Tina Turner of the husband-and-wife R&B duo Ike & Tina Turner poses for a portrait in 1964 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by A.B. Bell/Michael Ochs Archives)
Gallery of Tina Turner
1969
New York City, NY, USA
25th November 1969: Studio portrait of American rock singer Tina Turner, wearing a dark crocheted mini-dress, looking up and snapping her fingers while singing, New York City. (Photo by Jack Robinson)
Gallery of Tina Turner
1969
Hartmann Rd, Royal Docks, London E16 2PX, United Kingdom
Ike Turner (1931 - 2007) and his wife, singer, dancer, and actress Tina Turner at London Airport on their way to Los Angeles, London, 11th March 1969. (Photo by Len Trievnor)
Gallery of Tina Turner
1969
New York, New York, USA
Tina Turner, wearing a dark crocheted mini-dress, singing while her long dark hair flies around her face, New York, New York, November 25, 1969. (Photo by Jack Robinson)
Gallery of Tina Turner
1972
Hartmann Rd, Royal Docks, London E16 2PX, United Kingdom
Tina Turner performing on stage, 28th October 1975. (Photo by Michael Putland)
Gallery of Tina Turner
1975
Ike Turner (1931-2007), U.S. musician, and his wife, singer Tina Turner, answering questions during a press conference in Great Britain, October 1975. (Photo by David Redfern)
Gallery of Tina Turner
1975
London, UK
Tina Turner and Ike Turner, portrait, London, October 1975. (Photo by Michael Putland)
Gallery of Tina Turner
1978
45 Queen Caroline St, Hammersmith, London W6 9QH, United Kingdom
Tina Turner performing on stage at the Hammersmith Odeon, her first solo concert in London since splitting up with her partner, Ike Turner. (Photo by Gary Merrin)
Gallery of Tina Turner
1978
Heathrow Airport, Terminal 2, Inner Ring E, Longford, Hounslow TW6 1RR, United Kingdom
10th February 1978: Rock star Tina Turner wrapped in furs as she arrives at Heathrow airport. (Photo by Frank Tewkesbury)
Gallery of Tina Turner
1980
Los Angeles, California, USA
Tina Turner poses for a portrait in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry Langdon)
Gallery of Tina Turner
1983
1983: American soul-pop singer Tina Turner strikes a pose in a breath-taking costume, during a solo European tour. (Photo by Keystone)
Gallery of Tina Turner
1985
North Ave, Marston Green, Birmingham B40 1NT, United Kingdom
David Bowie and Tina Turner perform on stage at the NEC Birmingham. (Photo by Dave Hogan)
Gallery of Tina Turner
1986
Wembley Stadium, London HA9 0WS, United Kingdom
From left to right, singers Mick Jagger, Tina Turner, and David Bowie at the Prince's Trust 10th Anniversary Rock Gala at Wembley Arena, London, 23rd June 1986. (Photo by Dave Hogan)
Gallery of Tina Turner
1987
Wembley Stadium, London HA9 0WS, United Kingdom
Tina Turner performing at Wembley Arena, London, during her Break Every Rule Tour, 11th June 1987. (Photo by Pete Still)
Gallery of Tina Turner
1988
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
1988: Singer Tina Turner backstage in Rio de Janeiro in 1988. (Photo by Dave Hogan)
Gallery of Tina Turner
1989
North Ave, Marston Green, Birmingham B40 1NT, United Kingdom
Tina Turner and David Bowie backstage at the Birmingham NEC. (Photo by Dave Hogan)
Gallery of Tina Turner
1989
London, UK
Tina Turner poses with Erwin Bach to celebrate her 50th birthday in November 1989, London. (Photo by Dave Hogan)
Gallery of Tina Turner
1990
Wembley Stadium, London HA9 0WS, United Kingdom
1990: Singer Tina Turner performs live on stage at Wembley Stadium. (Photo by Dave Hogan)
Gallery of Tina Turner
1990
Wembley Stadium, London HA9 0WS, United Kingdom
Tina Turner performs live on stage at Wembley Stadium. (Photo by Dave Hogan)
Gallery of Tina Turner
1990
London, United Kingdom
Tina Turner performing on stage, London, United Kingdom, 1990. (Photo by Ian Dickson)
Gallery of Tina Turner
1990
Ahoyweg 10, 3084 BA Rotterdam, Netherlands
Tina Turner performs on stage at Ahoy, Rotterdam, Netherlands, 4th November 1990. (Photo by Rob Verhorst)
Gallery of Tina Turner
1993
1260 6th Ave, New York, NY 10020, United States
Tina Turner photographed in her dressing room backstage ahead of her show at New York's Radio City Music Hall in New York, 12th July 1993. (Photo by Dave Hogan)
Gallery of Tina Turner
1997
1 Amphitheatre Pkwy, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States
Tina Turner performs at Shoreline Amphitheatre on May 23, 1997, in Mountain View California. (Photo by Tim Mosenfelder)
Gallery of Tina Turner
2009
Batavierenweg 25, 6841 HN Arnhem, Netherlands
Tina Turner performs on stage at the Gelredome on March 21st, 2009 in Arnhem, Netherlands. (Photo by Rob Verhorst)
Gallery of Tina Turner
2017
24 Endell St, West End, London WC2H 9HQ, United Kingdom
Tina Turner poses at a photocall for "Tina: The Tina Turner Musical" at The Hospital Club on October 17, 2017, in London, England. (Photo by David M. Benett/Dave Benett)
Achievements
Membership
Awards
American Music Award
1985
665 W Jefferson Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90007, United States
Tina Turner during the 12th Annual American Music Awards at Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California, United States. (Photo by Ron Galella)
Grammy Award
1985
665 W Jefferson Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90007, United States
Tina Turner during the 27th Annual Grammy Awards, presented at Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles.
MTV Video Music Award
1986
140 E 14th St, New York, NY 10003, United States
Tina Turner during 1986 MTV Video Music Awards at Palladium in New York City, New York, United States. (Photo by Ron Galella, Ltd.)
Tina Turner of the husband-and-wife R&B duo Ike & Tina Turner poses for a portrait in 1964 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by A.B. Bell/Michael Ochs Archives)
25th November 1969: Studio portrait of American rock singer Tina Turner, wearing a dark crocheted mini-dress, looking up and snapping her fingers while singing, New York City. (Photo by Jack Robinson)
Hartmann Rd, Royal Docks, London E16 2PX, United Kingdom
Ike Turner (1931 - 2007) and his wife, singer, dancer, and actress Tina Turner at London Airport on their way to Los Angeles, London, 11th March 1969. (Photo by Len Trievnor)
Tina Turner, wearing a dark crocheted mini-dress, singing while her long dark hair flies around her face, New York, New York, November 25, 1969. (Photo by Jack Robinson)
Ike Turner (1931-2007), U.S. musician, and his wife, singer Tina Turner, answering questions during a press conference in Great Britain, October 1975. (Photo by David Redfern)
45 Queen Caroline St, Hammersmith, London W6 9QH, United Kingdom
Tina Turner performing on stage at the Hammersmith Odeon, her first solo concert in London since splitting up with her partner, Ike Turner. (Photo by Gary Merrin)
From left to right, singers Mick Jagger, Tina Turner, and David Bowie at the Prince's Trust 10th Anniversary Rock Gala at Wembley Arena, London, 23rd June 1986. (Photo by Dave Hogan)
Tina Turner photographed in her dressing room backstage ahead of her show at New York's Radio City Music Hall in New York, 12th July 1993. (Photo by Dave Hogan)
24 Endell St, West End, London WC2H 9HQ, United Kingdom
Tina Turner poses at a photocall for "Tina: The Tina Turner Musical" at The Hospital Club on October 17, 2017, in London, England. (Photo by David M. Benett/Dave Benett)
(The Who's classic rock opera is brought energetically to ...)
The Who's classic rock opera is brought energetically to life by an outstanding cast including many of music's biggest stars. Roger Daltrey is Tommy and Elton John portrays the Pinball Wizard.
(Set in Australia devastated by the effects of global ther...)
Set in Australia devastated by the effects of global thermonuclear war, surviving humans try to seek out a living in a world where water and food are worth more than gold.
Tina Turner is an American-born Swedish singer and actress. Tina Turner rose to fame in the 1960s by singing and performing with then-husband Ike Turner, later enjoying an international solo career. Turner has received many Grammy Awards in various categories and has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Grammy Hall of Fame. She has sold over 100 million copies of her albums worldwide.
Background
Ethnicity:
Turner is of African-American descent, with approximately 33% European and 1% Native American ancestry.
Tina Turner was born as Anna Mae Bullock on November 26, 1939, in Nutbush, an unincorporated area in Haywood County, Tennessee. Her parents were Zelma Priscilla (née Currie) and Floyd Richard Bullock. Anna Mae was born at Poindexter Farm on Highway 180, where her father worked as an overseer of the sharecroppers.
Her father, Floyd Bullock, was a farm overseer and church deacon who fought perpetually with his "black Indian" wife Zelma. The reputation of Ike Turner mirrored the violence of his childhood, during which his father, a Baptist minister, was murdered by the boyfriend of the minister's lover.
For a time during World War II, when Turner's parents were still married, they moved without their children to Knoxville where work was plentiful in the defense industry. The girls were allowed one visit in two years, and it was on this visit that Turner first sang for money. It was in a ladies' dress shop; the saleswomen gave her quarters. She also experienced her first lively, soulful church visit in the Sanctified Church, where self-expression was encouraged, unlike the constrained atmosphere of her grandparents' Baptist church back home.
In 1956 Zelma Bullock was divorced and living in St. Louis when she ended a long separation from her daughters. Zelma brought them to live with her after her own mother, with whom Turner had been living in Tennessee, died.
On January 25, 2013, it was announced that Turner had applied for Swiss citizenship and that she would relinquish her United States citizenship. In April, she undertook a mandatory citizenship test which included advanced knowledge of the German language and of Swiss history.
On April 22, 2013, she became a citizen of Switzerland and was issued a Swiss passport. Turner signed the paperwork to give up her American citizenship at the United States embassy in Bern on October 24, 2013. Turner has been living in a lake house, Château Algonquin in Küsnacht, next to Zürich since moving there in 1994.
Education
Tina attended Flagg Grove Elementary School. Turner had a knack for singing from a very young age and used to sing in the church choir. She attended Carver High School while living with her grandmother. She graduated from Summer High School in Missouri and dreamt of becoming a nurse.
Turner first began singing with the Kings of Rhythm, and then formed the Ike and Tina Turner Revue with the leader of that group. Leaving her abusive partner in 1976, she went on to star in her own right into the mid-1986. "Tina" was an invention of Ike Turner. Turner and her older sister, Alline, spent most of their childhood shuttling between the homes of grandparents, father, mother, and a cousin.
Reunited with the older sister she idolized, Turner began to experience an awakening to the rhythm and blues of East St. Louis, where the Kings of Rhythm were a hot band holding court at Club Manhattan. Ike Turner led the band, and Alline Bullock was dating the drummer.
Younger Anna Bullock watched and waited for weeks for a chance to get on stage with the band, and when she finally did, she sang a B. B. King song and impressed Ike Turner so immediately and overwhelmingly that he asked her to perform regularly with them.
He gave her the stage name of Little Ann. The reputation of Ike Turner mirrored the violence of his childhood, during which his father, a Baptist minister, was murdered by the boyfriend of the minister's lover. Ike Turner and Anna Bullock began their relationship as mentor and protégé. Her romantic involvement at the time centered around Raymond Hill, the band's saxophone player and the father of Anna Bullock's first child, born in 1958.
Although Ike still lived with his second wife, Anna moved into their home, and soon after that Ike and Anna had a son named Ricky. They married in Mexico, although it was later discovered that Ike had never divorced his previous wife. Ike and Tina Turner on the Road In spite of constant personal strains on their relationship, the Turners continued to make music.
In late 1959 Anna Mae Bullock filled in for a last-minute no-show singer during a recording session with the Kings of Rhythm. The result was a smash hit in the summer of 1960 called "A Fool in Love" and was released under the names Ike and Tina Turner. What became the Ike and Tina Turner Revue was a slick package of Ike Turner's shrewd management and songwriting, Tina Turner's intensely energetic and sensual lead voice and body, three backup "Ikettes, " and an eight-piece band.
They traveled the country, their sound a combination of country blues, ghetto rhythm, and gospel passion, and by 1969 they had released 15 albums and 60 singles, including the hit songs "It's Gonna Work Out Fine, " "I Pity the Fool, " "I Idolize You, " "Poor Fool, " and "Tra La La La La. " "River Deep" Stardom for the Ike and Tina Turner Revue came about first in Europe.
Legendary pop producer Phil Spector wanted Tina to sing on a record without Ike. The normally autocratic husband agreed to the arrangement thanks to a generous financial offer. Released late in 1966 the song" River Deep, Mountain High" topped the British pop charts for many weeks in 1966. Ike and Tina Turned toured Europe twice in the 19606 with the Rolling Stones.
Tina had taught Mick Jagger, the leader of that group, how to dance on stage. By the time the revue returned to the United States, Ike and Tina Turner had "crossed over" more than the Atlantic. They were wildly popular with mainstream audiences who were stunned by the forceful blend of hard rock and roll and provocative soul.
That song won a Grammy Award in 1972 for best rhythm and blues vocal by a group. Albums released by the revue in 1976 include Working Together (1970), Blues Roots (1972), Nutbush City Limits (1973), and The Gospel According to Ike and Tina (1974).
Although Tina Turner continued to tour and record with the group during the early 19706, her own identity began to emerge both personally and professionally. She released three solo albums and appeared in the rock opera film Tommy as the "Acid Queen. " Years of physical and emotional abuse by Ike Turner became too much for her, and she walked out on him and the group during a concert tour stop in Texas in July 1976.
Fleeing with only thirty-six cents and a gas station credit card, Turner worked cleaning friends' houses and even living on food stamps while she began putting her life together. Nonetheless, Tina Turner savored her freedom. Caring for her children for a while, she eventually sent them off: "I had been their mother, I had been his wife. Now it was time to be me. "
A solo album called Rough, released in 1978, received little attention from the press and even less from listeners. She continued to tour, however, mostly in Europe and in small American clubs and hotels.
Once again, the Rolling Stones provided a ticket for her success, and her special guest performances on their 1981 sold-out United States tour introduced Tina Turner to a new generation of listeners fascinated with her wild, sensual, visceral presence.
After touring with Lionel Ritchie and Rod Stewart and doing her own record-breaking European tour, Tina Turner's 1984 album Private Dancer sold more than 11 million copies worldwide and earned four Grammy Awards, including Record of the Year for "What's Love Got To Do with It. " Another hit album was released in 1986 called Break Every Rule.
In 1985, Turner appeared in the film Mad Max: Beyond the Thunderdome, from which came the hit song "We Don't Need Another Hero. " She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in January 1991, and her "Foreign Affairs" tour later that year sold out in 19 countries, drawing over three million fans. Movie Bio and Album a Hit In her 1986 best-selling autobiography, I, Tina, written with Kurt Loder, she describes how she endured the persecution and torment of Ike Turner, while at the same time laying the foundation for a wildly successful and popular music career.
In 1993, Touchstone Pictures released a film version of the book called What's Love Got To Do with It, starring Angela Bassett as Tina and Laurence Fishburne as Ike. The movie was a box-office success. Turner re-recorded several hits for the soundtrack and even appeared at the film's end as herself. In the wake of the film's success, Turner went on tour again. Variety remarked in a review of a 1993 concert that "watching Tina Turner perform is like watching a tornado traverse the landscape as it builds in power and intensity. "
The Los Angeles Times reviewer called her to show "more effective as a sweeping piece of theater than as a concert, " but he admired her "energy and heart. " In 1996, to promote her album Wildest Dreams, Turner went on a hectic yearlong world tour. The still sultry superstar launched the tour with a private performance for the family of the Sultan of Brunei, reputedly the world's richest man. She continued on to South Africa, then began a circuit of European cities. Turner said European audiences seemed to enjoy her more and were more supportive of her work between hit records.
Turner took her "Wildest Dreams" stage show to the United States in May 1997 for her first American appearances in four years. The tour kicked off in Houston, Texas, and went on 47 other cities before ending in July at New York's Radio City Music Hall. For two solid nonstop hours, the 57-year old but ageless rock diva gave an electric performance that encompassed 20 songs as well as a continuous barrage of video and sound wizardry.
"Living My Wildest Dream Turner made Europe her home from 1986. Her decision was influenced by her relationship with Erwin Bach, a German executive with EMI records, her European label. Turner and Bach met when he picked her up at the London airport in 1986. They hit it off immediately, began dating steadily, and Turner ultimately moved to London to be with Bach. Although Bach was 16 years her junior and earned considerably less money, the relationship persisted through 1996.
Meanwhile, from 1990, Turner spent six years overseeing the construction and decoration of her dream house in southern France. Decorated in an eclectic mix of neo-classical, art deco, and rock-and-roll mementos, the lavish villa was perched high in the hills overlooking the Nice harbor, Cap Ferrat, and the Mediterranean beyond. There the grandmother born in rural Tennessee two put down roots between tours.
Returning to the spotlight in 2018, Turner was honored with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (alongside other industry legends like Neil Diamond and Emmylou Harris) to open the year. A few months later, fans were treated to a showcase of her greatest hits with the opening of TINA: The Tina Turner Musical at the Aldwych Theatre in London. In October 2018, the music legend published another memoir, My Love Story.
During her well-documented abusive relationship with Ike Turner, Tina turned to Buddhist chanting for comfort. Now, Buddhism has taken on a very high-priority status in Turner’s life. She said: "[Buddhism] is something that one depends on. I think, like, I need my refrigerator, I need the clothing on my back, I need shelter, and [Buddhist] chanting takes care of that spiritual side, that subconscious mind that I tap into." In a 2016 interview, Turner stated that "I consider myself a Buddhist. "
Politics
In 1972, Turner endorsed Democratic presidential candidate John McGovern.
Views
Tina Turner gives to charities all over the world. One of her favorite charitable organizations is the St. Jude Children's Hospital in her home state of Tennessee. In 2000, Tina Turner made a $250,000 donation to fund pediatric AIDS research at the hospital. She continues to give privately to St. Jude and other organizations. She has donated her money, time, energy and sometimes her clothes.
Quotations:
"I am as big as Madonna in Europe, " she told Jet magazine. "I am as big, in some places, as the Rolling Stones. "
Tina Turner aptly describes their style in her introduction to "Proud Mary" when she says, "We never do anything nice and easy, we always do it nice and rough. "
She had reached the pinnacle of her profession, found love with a younger man, and enjoyed living in the present. I don't dwell on the past, she told Harper's Bazaar. "That's me - I don't go back. "
Personality
In her 1986 autobiography I, Tina: My Life Story, Turner revealed that she was subjected to domestic abuse by her ex-husband and ex musical partner Ike Turner. She said that Ike first hit her after she told him she did not want to change her name and also revealed to him her concerns about going on tour. She wrote in her autobiography that this "instilled fear" in her, and that she made the decision to stay with him because she "really did care about him."
Due to her abusive relationship with Ike, in 1968 Tina attempted suicide by taking an overdose of Valium pills. "It was my relationship with Ike that made me most unhappy," she wrote in her autobiography. "At first, I had really been in love with him. Look what he’d done for me. But he was totally unpredictable."
Physical Characteristics:
Turner has suffered a number of life-threatening illnesses, including a stroke in 2013 which caused her to have to learn to walk again. In 2016 she was diagnosed with intestinal cancer, and she also underwent kidney transplant surgery in 2017.
Quotes from others about the person
One music critic, after seeing her in concert, described Turner as she entered the stage "in mid-scream with both legs pumping, hips grinding, long mane whirling, her mouth wrapped around some of the sexiest sounds ever set to music. "
Interests
Politicians
John McGovern
Sport & Clubs
basketball
Connections
Turner had her first child, Raymond Craig, in 1958 when she was 18. Pregnancy out of wedlock agitated her mother, and she threw her out of the house. She then went to live with her future husband Ike Turner. With their popularity growing, Ike and Tina were married in Tijuana, Mexico, in 1962. She also adopted two of Ike's children whom she raised as her own, Michael and Ike Jr.
Two years later their son, Ronnie, was born. (They had four sons in all, one from an earlier relationship of Tina's, and two from an earlier relationship of Ike's. ) While at a record label party in London in 1985, Turner met German music executive Erwin Bach. Initially, friends, Turner and Bach began dating the following year, and have remained together ever since.
In July 2013, after a 27-year romantic partnership, the couple married in a civil ceremony on the banks of Lake Zürich, in Küsnacht, northern Switzerland.