Tina Turner, the revolutionary “Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll” who overcame serious personal and professional hurdles to forge a standout six-decade career as a singer and actress, died Wednesday. She was 83.
The “What’s Love Got to Do With It” singer’s rep confirmed to the Telegraph that she passed away after a long illness in her home in Küsnacht near Zurich, Switzerland.
Turner’s rep didn’t immediately return Page Six’s request for comment.
The legendary performer first found fame in the 1960s as part of the Ike and Tina Turner Revue, which churned out chart-topping songs until she left him after years of domestic abuse.
Having survived the horrifying relationship, Turner later made one of the most dramatic comebacks in music history, achieving international superstardom as a solo artist in the 80s, with hits such as “What’s Love Got to Do With It.”
Also famous for her iconic 1971 version of “Proud Mary” and her role as Aunty Entity in 1985’s “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome,” Turner was plagued in her final years by ill health, including a stroke, intestinal cancer and kidney failure, which required a transplant.
She bid a final farewell to her fans in the 2021 documentary “Tina.”
“Some people say the life that I lived and the performances that I gave, the appreciation… I should be proud of that. I am,” Tuner said in the HBO doc.
“But when do you stop being proud? I mean, when do you, how do you bow out slowly? Just go away?”
When she retired to live her last act out of the spotlight, Turner had already cemented herself as one of the world’s most iconic singers and influenced a generation of musicians.
She has won 12 Grammy awards, sold more than 200 million albums, acted in several movies and wrote three bestselling memoirs, including one that was adapted into the 1993 biopic “What’s Love Got to Do with It,” starring Angela Bassett as Turner.
Born Anna Mae Bullock on November 26, 1939 in rural Tennessee, Turner began her career as a blues singer in nightclubs at the age of 16.
When she was 11, her mother Zelma ran off, seeking freedom from an abusive relationship with Turner’s dad, Floyd, a sharecropper.
Turner stated in her 1986 autobiography “I, Tina” that she felt like she “wasn’t wanted” by her mom, whose 1999 funeral she skipped, Page Six reported at the time.
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