Tina Turner – “The Queen of Hearts!”
November 21, 2008 by admin
Filed under Featured Artists
An American singer, dancer, songwriter and actress who has won eight Grammy Awards along with the title “The Queen of Rock and Roll”, is none other than the prominent Tina Turner.She has her genre in Rock, R&B, Pop, Dance and Soul; moreover she is also honored in the Grammy Hall of Fame for her singles namely, “River Deep Mountain high” and “Proud Mary”.
In the year 1939 Tina Turner was born in Tennessee, in an American African family to Zelma and Floyd Richard Bullock. However Tina’s parents split up when she was just ten years old, so Tina and her sister started living with her grandmother. In the year 1956, Tina and family shifted to St. Louis to join up their mother again. Then the family shifted to Missouri where Tina attended her high school and there she met Ike Turner. After this meet up, Tina started to perform for Ike Turner and became a lead singer at the age of eighteen.
Then in the year 1960, Ike Turner and Tina released a soul single called “A fool in love” under the label, Sue Records. It was a big hit and a good start for the celebrity as it peaked at second on the R&B charts. With this success, Ike changed her name to Tina as she was earlier known as Anna Mae Bullock. Moreover the duo named their collaboration as “The Ike and Tina Turner Revenue”. When Tina gave this song “A fool in love”, she was pregnant with Ike’s child but both of them married in the following year. Ike Turner had four sons out of which Ronald is the son of Ike and Tina Turner.
As the times passed by, both of them raised to stardom by giving sizzling singles and live concerts. In the late 1960’s, Tina Turner and her husband Ike gave out some hits, which were written and produced by Phil Spector. These hits included “It’s gonna work out fine”, “I Idolize you” and “River deep, Mountain High”. “River deep, Mountain High” was released in 1966 with writers Phil Spector, Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich. This single by Ike and Tina Turner rocked the charts and peaked at third position in United Kingdom. “River deep, Mountain High” became one of the signature songs of Tina Turner.
Talking of Tina Turner’s personal life, the record sales became drastically low because of the Ike turner’s drug addiction. Due to this drug use Ike opted for a very offensive behavior against Tina Turner. Tina’s last semi autobiographical song with Ike was “Nutbush City Limits”, which was all about her hometown and the place where she spent her childhood. After that Tina Turner divorced Ike in the year 1978 eventually accusing him for spousal abuse. Still Tina dealt with her career very finely and gave out some sizzling albums like “Tina Turns the Country On”, “ Acid Queen”, “Rough”, “Love Explosion”, “Break Every Rule”, “Foreign Affair”, “Wildest Dreams” and “Twenty Four Seven” to name a few. Moreover she is also known for some tours like Private Dance Tour, Twenty four seven Tour and a lot more.
Through all the heartache and emotions Tina Tuner went through within her life and career, she is still going strong and still the “The Queen” of her fans “Hearts” and she will always be an icon of the music industry.
TJ Grooves
Rare Soul Grooves & Soul Music TV
This soul diva is 68 and still going strong. Did you know she has sold more concert tickets than any other solo artist? The woman is a powerhouse - to have survived all the years of hell with Ike, and the punishing schedule of tours, let alone raise four kids, two of her own and two from Ike’s previous relationships. I applaud her.She is the kind of star that soul music excells in - full of character and oomph!
Yes she is the unbeatable ‘Queen of Rock and Roll’. Give her any music genre, be it Rock, Pop, R&B, Soul and Dance, she can handle all of them with equal caliber. I did not know she was known as Anna Mae Bullock earlier. This site is cool, it really provides a good deal of information on my favorite singers.
It is sad that Tina could not grow up in the shade of her parents. It was unfortunate that she had to face to trauma of dealing with her parents’ split at the age of 10. At least she had her sister and grandmother to give her good company. Despite all odds, she became a famous singer. That is a great achievement.
Here we have another victim of drug addiction. Drugs have spoiled many lives and it can mar one’s career permanently. However, Tina had the courage to fight against the whole chapter of drug addition, spousal abuse, and divorce. She gave us some big albums like “Tina Turns the Country On”, “Rough”, and others.
Is featured in the book “Face Forward”, by the late makeup artist ‘Kevyn Aucoin’.
I love Tina. Craig is Tina’s son from a relationship she had with Raymond Hill, a saxophone player in Ike’s band, The Kings of Rhythm.
Who can beat the energy of Nutbush City Limits. I think they’ve named some roads after her in the US. Tina Turner is a female dynamo - she puts the rest of us to shame with her energy and vivacity.
Tina Turner’s voice is timeless. R n B singers today dont have the same soul as this lady…
You are right. Newcomers cannot match the quality and essence of this powerful singer. Rock and Roll and Tina Turner are made for each other and no one can separate them. Eight Grammy Awards! Wow that looks very impressive. This “River Deep Mountain high” lady rocks our lives even today.
Karaoke fans and impersonators love her charismatic style. Rocknroll fans love her growling voice and sheer spirit. Soul fans love to singalong with her heartfelt ballads. She’s as old as a grandmother but still outperforms half the new young bands. What a legend.
Good to read that she outlived and outshone Ike after the years of abuse. Mind you, the era of drug taking did destroy many relationships. I hope we’re outgrowing that phase and in future stars will keep it clean. For Tina to still be going strong she must be doing something right! Maybe she should bottle it and we could all get some of her magnificent energy.
Your rock my heart and you rock my soul. I worship you Tina for all those wonderful songs. All of them takes my breath away. “I Idolize you” whenever I listen to “It’s gonna work out fine”. “River deep, Mountain High” is like an anthem for me. You are amazing. Please continue rocking our hearts.
It is so very sad that she had to deal with such a great amount of heartache and agony in life. Even after all that emotional turmoil she faced in life, she has proved to be strong and has given us great hits. Her music is very soothing and it is so powerful.
And what about Tina Turners stage presence? Those heels, the sequinned dresses, and that trademarked stamp - I’ve seen performers just don a wig and do a couple of side steps and have the audience roaring because they recognise Tina Turner. It must feel amazing to be so well known.
She can still wow the audience - she’s touring right now and I’ve read reviews where the writer couldn’t BE more complimentary. She rocks, she’s awesome, she has a certain something on stage that is more than just confidence or experience, she has the crowd eating out of her hand, heckles the men (who love it) and gets the women screaming along.
This is the lady who played Aunty Entity in Beyond the Thunderdome with Mel Gibson. One of the scariest ladies in rock. She also sang We Don’t Need Another Hero for the film soundtrack. Then went on to write her autobiography which was turned into the movie What’s Love Gotta Do With It - a hard hitting account of her trials and tribulations towards success. She pulls no punches.
In 1996, she began building a villa outside Nice, France, which was completed by 2000. Turner now divides her time between Switzerland, England, and France.
About himself “Sometimes you’ve got to let everything go - purge yourself. If you are unhappy with anything . . . whatever is bringing you down, get rid of it. Because you’ll find that when you’re free, your true creativity, your true self comes out.”
Born as a Baptist, Turner converted to Buddhism in 1974 to help conquer her troubling marriage to Ike Turner. Turner has credited Buddhism with giving her the courage to leave Ike and has said the religion has helped her to find peace.
I just watched Karyn White and Chante Moore cover some Tina Turner hits on your Soul Music TV and it was fabulous. You could see Tina Turner in the audience and she couldn’t stop herself from singing along - even though she must know those songs way too well. The singers had beautiful voices. Thanks Soul Muisc TV.
Turner is the mother of two sons and adopted mother of Ike Turner’s two children from other relationships.
Because of the frequent beatings she received from her former husband Ike Turner, she had to have reconstructive surgery on her nose.
Tina was with Ike for 20 years, but she was only married to him for 16 years (she doesn’t count the two years it took for the divorce to become final as part of her marriage).
World’s most successful female rock artist ever. Record sales: over 60 million (1983-1999).
You can really see the world turning some days. Kanye West just raved about Beyonce saying “Shes the new Tina Turner - shes a legend”. And in her time people probably said that Tina Turner was the new Aretha Franklin or whoever.
Don’t you think that Tina Turner seems taller than her 5ft 4inches height? This lady is a powerhouse of talent. Her big album Private Dancer sold over 20 million copies and still sells today, some 14 years after its release.
Steady on Springy. Didn’t you hear about the row between Tina Turner and Aretha Franklin? Beyonce called Tina Turner the Queen and Aretha Franklin was not pleased. Turner tried to clear it up saying she was the Queen of Rock n Roll and Aretha the Queen of Soul but that so many egos come into play with Queens. So Aretha was still not impressed and slated Turner for having the bigger ego!
This is from an interview with Aretha talking about Tina. “I never figured her to resort to tacky press just to sell a few tickets,” says Franklin, who adds she has never met Turner. “I really had put her in a different class — higher than that. “No one has been more gracious … to their peers than I have, and I am confident and secure enough to do so, unlike some others.”
Turner did not respond to requests for comment. Sensibly.
I presume she has those famous legs insured for several million! Not many grannies are as sexy when they growl as Tina!
Not many people know that Tina Turner also did funk better than James Brown. There’s a great import CD called ‘Funkier Than A Mosquito’s Tweeter’ which is a compilation of 70’s era recordings including the brilliant ‘Doin’ It’, the track made famous by Nina Simone. And another fave is ”Too Much Woman (for a Henpecked man) which is worth it for the title alone!