She ran away from her abusive husband and, in her 40s, started from scratch. Tina Turner’s greatest hit was written for another band

she died on May 24, 2023 at the age of 83. The artist left after a long illness – 10 years before her death she had a stroke, and three years later she was diagnosed with colon cancer and kidney failure. The singer, who lives in Switzerland, even considered euthanasia. However, it turned out that her husband Erwin Bach could become a kidney donor and a transplant took place. Turner died at her home in Kusnacht, Switzerland.

Tina Turner recorded her greatest hits after parting with her abusive husband

Tina Turner was born in 1939 as Anna Mae Bullock. She sang from an early age, and when Kings of Rhythm leader Ike Turner heard her sing on the stage of a Manhattan nightclub one night in 1957, he knew she had real talent. While still a Little Ann, she recorded guest vocals on the song “Boxtop”. Turner decided to steer her further career and private life: they married, and he forced her to change her surname. And so they began to perform together as the duo Ike & Tina Turner – the R&B band went down in the annals of music as one of the “most memorable live groups”. Together, they launched such hits as “It’s Gonna Work Out Fine”, “River Deep – Mountain High” (which was entered into the Grammy Hall of Fame), the famous cover of the song “Proud Mary” (for this recording they received a Grammy Award in 1972 and in 2003 the single was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame – Turner is believed to have sung the song over a thousand times) and “Nutbush City Limits”. They recorded 19 studio albums together, released eight live albums and 13 compilations. In 1991, the duo was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Despite numerous successes, Ike Turner was a very aggressive person – he became addicted to cocaine, cheated on his wife and was the perpetrator of domestic violence. The first time he beat Tina was when she was pregnant with their eldest son. The singer endured beatings and psychological abuse for years, often performing shortly after Ike, in a fit of rage, beat her almost unconscious. Tina Turner ran away from her husband on July 1, 1976, after he beat her again in a hotel. She had only 36 cents on her and hid in a roadhouse across the road. She filed for divorce on July 27, and all formalities were finalized on March 28, 1978.

Tina Turner tried to lead a solo career from the very beginning – she appeared on such TV shows as “The Hollywood Squares”, “Donny & Marie”, “The Sonny & Cher Show” and “The Brady Bunch Hour”. The money earned in this way, however, was not enough to cover the costs of lawsuits for the canceled concerts of the duo Ike & Tina Turner. To pay off debts, Turner returned to touring, and in 1977, together with Bab Mackie, developed a new, more liberated and sexy image. She began her solo career with concerts at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas and went on tour in Australia. In 1978, her third solo album “Rough” was released on the market, and a year later “Love Explosion” was released. On the albums, the artist leaned more towards the then fashionable disco, however, the recordings did not get into any charts. That’s how United Artists Records terminated the contract with the singer.

The breakthrough in Tina Turner’s solo career came after years and four albums

The following years were not the easiest – until 1983, Turner’s performances were considered rather nostalgic repetitions of entertainment, although the singer performed alongside, among others, Rod Stewart and the Temptation. The song “Ball of Confusion” recorded with the BEF group turned out to be a big hit in Europe, and Turner even starred in the music video. Thus, she became the first black American artist to appear on MTV.

In 1983, things started to change – Turner signed a deal with Capitol Records, and when she released a cover of Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together” she hit the European charts again. Then the single hit the 26th place on the Billboard Hot 100 or the first position on the Hot Dance Club Songs chart. The label gave the green light and allowed her to record a new album.

Tina Turner. The greatest hits

This is how work on Tina Turenr’s fifth solo album “Private Dancer” began – the singer had only two weeks to record the album. This one was released in May 1984 and its success was staggering – it made Tina Turner’s biggest comeback in the music industry.

First, the album got to the third place on the Billboard 200 and to the second position in the UK. It sold so well that it was certified five times platinum in the US alone – a total of about 20 million copies were sold. The album included such hits as “What’s Love Got to Do with It”, “Better Be Good to Me” and the title “Private Dancer”.

Interestingly, “Private Dancer” was written by Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits for his band’s 1982 album Love over Gold. The group even recorded a musical part, but Knopfler admitted that the words of the song did not suit the singer. The piece went into the drawer. Tina Turner’s manager Roger Davies knew Knopfler’s manager (Ed Bicknell) well, and as the artist herself said years later in an interview with the BBC:

Bicknell told Rogewr, “I think Mark has a song that would suit Tina that he never used because it’s for a girl. Mark produced it and sang it, then realized it wasn’t something a guy could sing. He gave me the tape and we re-did it with most of the Dire Straits people. (…)

Someone asked me why I chose this song – it’s about a prostitute. I was shocked because I didn’t see it that way. I am naive about such things. But the answer is no. I took it because it’s an amazing song. I’ve never sung like this before.

Let’s add that the song “What’s Love Got to Do with It” from the same album hit the number one spot on the Blilboard Hot 100 – it was her first single in this position. It sold two million copies worldwide and made Tina Turner, at 44, the oldest soloist to top the chart. The song also brought her three Grammys: Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Pop Performance by a Singer.

Interestingly, the song was written by Graham Lyle and Terry Britten – they originally proposed it to Cliff Richard, but this piece turned it down. Then the song went to Phyllis Hyman, but in turn the record company wouldn’t let her record it. Donna Summer was supposed to sing the song then, but she failed to do so for several years. Before the composition fell into the hands of Tina Turner, the British group Bucks Fizz had their approach – again it was considered that the song was more suited to a woman.

Tina Turner later topped the charts with songs such as “Better Be Good to Me”, “We Don’t Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)”, “Typical Male”, “The Best”, “I Don’t Wanna Fight” or the legendary “GoldenEye”. In 1988, during a concert in Rio de Janeiro, she broke the Guinness World Record for a solo performance in front of an audience of 180,000. people. During her long career, the artist has sold about 200 million records and remains at the forefront of the most popular musicians in the history of the entertainment industry. She received 12 Grammy Awards, was also the first black artist and the first woman on the cover of Rolling Stone. The magazine listed her among the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time and the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time.