November 26, 1939 – May 24, 2023
From a cotton-picking child, through years of physical abuse at the hands of her husband, her talent and determination saw her rise to become one of the greatest ever music stars, the Queen Of Rock’N’Roll, simply the best.
Tina Turner defined the role of the female rock star and took it to stratospheric heights. Blessed with a strong, soulful singing voice and phenomenal reserves of energy, she was a performer with a smart, sophisticated sheen underpinned by raw, animal magnetism. Her 1984 album Private Dancer sold more than 12 million copies worldwide – atally matched by only two other albums released by women up to that point (Like A Virgin by Madonna and She’s So Unusual by Cyndi Lauper). Turner’s show at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro in January 1988 in front of 180,000 fans earned her a place in the Guinness Book Of World Records for the largest audience ever assembled (at the time) by any performer, male or female, for a ticketed musical event. Turner was then 48 and close to the peak of her powers: a star of MTV, a member of the Live Aid rock aristocracy, a global stadium-rock phenomenon, and a household name. She was simply the biggest, as well as the best.
When I met her in London in June 1987, she had acquired an appropriate grandeur but was nevertheless a somewhat nervous and tightly strung object of scrutiny as she navigated her way through an afternoon of interviews with various international journalists, ending with an appearance on Terry Wogan’s show at BBC Television Centre. Smaller than you would think (5'4") and immaculately dressed in a simple but stunning skirt and top, she spoke quietly but firmly.
Her autobiography, I, Tina, written with Kurt Loder and published the year before, was by then an international best-seller. The book had lifted the lid on the years of physical and emotional abuse she had suffered at the hands of her former husband and musical collaborator Ike Turner. Her status as a fully qualified survivor had turned her into a symbol of female empowerment. Not only had she broken free of her tormentor, but she had also gone on, loudly and proudly, to eclipse in her own right all of her past achievements with Ike.
But her newly forged credentials as a feminist icon had not affected her style as one of the most instinctively sexy performers ever to embark on a career in showbusiness. Her long legs, short/slit skirts, plunging necklines and surreal bouffants enhanced an air of hyper-sexuality that she affected to be blithely unaware of.
“Now listen to me very carefully,” she told me in a low, steady voice that left little room for further discussion. “I have nothing to do with the labels people put on me. I was never promoting any cause. I was living my life. As for those dresses, I wore them then, I wear them now, because they’re practical for the w
