Legendary Singer Tina Turner Is Dead

Tina Turner – one of rock’s great vocalists and most charismatic performers – has died aged 83, her spokesperson has confirmed.

The Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll died after a long illness at her home in Küsnacht near Zurich in Switzerland.

Tina’s spokesman confirmed she died “peacefully” at home and added: “With her, the world loses a music legend and a role model. With her music and her inexhaustible vitality, Tina Turner thrilled millions of fans and inspired many artists of subsequent generations.”

Her official Instagram added: “It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Tina Turner. With her music and her boundless passion for life, she enchanted millions of fans around the world and inspired the stars of tomorrow.

“Today we say goodbye to a dear friend who leaves us all her greatest work: her music. All our heartfelt compassion goes out to her family. Tina, we will miss you dearly.”

Following the news, music fans rushed to social media to pay tribute to the icon.

Nicola Sturgeon posted: “She was simply the best,” as she retweeted the news.

Paddy McGuinness wrote: “What a shock. Another great leaving us. When Icons pass away it really resonates. RIP Tina Turner.”

Tina suffered from illness for years and was diagnosed with intestinal cancer in 2016 and had a kidney transplant a year later.

A private funeral ceremony will be held for close friends and family.

Tina was born Anna Mae Bullock on November 26 in 1939 in Nutbush, Tennessee, USA.

She found fame in the late 1960s as the singer of the band Ike & Turner Revue but later went on to find fame as a solo artist.

During a career spanning more than 60 years, she sold more than 180 million albums and won 12 Grammy Awards.

Her biggest hits include ‘What’s Love Got To Do With It’, ‘Private Dancer’, ‘I Don’t Wanna Lose You’ and ‘The Best’.

She sold out stadiums on tour around the world for over three decades as one of the hardest-working women in show business.

The natural-born performer joked earlier this year that she is as famous for her legs as her voice. She reportedly once insured her legs for £2 million.

The hitmaker explained how she only had her legs on show because it made it much easier to dance, but that it ultimately became part of her iconic style.

“When I was younger I never felt confident about any part of my body, but with all the attention my legs received, I realised they must be OK!” she said.

Turner retired from performing in 2009 following a 50th-anniversary tour, during which she played 37 sold-out shows across North America, netting almost $50 million (£40.3 million).

The tour then moved on to Europe, where Turner played an additional 47 live dates – in total, the singer was seen by more than one million concert-goers.

Her autobiography, I, Tina, was turned into the 1993 film What’s Love Got To Do With It, dramatising the mother-of-two’s famously turbulent relationship with Ike Turner.

Turner was abandoned by her mother aged just 11 and years later she met fellow musician Ike, who she was with for 16 years until 1976.

But the relationship was abusive and Turner eventually left Ike and went on to forge a successful solo career.

The movie adaptation saw Angela Bassett nominated for an Oscar for her performance as Tina in the biopic.

Just last year, Tina shared her sorrow with fans after the tragic death of her son Ronnie.

Sharing an emotional black and white portrait picture, Tina appeared with her eyes firmly shut as she paid tribute to her “beloved” child who was found dead outside his home in Los Angeles.

His death was later confirmed to be in relation to “complications from colon cancer” and “atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease”, according to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s office.

“Ronnie, you left the world far too early. In sorrow I close my eyes and think of you, my beloved son,” she penned alongside the picture.

It was the latest heartbreak for Tina in recent years. In 2018, the singer lost her eldest son Craig, after he died by suicide.

As she scattered his ashes of the coast of California back in 2018, she wrote: “My saddest moment as a mother.

“On Thursday, July 19 2018, I said my final goodbye to my son, Craig Raymond Turner, when I gathered with family and friends to scatter his ashes off the coast of California,” she tweeted.

“He was fifty-nine when he died so tragically, but he will always be my baby.”

Tina gave birth to Craig when she was 18 years old – before her marriage to Ike Turner. After they wed, Ike adopted her son with Craig taking his surname.

But Craig’s biological father is Kings of Rhythm saxophonist Raymond Hill, who was a member of Ike’s band.

Raymond and Tina – then known as Little Ann – were in a relationship in 1957 when she was just 17 and a new backing singer for Ike Tuner’s band. Raymond died in 1996 from heart failure aged 62.

Tina, widely referred to as the Queen of Rock and Roll, wed her long-time German beau, the music executive Erwin Bach, in a Swiss civil ceremony in 2013 and lived in Switzerland with him since 1994.

It was the second marriage for the music star, who was previously married to musician Ike from 1962 to 1978.

In her 1986 book, the singer narrated a harrowing story of abuse, including a broken nose during her marriage to Ike.

He died in December 2007, and Tina’s spokeswoman at the time was quoted as saying: “Tina is aware that Ike passed away earlier today. She has not had any contact with him in 35 years. No further comment will be made.”

Previously she opened up about her abusive relationship saying she had forgiven Ike.

The legendary singer spoke about her brutal union in a feature-length documentary in which she looked back on her career.

While reflecting on her life and upbringing, she said: “It wasn’t a good life. The good did not balance the bad.

“I had an abusive life – there’s no other way to tell the story. It’s a reality. It’s a truth. That’s what you’ve got, so you have to accept it.”

She told how after a childhood filled with cruelty and violence, it explained why she seemed to accept the mental and physical torture she put up with Ike.

During their marriage, she was reborn into global singing star Tina Turner, changing to it from her birth name of Anna Mae Bullock.

For three decades, she and Ike delivered a string of global hits, but away from the stage, it was the hits with his fists that caused long-lasting damage.

It wasn’t until 1976, after years of beatings and psychological torture, that she finally dared to leave.

She admitted it was because they had a son, Ronnie, and she adopted two of Ike’s children, Ike Jr and Michael, from his previous relationship that she had stayed for so long.

Tina said it would take her decades to overcome the relationship before she finally found peace with the life he subjected her to.

The Steamy Windows legend said: “For a long time, I did hate Ike, I have to say that. But then, after he died, I really realised that he was an ill person. He did get me started, and he was good to me in the beginning. So I have some good thoughts. Maybe it was a good thing that I met him that I don’t know.

“It hurts to have to remember those times, but at a certain stage, forgiveness takes over; forgiving means not having to hold on.

“It was letting go because it only hurts you. By not forgiving, you suffer because you think about it over and over. And for what?”

Tina would later find happiness with her second husband, Bach.

She met the German, who was 16 years her junior when the American visited Europe.

The singer was 46, and he was 30, although they didn’t marry until eight years ago.

Speaking of Erwin, she said: “He had the prettiest face. It was like, ‘Where did he come from?’ He was so good-looking. My heart went ba-bum. It means that a soul has met.

“When he found out that I liked him, he came to America, and we were in Nashville, and I said to him, ‘When you come to LA, I want you to make love to me.

“I thought that I could say that because I was a free woman, I didn’t have a boyfriend, I liked him.

“There was nothing wrong with it; it was just sex. And he looked at me as if he didn’t believe what he was hearing.”