Tina Turner: 1939 – 2023 – Insights from a Southern Girl

I had an extremely bad bout of anxiety last year (two bouts, as a matter of fact), so I refrained from doing any tributes to beloved celebrities that we’ve lost. However, after hearing the news on May 24, I knew I had to write an article about the one and only Tina Turner.

I believe I was about four or five when I was first introduced to Tina Turner. Her hit song, “What’s Love Got to Do With It?” was playing on MTV, and while I was jamming to what would be one of my favorite ’80s songs, my mom told me about how she grew up listening to the Ike and Tina Revue, and how Ms. Tina was always a bad lady.

I loved Tina immediately. Everything about her was so cool: her hair, that strut (y’all know the one), her clothes, her distinctive singing style, and she so was so pretty! Plus, she reminded me a bit of my aunt (they looked nothing alike, but they had the same eyes). I still remember when I learned she was going to play Aunty Entity on Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. I couldn’t believe she was a villain on that movie! I mean, it was Tina Turner; there’s no way she’d be a bad lady! Besides, she was playing a queen, and at the age of five, an evil queen seemed highly unlikely, especially for Tina (and from what I’ve seen, her character may have been more of an anti-hero than a villain). On a side note, my mom and I still randomly quote the line, “Well ain’t we a pair…raggedy man?“

That costume Tina was rockin’ was fierce.

I continued to love and listen to her music throughout the years, and in 1993, the film What’s Love Got to Do With It? was released. I had to see that movie. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to catch it at the theatre, but my mother rented it the very next year. The film blew my mind. My mother told me how badass the Ike and Tina Turner Revue was, and she also told me about how badly Ike treated Tina. However, seeing it all portrayed on celluloid was another experience. Of course, fans of the movie now know that many of the scenes and characters in the film were fabricated for entertainment purposes (neither Jackie nor Fross were real people; Tina’s oldest biological child was not fathered by Ike, but a saxophone player in their group, etc.), but thanks to Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne’s impeccable performances, not to mention the movie’s overall message, What’s Love Got To Do With It? remains a classic film, especially in my eyes.

The factual things I learned from the movie—Tina’s survival from Ike’s abuse, how she was able to put everything aside when it was time for her to perform on stage, her love for her kids, and how she made her big comeback when everyone doubted her—made me love and respect Tina even more. Not only that, but the movie introduced me to even more great music that I never heard before. I instantly fell in love with “Fool in Love,” “Shake a Tail Feather,” “Rock Me Baby,” “It’s Gonna Work Out Fine,” “River Deep – Mountain High,” and one of my personal favorites, “Nutbush City Limits.”

Ms. Tina continued to do her thing throughout the rest of the ’90s and the early 2000s, until she officially retired from touring in 2008. Back in 2001, I remember she had what was then billed as her farewell tour (she decided to have a 50th anniversary tour seven years later), and I remembered feeling sad, but at the same time, I accepted that she reached the age where she deserved to rest. After five decades, she proved everything she needed to prove.

I didn’t hear much from Tina after that. I caught some clips of her speaking on a Christmas project she did, and I remember her speaking briefly about Beyoncé, but that was about it. That changed in 2021, when the Tina documentary aired on HBO Max. Just like with What’s Love Got to Do With It?, my mom and I had to see it, and we weren’t disappointed. I learned even more about the legendary Queen of Rock and Roll, like how she never really felt loved until she met her current husband, Erwin Bach, and how she hated the fact that so many people focused on the fact that she was a survivor of spousal abuse. Tina wanted her fans to see the many other great things about her and her career, not just that she had to endure her former husband’s mistreatment. I also learned that she lost her oldest biological son (she lost her youngest biological son not too long after the Tina documentary aired). She was a lady that had a lot of accomplishments and great moments, but she also had a lot of pain. Nonetheless, she still persevered through it all.

When I learned of Tina’s passing last week, I couldn’t believe it. Like so many of the celebs that I write my tributes to, she was a constant in my life. Plus, she was always so energetic and fit, it seemed as if she would live long past 100. I’ve been listening to a ton of her music since she passed on (right now, Sirius XM has a channel dedicated to Tina—those of you that are subscribed, tune into channel 49 aka Soul Town to check it out), and I’m still hearing a lot of songs that I never even knew she made. I’m sad, but at the same time, Ms. Tina made such a huge impact on the world and lived such a full life that once again, it feels like she more that deserves her rest.

I discovered this video a few months ago. Ms. Turner killed her performance, as usual.

I remember listening to director John Waters do commentary for his film Hairspray (the original ’80s classic with Ricki Lake), and he mentioned that he saw Ike and Tina Turner live in concert back in the ’60s during his childhood days in Baltimore. He claimed that back then, Tina wore an old fur coat and had a moustache, and that was the “Tina he loved,” and he couldn’t get with “the Tina Turner that thinks she’s Elizabeth Taylor.” No disrespect to Mr. Waters, but Tina Turner was our Elizabeth Taylor, doggone it. As a matter of fact, she was more than that. She was a queen. Thank you so much for the wonderful music and memories, Ms. Tuner. You will be missed.

Y’all check these videos out.