(KUSNACHT, SWITZERLAND)-The first song on the album Private Dancer is “I Might Have Been Queen.”
There is no doubt she was.
Tina Turner, whose career spanned seven decades, has passed away following a lengthy illness.
From humble southern beginnings, Anna Mae Bullock began her journey with then-husband Ike Turner in 1957, adopting her famous stage name soon after.
Their turbulent relationship would last until 1978 and be the basis for the critically acclaimed 1993 biopic What’s Love Got To Do With It.
Despite their chaotic personal life, Ike & Tina Turner were a sonic powerhouse creating such classics as “River Deep Mountain High,” “Nutbush City Limits,” and, for many, the definitive version of the John Fogerty-penned “Proud Mary.”
Going solo in the mid-’70s, Turner struggled to find commercial musical success.
However, she did earn rave reviews for her performance as “The Acid Queen” in the 1975 film adaptation of The Who’s Tommy.
Her commercial comeback galvanized with the release of 1984’s Private Dancer.
The album would sell 12 million copies, spawn Turner’s only number-one single, “What’s Love Got To Do With It,” and win four Grammys.
Throughout the ’80s and ’90s, she scored hits with “Simply The Best,” the theme to the James Bond film Goldeneye, and “I Don’t Wanna Fight.”
Turner would eventually win 12 Grammy awards and be inducted into the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame twice; in 1991 for her work with Ike and as a solo artist in 2021.
Outside of rock, she would appear in the 1985 film Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, write a best-selling autobiography, and become the subject of a popular Broadway musical.
She had lived primarily in Switzerland since 1994 with her longtime companion and eventual husband, Erwin Bach.
They were together for 37 years.
Tina Turner was 83.
(Photo Courtesy NBC News)
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