Tina Turner, American-born singer who overcame an abusive relationship to become top recording artist of all time, has died at the age of 83.
The singer’s representative says that she died peacefully on Wednesday after a long illness in her home in Kusnacht near Zurich, Switzerland.
Turner had suffered ill health in recent years, while being diagnosed with intestinal cancer in 2016 and having a kidney transplant in 2017.
Turner amplified Black women’s formative stake in rock ‘n’ roll, defining the era of music to the point of Mick Jagger admitting to taking inspiration from her energetic live performances.
After working with her abusive husband for two decades, she struck out alone. After a rough start, she then became one of the most defining pop icons of the 1980s with her album called “Private Dancer.”
The superstar has been injured from her marital abuse, coming out with bruised eyes, busted lips, broken jaw, and other injuries that repeatedly sent her to the emergency room.
However, the story of the superstar is not about victimhood but one of incredible triumph, singer Janet Jackson wrote about Turner.
Turner began her career in the 1950s, it was during the early years of rock and roll and evolved into an MTV phenomenon. With her taste for musical experimentation and bluntly worded ballads, she fit perfectly with the 1980s pop where fans valued electronically produced sounds and hippie-era idealism.
Turner was nicknamed the “Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll,” as she won six of her eight Grammy Awards in the 1980s.
Although Turner’s hit songs were written by others, she enlivened them with a voice that New York Times music critic Jon Pareles even called “one of the more peculiar instruments in pop.”
Tina Turner started singing because of her ex-husband who discovered her talent when she was 17. Due to the 20 year abuse, Turner left her husband one night in 1976.
After leaving her husband, Turner had a hard time getting back into the spotlight releasing several solo albums and singles. She met her new manager, Roger Davis, in the 1980s who eventually managed her for three decades, making her set milestones.
Turner battled several health problems after retiring, and in 2018, her son Craig died by taking his life at the age of 59 in Los Angeles. Her younger son Ronnie also died in December 2022.
Fans, celebrities and politicians paid tribute to the late singer on Wednesday. “She was simply the best,” US Congresswoman Jennifer McClellan wrote on Twitter.
Simply The Best.
— Congressman Byron Donalds (@RepDonaldsPress) May 24, 2023
Rest In Peace to the QUEEN of Rock ‘n’ Roll, Tina Turner. pic.twitter.com/cEaCQJXiCu
– WhatALife!/Zain
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