People all over the world keep asking me when I'm going to slow down, but I'm just getting started!
Tina Turner is "the queen of rock and roll". She's also a grandmother, an actress, a Buddhist and - most of all a survivor. This text tells the story of her live. It's a story that began on a farm in Nut Bush, Tennessee in the late 1930s. That's when Tina Turner was Anna Mae Bullock. Sixteen years later, after a lonely, difficult childhood, she moved to St Louis. There she met the man who changed everything and made her a star - Ike Turner.
"The Ike and Tina Turner Revue" was one of America's top bands in the '60s and early '70s. Their hits, including River Deep Mountain High, Proud Mary and Nutbush City Limits made Tina both rich and famous. Behind the success, though, was a sad, frightened woman. On stage she might have been "wild", but off-stage she was the opposite. Ike Turner controlled her entire life, often by violence. Tina was a prisoner.
Then, one day in 1976, Tina finally left. What happened next is now a part of rock history. For eight, long, hard years she tried for success on her own. The suddenly she succeeded in 1984 when her record Private Dancer became a huge international hit. Tina Turner was back!
Since then, loved and admired by millions of fans, Tina has become one of the world's few real stars. She is also one of the few people who can honestly say: "Nobody has had a life like mine - not even Joan Collins"
The Teenage years
"I was brought up as a country girl"
Tina had always loved music. The first songs she heard were on the radio. Then later there was the singing in the church every Sunday - and the dancing. She still remembers the fast organ music. "It was wild. I didn't know what is was about. I just thought, they must be really happy!"
Tina loved it. But those days, nobody knew the child as Tina Turner. She was born Anna Mae Bullock, on 26 November 1939, and she grew up in the little town of Nut Bush, Tennessee. Her father was in charge of a farm there. Life wasn't easy, but the Bullocks had a house, and food enough to eat. As Tina said many years later, "I knew we weren't poor."
Even then, the young Anna had a good voice. But she also had dreams. The magazines and songs and films that reached Nut Bush showed her a different world. It was a happy, beautiful world, and Anna wanted to live in it.
But although she was happy in her dreams, she was not happy at home. Her parents were always fighting, and soon the fights became much worse. At last, her mother Zelma left for St Louis and didn't come back.
For the 10-year-old Anna and her 13-year-old sister Alline, it was a terrible time in their lives. "I was so hurt," says Tina. "I cried and cried, but it didn't do any good. It never does, you know."
But worse was to come. Her father married again, and within a couple of years he packed his bags and moved to Detroit. Tina says "I couldn't believe it. There I was, thirteen years old, with no mother. And now my father was gone too."
A cousin took the girls into her house, but Tina says, "If anyone took care of me, it was my sister." But then Alline moved to St Louis to live with her mother Zelma. And when Anna was sixteen, she suddenly asked herself: Why do I need to stay in Tennessee? Why not follow Alline?
"I always wanted to leave the fields," she said later. "Tennessee was fine. I loved sitting under a tree at the end of the day. But I knew there was more. That's why I joined my mother in St Louis. To me, that was the big city."
In St Louis, Anna completed high school. She began to go out in the evenings with Alline. That's when she discovered the Club Manhattan - the most famous night club in St Louis. Alline was a regular visitor there, but for months she refused to take her younger sister with her. The, one Saturday after Anna's seventeenth birthday, Alline changed her mind.
There was a band playing at the club that night - the Kings of Rhythm. They were already on stage when Anna and Alline arrived. The two girls sat down at a table and began to listening to the hard, fast music. The a few minutes later, the leader of the band appeared. He walked slowly across the stage, picked up a guitar, and began to play. His name was Ike Turner.
Little Ann
When Tina first saw Ike he was 24 and she was 16 years old. As a teenager he had played records at a radio station in his home town in Mississippi. Then, while he was still at school, he formed an eighteen-man band: The Tophatters. After a year or two The Tophatters divided into two smaller groups. One of them, led by Ike, was The Kings of Rhythm.
The group became a popular dance band in Mississippi. Mostly they copied the top forty songs, but they played their own special kind of rhythm and blues, too. Then B. B. King, a famous black musician, arranged for them to make a record. One of the songs they played was Rocked 88, (the name of a new car). Many people believe it was the first ever rock and roll record. At the time, though, it didn't make Ike Turner a star.
Three years later, The Kings of Rhythm moved to St Louis. There they began to play at dances and in clubs. Soon, the group was playing lots of shows every week around St Louis. One of the clubs they worked in was the Manhattan. The people who came to the shows were all black and didn't want to hear copies of the top forty white music. Instead they wanted to hear what the Kings really enjoyed playing - rough, hot rhythm and blues.
Anna Mae Bullock had never heard such exciting music in all her life. Soon she became a regular at the Manhattan. Together with Alline she got to know the musicians in the band. She even told Ike that she wanted to sing on stage with the Kings. "Good idea", he replied, "I'll give you a chance one day soon". But the weeks passed and Anna's chance never came. Then, "One night, somebody in the band asked Alline to sing, but she refused so I just started singing."
Ike jumped off the stage, ran across the room and lifted Anna off the ground. "I didn't know you could really sing", he said. After that Anna Bullock became one of several singers with The Kings of Rhythm. Ike called her "Little Ann" and started to buy her clothes and jewellery. Pink, silver and blue dresses - he even bought her a gold tooth. Anna thought she was in heaven.
There was a problem, though - Zelma. Anna was still a high-school student and hadn't told her mother about her new job with The Kings of Rhythm. Then one day a friend of Ike's - another singer - called at the Bullock's house. She asked Zelma if "Little Ann" was ready to come and practice some new songs with the band. Suddenly Anna's secret wasn't a secret any more.
Mother and daughter argued. At first Zelma simply refused to allow Anna to go on appearing at clubs and dances. She told her: "No more singing - don't even ask." The a few days later Ike drove up to the house in a pink Cadillac. He talked to Zelma and explained that he wanted to look after Anna like an older brother. She had a beautiful voice and he believed she was going to be a big star. Zelma wanted her daughter to be a success, didn't she? Wasn't that what every mother wanted for her children?
After that, "Little Ann" sang with The Kings of Rhythm more and more often. At first Ike really did look after her like an older brother. He gave her expensive presents and taught her a lot about the music business. Soon, as Tina explains, "I could sing his songs the way he heard them in his head."
Around the same time, when she was 18 years old, Tina had a baby boy. The father was a player in Ike's group, but he soon left them. Now Tina was a mother and a singer.
At 20 years old, "Little Ann" was the main singer with The Kings of Rhythm. Even so, she wasn't Ike's first choice to record A Fool In Love. Instead he chose and old friend - Art Lassiter. At the last minute, though, Ike and Lassiter argued about money. That's when he asked "Little Ann" to sing the song. She agreed.
Six months after A Fool In Love became a hit all over America. And not just in the black music charts - it reached the white top forty, too. Suddenly, after ten years of waiting, Ike Turner had the hit he had been waiting for. Happy and excited, he told "Little Ann" about his plans for the future. He wanted to move to California and leave The Kings of Rhythm behind. From now on she was going to be the star in his new band. Not only that, she was going to have a new name - "Tina Turner"
The Ike and Tina Turner Revue
"After one year with Ike I knew what he was really like. One thing stuck in my mind. 'When I've made him rich, I'll leave him'" - Tina
The idea for "Little Ann's" new name and look came from films and picture-books. As a boy, Ike had always loved stories about "wild African women". One of his favorites was "Sheena - Queen of the Jungle". "Sheena" became "Tina", and Tina became Ike's personal wild woman.
Next he decided to add some backing singers to the act. At that time, another black singer, Ray Charles, always appeared on stage with three girls - the Raelettes. Why not copy Ray Charles? Ike employed three young singers, gave them stage clothes like Tina's and called them the Ikettes. With their long hair, short skirts and high shoes, dozens of Ikettes danced and sang behind Tina over the years. There were always rules, though. No Ikette was allowed to be taller or prettier than Tina. Also, no Ikette was ever allowed to try and "steal the show".
By the end of 1960 A Fool In Love was number two in the rhythm and blues charts. Then, just when Ike wanted to take "The Ike and Tina Turner Revue" on tour, Tina became ill. She spent six weeks in hospital, but at last Ike decided that enough was enough. He sent some friends to the hospital and told them to bring Tina back home. The next evening she was on stage in Cincinnati. That was the beginning of the first "Revue" tour.
So far, Tina had hardly traveled at all. Now she hardly did anything else. In the two years after A Fool In Love, the Revue appeared in clubs all over the country. They also had several more rhythm and blues hits, including Poor Fool and It's Gonna Work Out Fine. Traveling meant hotels, smoky clubs and long hours, but at first Tina was happy. She was becoming a star and that's what she wanted. On stage she sang and danced twice a night and the crowds screamed and shouted for more. She was earning a lot of money, too. It was all like a dream.
The things began to change. Both on-stage and off, Ike Turner controlled the Revue completely. He chose the songs, the musicians in the band, the clubs they played in - everything. He also began to control Tina.
Before long it became clear that Ike could also be violent. Soon Tina was regularly appearing on stage with a black eye or a cut lip. At the time she thought he would change but he didn't. Many people have asked Tina why she stayed with Ike. Her answer is: "I didn't know anything else- or anybody else. And I wanted to sing."
Tina was also now a mother of two children. She had a second son. Ike was the father. They were now almost a family, with Tina also looking after Ike's two sons from his first marriage. Tina's life was hard and busy. The Revue were now one of America's top black bands. They even appeared on TV, and then in Las Vegas for the first time.
But although they were a success, Ike and Tina still hadn't scored a really big hit in the white pop charts. Ike was prepared to do anything to get one. That's why the Revue toured and recorded so much in the early '60s. Ike knew that Tina was the real star of the Revue. He also knew that without her he might never get the number one records and millions of dollars he wanted so badly. Somehow he had to have total control over her. The answer was marriage.
Soon after the Revue moved from St Louis to California in 1962, Ike asked Tina to become his wife. She accepted because she was frightened. Two days later Ike drove her to Tijuana in Mexico. Tina expected a real wedding with a white dress and a cake. Instead all she remembers was somebody "pushing this paper across a table, and I signed it. And I thought, 'This is my wedding'"
The next day Tina called her mother in St Louis and told her the news. Zelma said she was very happy. Tina wanted to tell her the truth, but couldn't. "I wanted to say, 'Ma, forget it, this is not a marriage'. But it was too late for that. I was now Mrs. Ike Turner."
River Deep Mountain High
"A perfect record from start to finish" - George Harrison
By the middle of the '60s, the records were selling well, and Ike and Tina were on of America's top bands. Between Ike and Tina themselves, though, things were getting worse. Ike was growing more and more violent. Also he had started going out with other women. Meanwhile Tina still had to be his "pet" at hoe and "Queen of the Jungle" on stage.
At that time the Revue toured for 270 days of each year. No wonder Tina described herself as "the hardest-working woman in rock". The really big shows and number one records of Ike's dreams still hadn't happened, though. The Phil Spector stepped in.
Spector was a hugely successful 25-year-old record producer. In the early '60s he produced over twenty hits, one after one. The Crystals, The Ronettes, The Righteous Brothers and his "wall of sound". Now he decided to make a record with Tina. There was a problem, though. Spector wanted to work with Tina only - not with Ike or the rest of the Revue. At first Ike wasn't sure, but when Spector agreed to put the names "Ike and Tina Turner" on the record, Ike agreed.
What happened next was really the start of Tina's future success on her own. For two weeks she practiced the new song - River Deep Mountain High with Spector. Short (160 cm, the same height as Tina) and shy, Spector played the piano as Tina sang. At last they were ready to record. Without Ike the 26-year-old Tina suddenly felt free at last. She loved the song and she wanted to do her best for Spector.
By May 1966 River Deep Mountain High was ready. Bob Krasnow, the Turner's manager, described Tina's work on the song as "electric". Everyone - even Ike - was sure it was going to be a big hit. But when it came out they realized they were wrong. River Deep Mountain High only reached number 88 in the US pop charts. The reason, Tina now believes, was that "it was too black for the pop radio stations and too pop for the black stations."
She was disappointed, but not sorry she had recorded the song, because "it showed people what I had in me." Then in July all the disappointment disappeared. News arrived that River Deep Mountain High had reached number three in the British pop charts. It wasn't the direction Tina had expected success to come form, but it was still great news. Not only that - one of Britain's top bands, the Rolling Stones, asked the Turners to play on their autumn tour. Ike and Tina accepted.
Twenty years later, Tina looked back on that first European tour as "the start of everything for me. I had never known my real home until I came to Europe." During the tour she and Ike became good friends with Mick Jagger and the rest of the Stones. They also made a lot of friends in the British public. The Revue was being accepted not just by black music fans, but by white fans, too. Ike put it like this: "We were breaking the chains that were holding us back from a mass audience."
He also thought that the Revue's European success sent a loud, clear message to the American record business. "Hey, this is a band that can reach all kinds of people!"
Musically then, things were better than ever, but personally Tina was still very unhappy. With River Deep Mountain High she had worked without Ike for the first time. It had felt wonderful, but was it ever going to happen again? Tina hadn't confidence to leave and start again on her own, so she just carried on as before. She now says about herself in those days: "Tina Turner - that woman who went out on stage - she was somebody else. I was like a shadow."
There was hope, though. During the British tour a friend took Tina to see a woman who said she could read the future. She told the singer, "You will be among the biggest of stars, and the person with you will fall away like a leaf from a tree." At that moment, Tina now says, she began to believe in herself for the very first time. It was "the beginning of my escape from Ike Turner."
Las Vegas
"You mean you can actually spend $70,000 at Woolworth's?" - (rock manager Bob Krasnow talking about the Turners' Los Angeles house in the ' 70s)
After their return to America in 1966, Ike and Tina went back on the road. Now, though, things were different. Instead of $500 for two shows a night, they began to earn $20,000 for one show a night. They also began to appear on all the top US television shows. Suddenly TV hosts like Ed Sullivan, Johnny Carson and Andy Williams were presenting Ike and Tina Turner to fans in their millions.
Inside the Revue, though, little had changed. The circle of violence and hard work only seemed to get worse for Tina. More and more she began to feel like a prisoner. Once she even tried to run away, but Ike found her and brought her back. That was the first time he beat her with a wire coat hanger. At that point Tina thought her life was like a horror film.
Controlled by fear she stayed with the Revue. She also stayed because of the children. Between them Ike and Tina had four boys. Two were Ike's from his first marriage. One was Tina's son from her early days in St Louis and the fourth was Ike and Tina's own son. In the late '60s all four were still very young. So Tina stayed, waiting for things to get better and suffering as she waited.
By 1968 she had become a regular visitor at her local hospital in Los Angeles. Usually she only came with cuts and marks and black eyes, but once it was much more serious. That was the night Tina Turner tried to kill herself. The attempt failed, but only just. Afterwards, when Tina woke up, Ike told her, "You want to die? Then die." It was the lowest point in Tina's entire life.
She survived, though, and again musical success gave her a reason to go on living.
In 1969 the Revue toured with the Rolling Stones again - this time in America. They played eighteen shows in thirteen cities, and reached the biggest number of fans so far. They also began to play a new kind of music - rock and roll. Tina was tired of just singing rhythm and blues. It was time to try something different. She knew exactly which songs she wanted to sing, too. One was the Beatles' Come Together.
"I said to Ike, 'Please, please let me do that song on stage'." Another was Proud Mary, which had been a hit for Creedance Clearwater Revival. The first time she heard it Tina remembers thinking that it was the kind of song she really wanted to sing.
At first Ike wasn't sure that the Revue should play rock and roll. But when he saw how much the Rolling Stones' fans loved it, he changed his mind. He was even more pleased two years later when Proud Mary became the Ike and Tina Turner Revue's biggest ever American hit. It went to number four in the pop charts and sold more than a million copies. Europeans loved Proud Mary, too. Finally Ike's dream was coming true. After ten years in Mississippi and ten more with the Revue, he was at the top.
In the early '70s, Ike and Tina played at the Hilton and the International Hotels in Las Vegas every year. Sometimes they opened the show for Elvis Presley. Once Ike and Tina returned to Los Angeles with suitcases full of cash.
Those were also the years the Turners lived in a rich area of Los Angeles called Inglewood. They had a huge house there with an all-green kitchen, mirrors on the bedroom ceiling and a waterfall in the living room. There was a coffee table in the shape of a guitar. The Turners ex-manager Bob Krasnow, saw all this for the first time and said "You mean you can actually spend $70,000 at Woolworth's?"
Most of the ideas were Ike's. Tina, as usual, didn't argue. She just worked hard, looked after the boys and tried not to make Ike angry. Then Ike got another idea. He decided to build a place where he could make records. It was only five minutes from the Inglewood mansion and he called it "Bolic Sound". At first Tina was pleased. "When he built it, I thought, 'Wonderful - I'll be rid of him.' But then the 'phone calls started three 'clock the morning. 'Tina- Ike wants you' ." "It's possible to push a person too far, and I was pushed beyond the limit" - (Tina)
Ike began to spend more and more time at Bolic Sounds. Sometimes he worked there for five days without any sleep. He and his musicians used drugs to keep awake. And all the time he was looking for just one thing - the Revue's next hit. When it came, though, it didn't come from Ike himself, but from Tina.
When she was 33, she decided to write about her early days in Tennessee. The result was one of the most powerful songs in American rock history - Nutbush City Limits. It reached number 22 in the US charts and number 2 in the UK It was another big international hit for the Revue - but it was also their last.
More money, more touring and more violence from Ike followed the record's success. It was the same pattern Tina had known for fourteen years. Slowly, though, something new was beginning to happen. Instead of just accepting Ike's violence, Tina started to get angry. She looked around and saw other people changing their lives. All over America women and black people were demanding and winning more freedom. Society had begun to accept new ideas.
Then in 1974 Cher Bono left her husband Sonny. Sonny and Cher had had one of the most famous and public marriages in show business. If Cher could leave Sonny and survive professionally...
Tina first tried to explain to Ike that she needed more independence. "I kept saying things, but he didn't listen. Then he listened and he didn't like what he heard, and he tried to stop me saying it." Ike refused to change, though. Tina was moving forwards towards the '80s, but he was still stuck in the '50s.
Anger wasn't enough, though. Tina knew she needed strength, too, and the ability to really believe in herself. That's what she found in Buddhism.
In 1974 Ike brought a woman called Valerie Bishop to the Inglewood house. Valerie was a secretary at the Revue's Los Angeles office - she was also a Buddhist. At the time Tina knew nothing about Buddhism, so Valerie began explaining it to her. Immediately Tina realized it was what she had been looking for.
Everyday she began repeating the special words "Nam-myo-ho-renge-kyo" over and over again. She also read about Buddhism and talked to other Buddhists about their beliefs. Slowly the anger inside her changed to strength. She was ready for the next step.
She was 34. That's when film director Ken Russell asked Tina to play in his new film "Tommy". It was a rock musical written by The Who and starring Roger Daltrey, Eric Clapton, Elton John, Jack Nicholson and Ann-Margret. Russell was offering a lot of money, so Ike agreed to let Tina appear. Tina was delighted. She had always wanted to act.
"Tommy" was important to Tina Turner for two reasons. First, it proved that she was more than just half of Ike and Tina Turner.
"My part was small, but it was my part. It gave me strength. I could feel myself growing." Second, it gave her the chance to work with singer and actress Ann-Margret. The two women had met before and liked each other. Now, during "Tommy" they became really good friends. After the film, Ann-Margret was going to make a TV "special" in England. She asked Tina to sing in the show and Tina was happy to accept.
On the show, she and Ann-Margret sang three songs together. Proud Mary, Nutbush City Limits and Honky Tonk Women. It was the first time Tina had appeared without Ike and the Revue. As she flew back to California afterwards, though, she decided it was not going to be the last. During 1975 the Revue became less and less successful.
In fact they only managed to get one song into the US top 100 that year - Baby Get It On. But it wasn't only the hits that were getting fewer. It was the fans too. Even on tour the Revue was less popular than in earlier years.
Tina was now 35. If she wanted to be a success on her own, she knew she had to leave soon. But it wasn't going to be easy. Ike's drug problem was going from bad to worse. So too was his violence towards her. She couldn't talk to him any more. All she could do was wait.
Then, on 2 July 1976, all Tina's waiting ended. That day the Revue was leaving California to begin yet another US tour. This time the first concert was going to be in Dallas, Texas. In the car on the way to Los Angeles airport, Ike offered Tina a piece of chocolate. She refused, and he began to hit her. That's when Tina remembers thinking "Today I'm fighting back."
Sixteen years of anger were suddenly set free. She began to kick and hit Ike as hard as she could. She knew this was the end.
The couple fought all the way to the airport. They even continued on the 'plane. Then, in the car from Dallas airport to the Hilton Hotel, Tina told Ike exactly what she thought of him. He couldn't believe his ears, and said, "You never talked to me like this before!"
At the hotel they explained the blood on their clothes by saying there had been an accident. Then they went up to their room. There, Ike lay down on the bed - he hadn't slept for five days. Tina waited until he was asleep. Then she looked at her face in the mirror. It was covered in blood. Quickly she washed, then put on a pair of dark glasses and a coat. Her heart was beating faster than it ever had before. And then with just 36 cents in her pocket. Tina Turner walked out.
Back to Work
"You take everything I've made in the last sixteen years. I'll take my future." - (Tina)
In the first two months after she left Ike, Tina moved several times. One reason was that she didn't want Ike to find her. Another was that she couldn't afford to pay any of the friends she was staying with. Instead, she helped to clean their houses .
She began repeating her Buddhist words for as much as four hours each day. And she also started carrying a gun.
She needed it. One night Ike and several of his friends arrived in cars outside the house where she was staying. Tina refused to answer the door. Instead she called the police. Then, when they arrived, she pointed out of the window and told them "I am Tina Turner. That's Ike. I left him and I'm not going back."
In time, even Ike realized she was serious. That's when he sent the four children to live with her. He also informed her, through his lawyer, that she owed him $500,000 in lost shows and broken agreements. He wanted to make her life as difficult as possible and force her back into the Revue. But Tina didn't change her mind. Instead she got a lawyer of her own and informed Ike that she wanted to end the marriage. She was under terrific pressure, but she never smoked, drank or took drugs.
Instead she simply began to build a new life for herself. It was difficult, but she was happy, because for the first time ever she felt free and had her own friends. For a year Tina didn't work. She says now that she needed a break from music.
In the end, though, she decided to start a new chapter. She found herself some musicians and began to sing again. As soon as she was in front of a band again, she felt all the old excitement. She was now 37 and, although the worst was over, Tina still had a long way to go.
The first and biggest problem was money. Next was her future in the music business. How was she going to prove that Tina Turner could be a star on her own? Thirdly there was the ending of the marriage. Ike wasn't accepting it easily. In fact he was fighting to keep everything- even Tina's jewelry. In the end Tina decided not to play the same game, and told him: "You take everything I've made in the last sixteen years. I'll take my future."
The divorce judge asked her: "Young lady, are you sure?" Tina was sure. She knew that if she tried to fight Ike with lawyers, it might never end. For Tina, her own life was more important. She had been Ike's wife. Now it was time to be herself.
In 1978 Ike and Tina Turner's marriage came to an end at last. By then Tina was already working again. With her new band she was appearing in clubs and hotels in California, Nevada, Florida and even Canada. There was a small European tour, too. It was a beginning, but Tina herself knew that she couldn't just go on singing the old songs.
Rough was the title of Tina's first record without Ike, in 1978. On it she tried to mix her old kind of music with some modern songs, but not very successfully. Somehow the chemistry wasn't quite right. Tina decided to try and find a new manager and a new record company. She wanted people around her who felt the same way she did.
At first she had no luck. Then, early in 1979 everything changed. Olivia Newton-John, one of the stars of the late '70s, asked Tina to appear on a TV "special"- "Hollywood Nights". That's how Tina met Olivia's manager. Then, a few months later, a young man working for him, Roger Davies, came to see Tina's show at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco. He'd always been a Tina Turner fan, and he certainly didn't change his mind that night: he thought she was still great. At the end of the evening he agreed to become her new manager.
Roger Davies was a 27 year-old Australian with fresh ideas. He also knew a lot of people in the music business. Tina liked him at once. Together they began work.
Their first problem was that Tina didn't have a recording agreement in America. That's what she really needed. While Roger tried to find one for her, she still had to earn money- a lot of money. That's why she agreed, late in 1979, to do a five-week tour of South Africa for $150,000.
Then almost immediately she began a second tour- this time to Australia and the Far East. The tour was a success, but Roger was growing less and less happy with Tina's show. He loved her voice, but not the musicians and dancers on stage with her. He thought the whole show wasn't right for her. Then, one day in Bangkok, he said to the 40-year-old Tina: "Listen, if we're ever going to change this act, Tina, we've got to change everything- the band - the dancers - everything. What you need is some young musicians with lots of energy. You need to play more rock and roll."
Tina smiled. "OK", she replied. "I'll do it."
The Ritz
"Jagger came, Warhol, De Niro, Diana Ross. It was incredible. And Tina was great!" - (Roger Davies - Tina's manager)
By the summer of 1981 Tina was ready. She had a new band, new songs, new stage clothes everything. All she needed was a chance to show her act to the music world. That chance came at The Ritz, a club in New York. Roger Davies phoned the owner, Jerry Brandt, and asked if Tina could play there. "I don't care if you don't give us any money", he said, "I've got to get her into New York".
Tina's three shows at The Ritz were a great success. In fact they were so successful that she played there again in October. Famous people came to see her. Magazines began to write about her. And they all agreed. Tina Turner wasn't just an old star of the '60s - she was a new star of the '80s, too.
One of the friends who came to see her at The Ritz was Rod Stewart. He invited her to appear with him on a TV show. Together, Tina and Rod sang Hot Legs, and suddenly millions of people woke up to the new Tina Turner. The next step in Tina's return to the top happened in Los Angeles. Her old friends the Rolling Stones were playing there and Tina went to see them. After the concert one of the Rolling Stones, Keith Richards, asked her "Why aren't you touring with us?" "You never asked me", replied Tina.
That mistake was soon put right and Tina appeared with the Stones at three shows in New Jersey that November. Together on stage, she and Mick Jagger sang Honky Tonk Woman and the crowd went wild. Suddenly the words "Tina Turner" and "comeback" began to appear together in the music papers.
Britain has always been good to Tina. It was the first country to make River Deep Mountain High a top ten hit in 1966. Then in the late '60s and the '70s it was always British fans who gave Ike and Tina their biggest welcome in Europe. Now Britain stepped into Tina's life again.
Two musicians from one of the country's top bands, Heaven 17, asked her to work with them. Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh were making a new record. It wasn't a Heaven 17 album, though - they called themselves B.E.F. (the British Electric Foundation). They wanted to use the latest musical ideas and all of their favourite singers. Would Tina sing Ball of Confusion for them? They offered her $2,000 and a first-class air ticket to London. She accepted.
Tina recorded the song in just a few hours. Ware and Craig Marsh couldn't believe it. Her voice was wonderful and she didn't need to record anything twice. Everyone was sure the record would be a success. And it was - in Europe, but not in America. For Tina it was the story of River Deep Mountain High all over again. Even so, she was happy with the B.E.F. record. The sound was new and exciting and different from the old songs with Ike.
Back in America it was a difficult time for both the singer and her manager. But then she returned to The Ritz in New York and in one night everything changed.
That night Keith Richards, John McEnroe and David Bowie were in the audience. But that's not all. With David Bowie were sixty-three of the most important people in Capitol Records. They had come to New York to hear his new recording - Let's Dance. Then Bowie had suggested they should spend the evening with him. "I'm going to see my favorite female singer", he said. For Tina, the show that night was unbelievable. At the end everyone stood up and shouted for more.
Afterwards there was a party at the Plaza Hotel until 8.30 a.m. A few days later Tina got a new recording agreement. What to record as a first single? - that was the next question. For the answer, Roger Davies went back to Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh in England. He asked if they had any ideas. They answered in four words - "Get Tina over here".
Back in London, her favorite city, Tina recorded two songs. One was David Bowie's 1984. The other was an old A1 Green hit, Let's Stay Together. She had always loved that song. Again she only needed to sing it once, and again Ware and Craig Marsh couldn't believe their ears. "Every note she sang was as it should be", says Martin Ware.
Let's Stay Together became Tina's first single. She and Roger knew it was good. But they couldn't tell if people would buy it. They didn't have to wait long to find out. By December 1983 Let's Stay Together was in the top five of the British charts. Then it went on to be a hit all over the rest of Europe, too. Tina says even she was surprised by the song's success.
Suddenly she was a star. "So I came back to London and did a tour with the hit record. Was it huge! When I sang Let's Stay Together everybody sang it with me. And I looked out there and I thought, "So this is what it feels like'."
In Los Angeles Capitol Records were delighted. But when Tina and Roger asked them to release Let's Stay Together in America, they refused. They thought it was too slow. Couldn't Tina record a faster rock and roll song?
Then someone in a New York radio station came to the rescue. He began to play Let's Stay Together on his radio program. Soon other stations began to play it too. Capitol quickly changed their mind and soon the song was a success on both sides of the Atlantic. For the first time, Tina had a big international hit without Ike. Now, at last, Capitol Records realized she could be one of the biggest stars of the '80s. They also realized that they needed a Tina Turner record, and gave her $150,000 to make one. That was good news. The bad news was that they wanted it in two weeks.
A Star is Re-Born
"Is this a happy ending or what?" - (Tina)
Tina's "two-week record" was made in London. That's where she and Roger Davies were when the news arrived from Capitol Records. Quickly they collected a group of musicians. Then, using four different producers, and recording in six different places they started work.
The result was Private Dancer, one of the great records of the '80s. On it Tina seemed to tell the story of her whole life in just nine songs, from Better Be Good To Me to I Might Have Been Queen. At the same time she showed that she could sing pop, rhythm and blues, rock, reggae, heavy metal - anything! As Roger Davies later said, "Tina had been a screamer so long, people didn't realize what a great singer she is."
In April '84 Davies delivered the completed recording to Capitol Records. They were delighted, and they immediately put out What's Love Got To Do With It? as a single. Meanwhile Tina toured America with Lionel Richie, singing her new songs to fans across the country. In June Private Dancer was released, by which time What's Love Got To Do With It? was already climbing the charts. Things were starting to happen.
Two months later Tina was in New York appearing at the Ritz.
One day she told Roger Davies how much she wanted to make a film. The next morning there was a 'phone call from the Australian film director, George Miller. Did Tina want to appear in his new film - "Mad Max, Beyond Thunderdome"? Later that afternoon she went to a record shop in Greenwich Village to sign copies of Private Dancer. That's where there was another 'phone call - What's Love Got To Do With It was number one. Tina remembers jumping up in the middle of the shop and screaming, "My record's number one - my record's number one!"
In twenty-five years it was the first time she had reached the top of the charts. And as if that wasn't enough, there was a third 'phone call that day. It was Rolling Stone, America's top rock magazine. They wanted Tina to appear on the cover of their next issue. Everything seemed to come together at the same time.
In the end, Private Dancer sold ten million copies around the world. It also gave Tina four huge international hits - Let's Stay Together,
What's Love Got To Do With It?, Better Be Good To Me and the song Private Dancer itself. Eight years after leaving Ike, Tina Turner was back- and bigger than ever.
It wasn't just music that made Tina a star of the '80s, though - it was video, too. The four videos she made for the singles from Private Dancer proved that she was perfect for the video age. After all, she had always said, "I don't just sing my songs - I act them."
At the age of 44 she did some more acting this time in Australia. That's where she went to film "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome" with Mel Gibson. In the film Tina played Aunty Entity, the strong, proud queen of a future city in the Australian desert.
The film was a success and provided Tina with another hit single - We Don't Need Another Hero. After it came out, Steven Spielberg asked Tina to appear in "The Color Purple", a story about poor black people in America's Deep South. She thought it was a kind offer, but refused, saying, "I've lived that story."
After "Mad Max", Tina flew back to California for the American Music Prizes on 28th January 1985. It was a great night. She won two prizes, one for "best female singer", and the other for "best video artist". Afterwards she joined many other top music stars in Los Angles. There, in ten hours, they recorded We Are The World, the record that raised millions of dollars to help the people of Ethiopia.
Then a month later there were more prizes. This time it was the Grammies, America's top music prizes. In front of a TV audience of 150 million, Tina walked onto the stage three times that night, winning:
"Best female pop singer" - ( What's Love Got To Do With It?)
"Best female rock singer" - (Better Be Good To Me)
"Best record" - (What's Love Got To Do With It?)
Afterwards she said - "This is the biggest single moment of my life - right now. It feels really good to be back."
In less than a year Tina had changed from "Ike Turner's wife" into what one magazine called "the best-loved star of the '80s." Since the success of Private Dancer, Tina has worked harder than ever. First she toured the world for fifteen months. Next, one and a half billion people saw her electric appearance on America's "Live Aid" show with Mick Jagger. Then in 1986 she made another recording - Break Every Rule. That added yet more hit singles to the list - Two People and What You Get Is What You See - and started another twelve months of videos, tours and TV appearances.
It all means a lot of traveling and pressure, but Tina loves working and doesn't want to slow down. She says that "age is just a number. I will never stop until I become old, and I'm not old yet." As for the future, rock's favorite grandmother wants to make more films as well as more records. Anna Mae Bullock always dreamed of being both a singer and an actress. Now that Tina is at the top, she can make that dream come true. She isn't going to work in show-business for the rest of her life, though. One day she plans to give all her time to Buddhism, which has brought her great strength and self-knowledge.
Meanwhile, Tina Turner is enjoying every minute of her success. It's been a long journey, but she's arrived at last. After Nut Bush, Tennessee, after Ike and the Revue, after the difficult years on her own, at last she can smile and say:
"I am in total control of my life."
Since that, Tina Turner has continued to record and sell record-breaking albums. Her tours became widely successful, especially in Europe. Today, Tina and her boyfriend for more than ten years, record executive Erwin Bach, live happily together in Zurich, Switzerland, and in their estate in the south of France.
Story brought to you by the official Tina Turner Site http://www.tina-turner.com/
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Story brought to you by the official Tina Turner Site http://www.tina-turner.com/