8-Time Grammy Winner... Swept 3 Categories with Signature Songs in 1985
Living in Switzerland After Remarriage... Appears to Have Suffered Stroke and Kidney Disease
Tina Turner, the pop star who dominated the 1970s and 80s and was known as the "Queen of Rock 'n' Roll," passed away at the age of 83 on the 24th (local time).
According to The New York Times (NYT) and others, Turner's representative Bernard Doherty announced via Turner's social media that she peacefully passed away at her home in K?snacht near Zurich, Switzerland, after a long battle with illness. Although the exact cause of death was not disclosed, it was reported that she had suffered from a stroke for several years before her death and had experienced kidney disease during her lifetime.
Born in 1939, Turner debuted in the 1950s, the early days of the rock 'n' roll era, and ruled the pop stage for over 30 years, leaving behind numerous hit songs.
She won a total of eight Grammy Awards and was nominated 25 times. In particular, her signature song "What's Love Got to Do with It" swept three categories at the 1985 Grammys, including Record of the Year. The album featuring this song sold over 5 million copies.
Her 1988 concert in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, attracted 180,000 spectators. The NYT reported that she set the record for the largest paid audience for a solo artist.
In the late 1950s, when Turner was a high school student, she began performing with singer-songwriter and guitarist Ike Turner and his band, The Kings of Rhythm. She later married Ike Turner and gained popularity as the duo "Ike & Tina Turner" for about a decade during the 1960s and 70s. However, after their divorce, she revealed that she had suffered violence and abuse from her husband during their marriage.
Afterward, Turner met German music mogul Erwin Bach in 1985 and moved to London, UK, in 1988, continuing her career while staying in Europe. She recorded the theme song for the 1995 James Bond film "GoldenEye" and retired from singing after her world tour in 2008-2009.
In 2013, she married Bach, renounced her U.S. citizenship, and became a Swiss national.
The prestigious American music magazine Rolling Stone ranked Turner 63rd on its list of the 100 greatest musicians of all time.
John Pareles, a music critic for the NYT, noted that although most of Tina Turner's hit songs were written by other composers, her vocals brought them to life, describing her voice as a "special instrument." He also praised her for showcasing a three-octave range "from low huskiness to astonishingly clear high notes."
At her peak, she appeared in several Hollywood films, with "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome" (1985) being a representative work. She also published memoirs twice, in 1986 and 2018.
White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre expressed her condolences during a briefing, calling Turner's obituary "an incredibly sad news" and mourning it as "a tremendous loss to the communities who loved her and the music industry."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
