Tina Turner, March 2000
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Born in Brownsville,
Tennessee and raised nearby in Nutbush, Anna Mae Bullock and her
older sister Alline relocated to St.Louis in 1956. There, while
still in high school, she met Ike Turner, a well-established
R&B band leader. They forged a musical partnership and also
became personally involved. Ike was violent and controlling. The
musical partnership was successful, but the personal relationship
was disastrous. The Ike Turner Revue, highlighted by Tina's
electrifying singing and passionate dancing, crossed over to
become a top pop-rock act with hits like "River Deep
Mountain High" and "Proud Mary." The pair achieved
I worldwide recognition when they opened for the Rolling Stones
in 1969.
But Tina was so unhappy that she tried suicide. Finally, in 1975, she walked out on Ike, with only thirty-six cents and a gas station credit card in her pocket. She relinquished all claims for compensation from Ike, choosing complete freedom from her past, with the exception of keeping Turner as her professional name.
Free from Ike, but in debt, she lived briefly on food stamps before working her way back up the musical ladder, doing small nightclub performances six days a week. Spiritually, she turned to Buddhist chants. In 1984, she released the multi-platinum, Grammy-winning album Private Dancer, with hit songs "What's Love Got to Do With It?" and "Better Be Good to Me.".
Tina appeared on screen in The Who's "Tommy" and in "Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, and had another hit with the theme song. In 1987, her 25 country Break Every Rule Tour broke box-office records around the world.
Tina's blend of physical strength, high energy and dynamic style - high heels, form-hugging clothes, and leonine hair - sends the enthusiastic message that women do get better with age and experience. Millions of women around the world adore her for her strength, courage, and perseverance. She has been called the hardest working person in show business, with the most indestructible original voice in soul music.
Ike served time in prison in the 80s, but was on hand in 1991 when the two were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 1993, Tina published her best-selling autobiography, "I, Tina", which was made into a hit movie.
In 1997, Tina toured North America, proving her staying power, as the tour ranked the seventh most popular draw of 1997. At 60, Tina continues to dazzle. Her latest album, Twenty-Four Seven, debuted at #21 on the Billboard charts, the highest debut rank of any album in her 33 year career. She is traveling this spring, 2000, in her Twenty-Four Seven tour, and claims this will be her final major tour. But, she is empathic that she is not retiring from music: "I will be out there. I will go on to do something else ".
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