Anna Mae Bullock
14 min read
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Awards
Tina Turner escaped an abusive marriage with Ike Turner in 1976 with only 36 cents and a gas card. She staged a historic comeback with her 1984 album Private Dancer, which won four Grammy Awards including Record of the Year for What’s Love Got to Do with It. Turner became the world’s most successful female rock artist, selling over 60 million records and selling more concert tickets than any other female performer.
Names, aliases, and relatives of Tina Turner — birth name, kin, and personal ties.
Tina Turner by the numbers — life, work, and family.
Tina Turner — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
Anna Mae Bullock was born on November 26, 1939 in Brownsville, Tennessee to a sharecropping family in the segregated South. After her grandmother’s death, she moved to St. Louis, Missouri at age 16 to reunite with her mother. There she began attending R&B nightclubs and in 1956 she sang onstage with Ike Turner’s Kings of Rhythm. Ike drafted her to record A Fool in Love when the scheduled singer failed to appear, and he changed her name to Tina Turner. The record became a hit.
Tina Turner’s career breakthrough came with the 1984 album Private Dancer, which included the #1 single What’s Love Got to Do with It. The album won four Grammy Awards in 1985, including Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. She starred as Aunty Entity in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome 1985 and performed duets with Bryan Adams, David Bowie, and Mick Jagger. Her 1993 biopic What’s Love Got to Do with It chronicled her life. She retired from touring in 2000 but continued recording, releasing the retrospective All the Best in 2004.
Tina Turner was married to Ike Turner from 1962 to 1978, enduring physical abuse and a failed suicide attempt. She fled the marriage in 1976 with only 36 cents and a gas credit card. In 2013, she married Erwin Bach, her partner of 27 years, in a civil ceremony on Lake Zurich. She had two biological sons: Craig Raymond Turner born 1958 and Ronnie Turner born 1960, and adopted Ike’s two sons. Craig died by suicide in 2018. Turner suffered a stroke in 2013 and received a kidney transplant from Erwin Bach in 2017.
Tina Turner is remembered as the Queen of Rock n Roll, with over 60 million records sold worldwide. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991 and received the Kennedy Center Honors in 2005. She won eight Grammy Awards and was ranked #2 on VH1’s Greatest Women of Rock N Roll. Her influence extended to artists like Mick Jagger, whom she taught to dance. She is also recognized for her personal triumph over abuse, as chronicled in her autobiography I, Tina and the biopic What’s Love Got to Do with It.
Browse the complete filmography of Tina Turner — every film, TV show, and documentary credit, ranked by popularity.
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Every award, honor, and recognition received by Tina Turner — Grammys, hall-of-fame inductions, civic honors, lifetime achievements.
A wall of memorable lines from Tina Turner — lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.
I’m the Only Person Left Doing the Kind of Work That I Do.
I Will Never Give in to Old Age Until I Become Old. and I’m Not Old Yet!
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.
This Is What I Want in Heaven . . . Words to Become Notes and Conversations to Be Symphonies.
There Comes a Point Where It Is Just Undignified to Be a Rock ‘N’ Roll Star.
Physical Strength in a Woman That’s What I Am.
I Don’t Hate Myself Anymore. I Used to Hate My Work, Hated That Sexy Image, Hated Those Pictures of Me Onstage, Hated That Big Raunchy Person. Onstage, I’m Acting the Whole Time I’m There. as Soon as I Get Out of Those Songs, I’m Tina Again.
I Have a Simple, Childlike View of Life, and I Want to Keep It. That’s Why I Never Got into That Beverly Hills World. so Many Pretentious People. They Just Aren’t Real.
I Never Did Like James Brown. I Always Did Like Ray Charles. He Was My Only Influence, Because I Always Liked to Sing More or Less Like Men Sing, and Sound Like They Sound. Like He and Sam Cooke Were My Influences.
I Am Strong, I Lived Through a Divorce, Separation from My Family, All Kinds of Hell. I Never Let It Break Me Down. I’m Not an Alcoholic, I’ve Never Smoked, I’ve Never Done Drugs. I’ve Floated Through the Disaster of My Past Clean. I Arrived Here Undamaged, I Haven’t Aged from All That Stress.
Britain’s Got Such Great Musicians. I Always Wanted to Have the Right Music That I Wanted Under Me and It Always Came from Here. It Gave Me an Energy. There Was an Energy Here That Brought Something Out in Me.
In America, People Just Saw Me as a Black Singer. but in Europe, People Looked at Me as a Rock Singer.
Little-known facts about Tina Turner — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.
With over 60 million records sold, Tina Turner is the most successful female rock artist in history. She also sold more concert tickets than any other female performer and won seven Grammy Awards.
Tina Turner grew up believing she had significant Native American ancestry. A DNA test on African American Lives 2006 revealed she was only 1% Native American and 33% European.
After moving to Zurich, Switzerland in 1994, Tina Turner resided in a lake house called Chateau Algonquin. She also owned property in Cologne, London, and Los Angeles, and a villa named Anna Fleur on the French Riviera.
Tina Turner had two biological sons: Craig Raymond Turner born August 20, 1958, died by suicide July 3, 2018 with Raymond Hill, and Ronnie Turner born October 27, 1960 with Ike Turner. She also adopted Ike’s two sons, Ike Turner Jr. and Michael Turner.
Holly Knight wrote Simply the Best with Paul Young in mind, but when Young declined, Tina Turner recorded it after adding a bridge and key change. The song became one of her signature tunes.
Tina Turner reportedly taught Mick Jagger how to dance and move on stage during a tour with The Rolling Stones in the UK.
Tina Turner received the Kennedy Center Honors on December 3, 2005, alongside Robert Redford, Tony Bennett, Suzanne Farrell, and Julie Harris.
In 2016, Tina Turner was diagnosed with intestinal cancer. She chose homeopathic remedies over traditional treatment, which worsened her condition, leading to total kidney failure. Her husband Erwin Bach donated a kidney in April 2017, a largely successful operation, though she continues to manage complications like dizziness and forgetfulness.
Tina Turner married Erwin Bach, her boyfriend of 27 years, in a civil ceremony on the banks of Lake Zurich in Küsnacht, Switzerland. They met at a record label party in London in 1985 and began dating the following year.
Angela Bassett mimed to Tina Turner’s voice when performing the musical numbers in the film What’s Love Got to Do with It 1993.
Tina Turner was a fan of The Road Warrior 1981, so she was thrilled to be cast as Aunty Entity in Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome 1985.
Tina Turner initially disliked What’s Love Got to Do with It, the song that would resurrect her career, and performed it reluctantly for years after its release.
As part of her divorce settlement, Tina Turner kept songwriter royalties from her own songs, as well as her two Jaguar cars, furs, jewelry, and the stage name Turner.
Due to the frequent beatings from Ike Turner, Tina Turner underwent reconstructive surgery on her nose.
When Tina Turner was 14, her older sister and cousin were killed in an automobile accident in Ripley, Tennessee.
Tina Turner won a Grammy Award for Record of the Year, with Terry Britten, for What’s Love Got to Do with It.
Tina Turner participated in the USA for Africa recording of We Are the World on January 28, 1985.
Tina Turner considered herself a rock n roll artist who shared the stage with Mick Jagger, David Bowie, and Bryan Adams. She believed she transformed pop songs into rock n roll on stage.
Tina Turner turned down a role in the comedy-drama Thelma & Louise 1991.
Tina Turner received a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame on May 19, 1991, at 6378 Delmar Boulevard.
Tina Turner received the Lifetime Achievement award at the MOBO Awards on October 7, 1999, at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
Tina Turner, with Ike Turner, won a Grammy for Best R&B Group Performance for Proud Mary.
Tina Turner became a naturalized Swiss citizen on April 22, 2013, and relinquished her U.S. citizenship at the U.S. embassy in Bern on October 24, 2013.
Tina Turner was with Ike Turner for 20 years but married for 16, not counting the two-year divorce process.
Three weeks after marrying Erwin Bach in July 2013, Tina Turner suffered a stroke. Unaware of its severity, she tried to leave the doctor’s office and later had to learn to walk again.
Tina Turner won a Grammy for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for One of the Living.
Tina Turner received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on August 28, 1986, at 1750 North Vine Street.
During her mid-1980s solo success, Tina Turner publicly revealed Ike Turner’s abuse. Ike admitted in a SPIN magazine interview that he hit her, but claimed it was exaggerated.
Tina Turner had the biggest-grossing concert tour of North America in 2000, though NSYNC sold more tickets due to lower prices.
Tina Turner was ranked #2 on VH1’s Greatest Women of Rock N Roll.
Tina Turner attributed her career comeback to Europe, where she was more successful than in the U.S. What’s Love Got to Do with It from Private Dancer 1984 cemented her UK success.
Tina Turner’s duet with Elisa, Teach Me Again from the soundtrack of All the Invisible Children, reached #1 on the Italian singles chart on February 20, 2006.
Tina Turner was friends with Diana Ross.
Rolling Stone voted Tina Turner the 61st Greatest Rock n Roll Artist of all time.
Tina Turner was ranked #6 on VH1’s 100 Sexiest Artists.
Tina Turner had a relationship with Raymond Hill from 1957 to 1958, with whom she had her son Craig.
Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about Tina Turner.
Celebrities similar to Tina Turner — same craft, ranked by reach.
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