Tina Turner
Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock, November 26, 1939) is an American singer and actress whose career has spanned more than 50 years. She has won numerous awards and her achievements in the rock music genre have led to her being referred to as "The Queen of ck 'n' Roll".
Turner started out her music career with husband Ike Turner as a member of the Ike & Tina Turner Revue. Success followed with a string of hits including "River Deep, Mountain High" and the 1971 hit "Proud Mary". Allegations of spousal abuse following her split with Turner in 1976 arose with the publication of her autobiography I, Tina. Turner rebuilt her career, launching a string of hits beginning in 1983 with "Let's Stay Together" and the 1984 release of her album Private Dancer.
Her musical career led to film roles, beginning with a prominent role as The Acid Queen in the 1975 film Tommy, and an appearance in Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. She starred opposite Mel Gibson as Aunty Entity in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome which brought her the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture. Her hit song "We Don't Need Another Hero", the theme song of the film, was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song. She appeared in the 1993 film Last Action Hero.
One of the world's most popular entertainers, Turner has been called the most successful female rock artist and was named "one of the greatest singers of all time" by Rolling Stone. Her records have sold nearly 200 million copies worldwide. She has sold more concert tickets than any other solo music performer in history. She is known for her energetic stage presence, powerful vocals, career longevity, and widespread appeal.In 2008, Turner left semi-retirement to embark on her Tina!: 50th Anniversary Tour. Turner's tour has become one of the highest selling ticketed shows of 2008-2009..
Anna Mae Bullock was born as the younger of two girls in Nutbush, Tennessee, an unincorporated area in Haywood County, Tennessee, on November 26, 1939, the daughter of Zelma Bullock (née Currie), a factory worker, and Floyd Richard Bullock, a Baptist deacon, farm overseer and factory worker.She is of mostly African-American and European descent. Bullock long believed her mother had significant Native American ancestry, however results of a DNA test featured on African American Lives 2 left questions about that. Bullock attended Flag Grove School in Haywood County, Tennessee. The land for the school was sold below market value to the school trustees by Bullock's great, great-uncle in 1889.The younger of two sisters, Bullock and her sister, Allene, grew up with their grandmother after their parents split when Bullock was ten. Bullock's sister later moved to St. Louis. Bullock remained in Nutbush until her grandmother's death and agreed to move in with her mother and sister at 16.
In St. Louis, Bullock attended Sumner High School. Around this time, Bullock's sister was taking her to several nightclubs in the city. At Club Imperial one night, Bullock met Mississippi-born rhythm and blues musician Ike Turner and later asked him if she could sing for him. Ike was initially skeptical, but after much persistence on Bullock's part, he decided to let her perform for him. Thus, Bullock became an occasional vocalist in Ike's shows at the age of 18. Going by the name "Little Ann," Bullock was also the spotlight of a soul revue led by Ike Turner and his Kings of Rhythm band..
In 1960, when a singer scheduled to record the song, "A Fool in Love", didn't appear, Bullock stepped in and recorded the vocals instead. "A Fool in Love" was a huge R&B hit reaching #2, crossing over to the top 30 of the US pop chart. Ike changed Bullock's name to Tina Turner and that of his band to The Ike & Tina Turner Revue. In 1962, the two married in Tijuana, Mexico. (According to her Bio on Tina's Web site, the couple married in 1958. )
Turner raised four sons — Ike, Jr. and Michael (from Ike's previous relationship), Craig (born 1958, from her earlier relationship with Raymond Hill, a saxophone player in Ike's band), and Ronald (son of Ike and Tina; born 1961).
Throughout the 1960s and into the 1970s, Ike and Tina rose to stardom. As times and musical styles changed, Tina developed a unique stage persona as a singer-dancer-performer which thrilled audiences of the group's live concerts. Tina and the Revue's backup singers, the Ikettes, wove intricate and electrifying dance routines into their performances and influenced many other artists, including Mick Jagger (for whose 1966 UK tour they opened).
Ike and Tina Turner recorded a string of hits in the 1960s, including "A Fool in Love", "It's Gonna Work Out Fine", "I Idolize You", and the groundbreaking "River Deep, Mountain High" with producer Phil Spector in his Wall of Sound style. By the end of the decade, the couple incorporated modern rock styles into their act and began including their interpretations of "Come Together", "Honky Tonk Woman", and "I Want to Take You Higher" to their stage show.
In fact, their high-energy cover version of Creedence Clearwater Revival's 1968 "Proud Mary" remains Turner's signature hit and one of her longest enduring standards. "Proud Mary" was the duo's greatest commercial success, peaking at number four on the Billboard Hot 100 in March 1971. The single eventually won a Grammy for Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group.
While many of its original recordings failed to chart, the Ike and Tina Turner Revue was lauded by the Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Sly Stone, Janis Joplin, Cher, James Brown, Ray Charles, Elton John and Elvis Presley. A one night gig at a small, predominantly black supper club in the South could be followed in the same week by a show at a major venue in Las Vegas or a national TV appearance. Ike acted as the group's manager and musical director, calling all the shots and ruling the act with an iron fist. While he was a fine musician and an early rock 'n' roll influence, Ike's control of the Revue's management, recording contracts and performances eventually led to their decline as his drug abuse worsened. This controlling (and often violent) atmosphere caused the musicians and backup singers to come and go frequently. Tina later reported being isolated and physically abused by Ike on a regular basis for most of their marriage.
By the mid-1970s, Tina's personal life and marriage began to fail. Ike's drug use led to increasingly erratic and physically abusive behavior. Their act was losing speed largely due to Ike's refusal to accept outside management of their recording or touring, as well as the cost of maintaining his allegedly voracious cocaine habit. Touring dates began to decline and record sales were low; their last success was "Nutbush City Limits", a song penned by Turner about her home town, that reached number twenty-two on the Hot 100 and number-four in the United Kingdom in 1973.
Having opened his own recording studio, Bolic (pronounced Bullock, after Tina's original surname) Sound, following the lucrative success of "Proud Mary", Ike produced Tina's first solo album, Tina Turns the Country On in 1974. It failed to make an impact on the charts, as did the follow-up, Acid Queen (1975), which was released to tie in with Tina's critically acclaimed big-screen debut in the role of the same name in The Who's rock opera, Tommy.
After a violent argument before an appearance in Dallas in July 1976, Tina abruptly left Ike, fleeing with nothing more than thirty-six cents and a gas-station credit card. She spent the next few months hiding from him while staying with various friends.
Tina would later credit her newfound Buddhist faith, which she adopted while visiting a friend in 1974, with giving her the courage to strike out on her own. By walking out on Ike in the middle of a tour, she learned she was legally responsible to tour promoters for the canceled tour. Needing to earn a living, she became a solo performer, supplementing her income with TV appearances on shows such as The Hollywood Squares, Donny and Marie, The Sonny & Cher Show and The Brady Bunch Hour.
Her divorce was finalized in 1978 after sixteen years of marriage. She later accused Ike of years of severe spousal abuse and rampant drug addiction in her autobiography I, Tina. It was later adapted for the film What's Love Got to Do with It?. She parted ways with him, retaining only her stage name, and assuming responsibility for the debts incurred by the canceled tour as well as a significant IRS lien
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