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Biography
After 40 years in the music business, Tina Turner has become one of
the most commercially-successful international female rock stars to
date. Her sultry, powerful voice, her incredible legs, her
time-tested beauty and her unforgettable story all contribute to
her legedary status. Born to a mixed race (Native and African
American) sharcropping family in the segregated South, Anna Mae
Bullock (Tina) and her sister were basically abandoned by their
sparring parents early on. After her grandmother's death, she
eventually moved to St. Louis to reunite with her mother. This
opened up a whole new world of R & B nightclubs to the precocious
16-year-old. Before long she had given up early aspirations of a
nursing career and had joined Ike Turner's Kings of Rythym. Ike
Turner wanted to turn his local fame into national stardom and
quickly saw the potential of the talented, but unmolded, teen-aged
Anna Mae. One thing led to another; they got married in Mexico
between the birth of Tina's two sons - one son was Ike's and the
other was the result of an earlier relationship of Tina's. Before
too long the Ike and Tina Turner Review was tearing up large and
small R&B and Soul venues throughout the early and mid 1960s. The
hits were relatively few, but the unsurpassed energy and excitement
generated by the live stage show (read: Tina) made the Revue a
solid touring act, along with the likes of James Brown and Ray
Charles. Their big "crossover" break came in 1966 with the
recording of the Phil Spector production, "River Deep, Mountain
High". While it was a commercial flop in the US, it was a monster
hit in Europe -- the start of Tina's European superstar status, a
status which never faded during her long stint of relative
obscurity in the US (late 70s-through the early 80s). The Revue
entered the 1970's as a top touring and recording act, with Tina
becoming more and more recognized as the star-power behind the
group's international success. Ike, while having been justly
described as an excellent musician, a shewd businessman and the
initial "brains" behind the Revue, was also described (by Tina and
others) as a violent, drug-addicted wife beater who was not above
frequently knocking Tina (and other women) around both publically
and privately. Tina finally had her fill of this in 1976, when she
fled the marriage (and the Revue) with the now famous 36 cents and
a Mobil gasoline credit card. Tina, now nearing 40, climbed a long,
and at times humiliating, trek back to superstardom through working
many substandard gigs and and performing current Top 40 hits and
old Ike & Tina tunes at hotel ballrooms and supper clubs. She now
claims she was having the time of her life at this point, just
performing on her own and getting away from Ike. She refused to
take a cent from the divorce, and was strapped with many huge debts
as well. Taking on new management around 1980 was Tina's shewdest
career move to date. With Roger Davies as her manager, before long
Tina was back in the saddle with her smash 1984 comeback album,
Private Dancer. The rest is rock and roll history. Since that time,
Tina has toured the globe several times, released several more hit
records (none as big as Private Dancer) and appeared in several
movies (her admitted dream is to cross over to films). Tina, now
nearing 60, has apparently semi-retired, but she can still thrill
audiences seemingly through any venue she desires: concerts, TV
appearances, charity benefits. Tina Turner is the undisputed Queen
of Rock and Roll.
Biography courtesy of the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com).
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Tina Turner
