Tina Turner: biography, personal life, career, interesting facts

Talented singer, gifted dancer, songwriter and actress, and just an incredibly bright, spectacular woman, and, as her story shows, also very strong. It's all about the charming Tina Turner - the pop star of the 20th century and the hottest woman in rock 'n' roll according to a number of top music publications. For decades, Tina remained one of the most talked-about singers of her time, and it seems there will never be another like her...

Much to my regret, May 24, 2023 The life of this woman, great in every sense of the word, came to a dignified end. Turner passed away at the age of 84 in her home in Switzerland. For many years she had been suffering from health problems, and had undergone complex surgery. She had long since retired from the stage, as she was no longer physically able to perform...

But no matter what - Tina Turner has left us all great heritageIt is certain that with the passage of time it will only become more powerful. In today's article we decided to honor the legendary star and tell some facts from her biography, proving that Turner (a.k.a. Anna May Bullock) has always been more than just long legs and a pretty face... You could say she has been a "militant Amazon" her whole life.

She had a difficult childhood.

As a little girl growing up in Tennessee, Anna May Bullock quickly grasped how cruel and unfair this world is. The daughter of ordinary factory workers, Anna was accustomed from a young age to taking care of herself. When she was ten years old, her mother ran away from the constant arguments with her husband, leaving her family and home in search of a better life for herself. Tina's father eventually went to all sorts of trouble, too, causing her to quickly grow up.

At this time, Tina and her older sister Ruby Elin were raised by their grandmother, and when she died, they went to St. Louiswhere their mother lived. It was the beginning of hard times for the little girl... But it was this period that would affect her stellar future: Living in St. Louis, Tina and her sister frequented local R&B clubs, even though she was still a teenager at the time. One night at the Manhattan Club, she met the man who left a mark on her life forever, Ike Turner.

She survived her marriage to a monster

Marriage to Ike brought Tina not only a breakthrough in her musical career, but also mental scars. In her memoirs, the singer said that during this union she was so confused and so painfully depressed that at one point she didn't want to live...

"I just wanted to die, to disappear from this world..."

Their marriage was truly awful: Ike was constantly jealous of Tina, choosing what she would wear and so on. Also, according to Turner herself, he repeatedly Raised his hand to her and was "a real tyrant, impossible to hide from! Yet in 1976 Tina managed to escape from her husband with not more than 36 cents in her pocket.

"It couldn't go on like this. I was swollen from the beatings! I had no money, I had nothing. I vaguely remember how I escaped, but I remember that I got to some hotel and begged the manager there to give me a room. Much to my delight, he was very accommodating..."

Ike and Tina were in the middle of a tour when she finally worked up the courage to leave him. Although she was relieved to finally be free, it was not so easy and carefree at first. A large number of promoters tried to sueto reimburse expenses and ticket sales, while Ike himself accepted reactive measures…

"He tried to intimidate me with his puppets. One night they fired on the house I moved into. I was really scared, so for the next few nights I slept in the closet..."

The creepiest thing about this whole story is that, as the years have passed, Ike has not repented one bit of what he did. What's more: In his later interviews he spoke of Tina arrogantlyThe first time I saw her, she emphasized that she owed her famous name to him.

"I have nothing to regret. I didn't do anything to her that the average man wouldn't do to his wife. I'm the only reason she has fame and money today.

She tragically lost her son

Before Tina married Ike, she was dating Raymond HillTina, the saxophonist for Ike's band Kings of Rhythm. Tina became pregnant and decided to keep the baby, even though she knew that her relationship with Raymond would not last. Their son, Craig, would later be adopted by Ike.

In 2018 Craig was gone-he had made the decision to pass away. And it broke Tina's heart and kept her up nights trying to figure out what might have caused it. In an interview with reporters, Turner said that at the end of his life, Craig was happy: He had a wonderful job and a woman he loved very much. Really...

"Our last meetings were a little strange: I don't know what, but something about Craig had changed. I didn't give it much thought at the time, but now I blame myself for it..." Tina added: "No matter what, he will always be my child..."

She was brave enough to feud with Elton John

In his autobiography. Elton John shared some very curious details about Tina Turner. In particular, the musician stated that "that woman had the guts to declare war on me! As far as we know, the two were planning to go on a tour together, but everything fell apart when Tina called Elton on the phone and severely criticized him after the rehearsal:

"She left rehearsal and then called me and said I was just awful! She said my piano playing was disgusting, as were my clothes, in which I supposedly looked ridiculous!"

Well, you can't say that to someone you don't care about. So John might take them as warm criticism.

She had serious health problems

In 2013, Tina Turner remarried, this time to Erwin Bach, a German music director. They had known each other long before they were married, having met in 1985 at a record label party in London. In 1994 they moved together. to Switzerlandwhere Tina eventually applied for citizenship, giving up her American passport.

In a wicked irony, just three weeks after the wedding, Tina had a strokewhich made it impossible for her to walk. She went through it, re-learning how to walk, but in 2016 she found out she had colon cancer. Abandoning standard treatment in favor of homeopathic remedies proved to be a poor choice, and eventually Tina faced complete kidney failure. The woman desperately needed a kidney replacement: it was a matter of life or death! And her new husband stepped in as a donor.

The transplant was performed in 2017 and was mostly was successfulBut it soon became clear that her body was rejecting her kidney... Her last years of life were terrible. And that's why Turner didn't perform anymore... She had done so much for the public. And now she could finally rest... A happy memory.