Tina Turner

Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939 – May 24, 2023) was an American singer, songwriter, actress, and author. Dubbed the "Queen of Rock 'n' Roll," she broke racial and gender barriers in rock music through her vocal abilities and energetic stage presence. With estimated sales exceeding 100 million records worldwide, she became one of the best-selling music artists of all time.

Bullock was born in Brownsville, Tennessee, to Floyd Bullock and Zelma Currie, and grew up in the rural community of Nutbush, Tennessee. During World War II, she was temporarily separated from her parents and lived with her paternal grandparents, who served as deacon and deaconess at Woodlawn Missionary Baptist Church. As a child, she sang in church choirs and enjoyed performing. Following her parents' separation, she lived with her maternal grandmother, attended Carver High School, and worked as a domestic worker. In 1956, she moved to St. Louis to live with her mother, graduating from Sumner High School in 1958 before working as a nurse's aide.

Her career began in the late 1950s after she began attending shows by Ike Turner and the Kings of Rhythm in East St. Louis. After debuting as a featured singer with the group, she made her first recording in 1958 under the name Little Ann. Ike Turner subsequently gave her the stage name Tina Turner, and she became the lead vocalist for the Ike & Tina Turner Revue. The duo achieved success with hit singles such as "A Fool in Love," "It's Gonna Work Out Fine," "River Deep – Mountain High," "Proud Mary," and "Nutbush City Limits." After separating from Ike Turner in 1976, she launched her career as a solo artist.

Following a successful single cover of "Let's Stay Together" in 1983, Turner released her multi-platinum fifth solo album, Private Dancer, in 1984. The album produced "What's Love Got to Do with It," which won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 1985 and reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Her subsequent top-ten singles included "Better Be Good to Me," "Private Dancer," "We Don't Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)," "Typical Male," and "I Don't Wanna Fight." In 1995, she recorded the theme song for the James Bond film GoldenEye.

Turner's live performances included several record-breaking concert tours. Her Break Every Rule World Tour was the highest-grossing tour by a female artist in the 1980s, and a 1988 concert in Rio de Janeiro set a Guinness World Record for the largest paying audience for a solo artist. Her film roles included appearances in Tommy (1975), Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985), and Last Action Hero (1993). Her life was profiled in her 1986 autobiography I, Tina, the 1993 biographical film What's Love Got to Do with It, the 2018 stage musical Tina, and the 2021 documentary Tina. She retired from performing in 2009 after completing the Tina!: 50th Anniversary Tour.

Turner received 12 Grammy Awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award and three Grammy Hall of Fame inductions. In 1967, she became the first Black artist and first woman featured on the cover of Rolling Stone. She earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1986, the Kennedy Center Honors in 2005, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice—first with Ike Turner in 1991 and later as a solo artist in 2021. In 2013, she relinquished her US citizenship and became a Swiss citizen, living in Switzerland until her death in Küsnacht in 2023.