, leading to weight loss – at least for as long as you carry on taking it.
It has been banned as a treatment for obesity in the UK due to high demand for the drug causing a global shortage.
Numerous Hollywood stars are rumoured to have used Ozempic to lose weight – but just a handful of celebrities have admitted it publicly.
Stephen Fry was prescribed the drug in the US “years ago” and said earlier this year that side effects included vomiting up to five times a day.
Oprah Winfrey has said she has also taken weight-loss drugs, though she’s declined to specify which ones.
FKA Twigs has revealed she has created an AI version of herself to engage with fans and help with promotion.
The British singer-songwriter and dancer gave details of the project as she addressed a US Senate intellectual property hearing regarding the No Fakes Act, which aims to crack down on unauthorised replicas.
FKA Twigs, whose real name is Tahliah Debrett Barnett, confirmed she had been developing her own AI – but condemned unauthorised deepfakes, saying they leave her feeling “raw and vulnerable”.
The hearing was held in Washington on Tuesday, just hours before the release of a UK report which found that most of the public want regulation to prevent deepfakes of big-name artists such as Dua Lipa and Taylor Swift.
Speaking at the US hearing, FKA Twigs said she had been developing a digital clone of herself over the past year, revealing that it can speak multiple languages.
“I’ve done this to be able to reach more of my fans and to be able to speak to them in the nuance of their language,” she said. “I’ve currently explored French, Korean and Japanese, which is really exciting for me. It means that even with my upcoming album I can really explain in depth what it’s about creatively.”
The 36-year-old said having an AI version of herself also allows her to “spend more time making art”.
She continued: “Often being a music artist, or any artist in this day and age, requires a lot of press and a lot of promo, a lot of one-liners.
“So it means if it’s something simple that doesn’t really require my heart, I can do a one-liner and give it to people to promote a piece of work and, you know, it’s harmless but ultimately I can spend more time making something that’s really meaningful for my fans.”
‘I am a human being, and we have to protect that’
Addressing unauthorised deepfakes, she told the hearing about songs and collaborations with other artists that exist online, which she had nothing to do with.
“The fact that somebody could take my voice, change lyrics, change messaging, maybe work with an artist that I didn’t want to work with, or maybe work with an artist that I wanted to work with and now the surprise is ruined, it really leaves me very raw and very vulnerable,” she said.
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The star called for legislation to protect artists and added: “My spirit, my artist and my brand is my brand, and I’ve spent years developing it.
“And it’s mine, it doesn’t belong to anybody else to be used in a commercial sense, or cultural sense, or even just for a laugh. I am me, I am a human being, and we have to protect that.”
Unacknowledged AI music: Is it theft?
Meanwhile, a poll by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Music has found that 83% of UK adults agree that a music artist’s creative “personality” should be protected in law against AI copies.
The research involving more than 2,000 adults also found that 83% agree with the statement that if AI has been used to generate a song it must be clearly labelled, and 77% believe it amounts to theft when generated music fails to acknowledge the creator of the original.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
APPG recommendations include the government introducing a UK AI Act, generated music being clearly labelled, the creation of a personality right to protect creators and artists from deepfakes, misappropriation and false endorsement, and setting up an international taskforce.
A government spokesperson said: “We are committed to helping artists and the creative industries work with the AI sector to harness the opportunities this technology provides, and ensure our music can continue to be enjoyed around the world.”
In April, more than 200 artists signed an open letter objecting to the “predatory” use of AI to “steal professional artists’ voices and likenesses”.
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