alt

A future world-famous singer, songwriter, dancer and actress Anna Mae Bullock or Tina Turner, as we all know her, was born in Tennessee, USA, in the family of factory workers. 

Her father also did farming and served in the Baptist church. Being 10 years of age, Anna came over her parents’ divorce, was abandoned by her mother, who got tired of hard work and was left to her father, Floyd. The latter, however, did not pay much attention to his kids, got married again and moved to another city. Thus, Anna and Ruby Ellin Bullock were brought up by their grandmother. However, as a result of frequent illnesses and poor health, she passed away, and both her granddaughters had to move to Saint-Louis with their mother. In the city, Anna attended a mainstream school. One of her hobbies and passions, besides singing, was dancing. 

 

Thus, the teenager often visited nightclubs with her elder sister, where she met her first love - a musician and a co-founder of rock-n-roll movement Ike Turner, a member of the “Kings of Rhythm” band. 

 

Anna was deeply impressed by the band’s performances and wanted to join the guys on the stage. Moreover, she had the experience of singing in a church choir. After long discussions and persuasion, Ike accepted Anna’s offer.  

Anna became the punch-line of the band and was appreciated by the audience thanks to her never-ending energy, obvious fancy dancing and unique style. With the appearance of the girl in a male band, it started to gain greater popularity and recorded several mind-blowing hits, such as “I Idolize You”, “A Fool in Love”, “River Deep, Mountain High”, etc. At that time, Anna Mae Bullock decided to get married to the band’s frontman Ike Turner. Thus, she changes both her name and surname to Tina Turner. 

 

One of the main Tina’s hits is a cover-version of a “Proud Mary” song of the band “Creedence Clearwater Revival”. Recorded with Ike Turner, the cover gained great popularity along with commercial success: it took 4th place in the Billboard Hot 100 music chart. In addition, it won the Grammy award for the Best rhythm and blues duo vocal performance.  

 

In spite of the “Kings of Rhythm” popularity in the 60s-70s, Ike Turner, being drug-addicted, was the reason for other musicians leaving the group. In addition, he was very strict and even authoritarian. With several singers who gave up the idea of proceeding to work in the band, its popularity decreased. 

In 1974 Tina’s husband established his own recording studio, “Bolic Sound”. It was in this studio that Tina Turner's first album, “Tina Turns The Country On!” was produced by Ike Turner. 

 

The next year is considered to be more prosperous for Tina - her second album, “Acid Queen”, entered various music charts. Additionally, the artist starred in the rock opera under the title “The Who - “Tommy”. 

 

Tina was not happy with her family life: her husband often beat her, which led to the decision to escape from him one day, spend several months ahead living in her friends’ houses, and try not to be founded by Ike. 

At the end of the 1970s, Tina Turner initiated her independent solo career. In 1978, she already released her 3rd solo album, “Rough”, which failed to gain success and sales as well as her other album “Love Explosion” a year later. At this time, Tina took part in a chain of TV shows, such as “Hollywood squares”, “Donny and Mary” and “The Brady Bunch variety hour”.  

After a hard divorce, the first serious and considerable signs of fame and popularity came to Tina from Europe - Great Britain with the release of a hit “Let’s Stay Together”.  

The 3rd album of Turner, “Private Dancer”, presented in the USA, was finally met with interest and admiration: it sold over 11 million copies. Since that time, Tina became popular all over the world and released 5 more studio albums: “Break Every Rule”, “Foreign Affair”, “What’s Love Got to Do With It”, “Wildest Dreams” and “Twenty Four Seven”. For her enthusiasm, talent, and productivity Tina managed to receive 8 Grammys. The same year the queen of rock-n-roll presented her 2 hit singles: “Better Be Good to Me” and “Private Dancer” and was praised with MTV Video Music Awards and 2 American Music Awards titles. 

In 1986 Tina Turner released “Break Every Rule” album with such hit songs included as “Two People”, “Typical Male”, “Back Where You Started” and “What You Get Is What You See” and sold more than nine million copies worldwide. The artists also starred in an autobiographical film, “I, Tina”, where she discloses relations with her ex-husband.  

The music diva gave birth to 2 sons: Crage and Ronald. First son was born during her first marriage with a musician Raymond Hill, but at the age of 59 committed suicide. Ronald saw the world as a result of her second marriage with previously mentioned Ike Turner. Now Tina is married to the love of her life, German producer Ervin Bach and lives in Switzerland.