International superstar Tina Turner was born Anna Mae Bullock in Brownsville, Tenn. on November 26, 1939, and was raised in rural Nutbush, Tenn. by her grandmother. When her grandmother died in 1955, Bullock moved to St. Louis, where her mother and sister lived, and began going to a popular nightclub called Club Manhattan where a group called the Kings of Rhythm, lead by Ike Turner, were house regulars. One day Bullock began singing with the band, and left high school shortly thereafter when she became pregnant by Ike. When she was only 20 years old "Little Ann" recorded the single "A Fool In Love" with the Kings of Rhythm, and the song became an unexpected Top 40 hit. Ike left the Kings of Rhythm and moved with Bullock to Los Angeles, where he renamed her "Tina Turner" and formed a group called the Ike and Tina Turner Revue. The group began touring continuously and recorded a few more R&B hits, but Ike Turner soon became domineering, controlling every aspect of the group on and off stage. Turner had a second son by Ike and adopted the two sons from his first marriage; they married in Mexico in 1961.
As the band became more and more successful, Ike began physically abusing Tina, who was too intimidated to leave him. Top producer Phil Spector began working with Tina, though Ike demanded that her solo material be credited to "Ike and Tina Turner." Their first collaboration, "River Deep Mountain High," was a moderate success in the U.S., but reached No. 3 in Britain, and the Rolling Stones invited Ike and Tina to open for them on their fall 1965 European tour. The tour established Ike and Tina in Europe and made them a top act in the U.S. They began appearing on top TV shows and performing at big halls for large amounts of money; meanwhile Ike continued abusing Tina, leading her to attempt suicide in 1968.
In 1969 the Revue opened for the Rolling Stones in America, playing more rock-oriented material to huge audiences. One of their new songs, a cover of "Proud Mary," became a No. 4 hit and sold over a million copies. The Revue became regulars in Las Vegas, often opening for Elvis. As Ike became addicted to drugs, Tina penned the Revue's last big hit, the 1972 single "Nutbush City Limits," which reached No. 2 in the U.K. and No. 22 in the U.S. Tina began to break away from Ike, adopting Buddhism and playing a small part in the film adaptation of the Who's Tommy.
As the Revue began to decline, Ike Turner began abusing both drugs and Tina at an alarming rate. Just before the start of the Revue's next tour, Ike and Tina got into a brutal fight in a Dallas limo; when Ike passed out at their hotel later that night, July 4, 1976, Tina left him for good, escaping with only the clothes on her back and 36 cents in her pocket. Broke, Turner traveled from place to place and fended off lawsuits from Ike, who constantly harassed her. The couple formally divorced in early 1978, Tina agreeing to let Ike keep everything earned during their marriage in return for dismissal of lawsuits filed against her.
Tina Turner embarked on a solo career that same year, performing with a new backup band in small clubs. Her first album, 1978's Rough, did not sell very well, prompting Turner to switch management to Roger Davies, who began to rebuild her career by changing her image from R&B diva to angry rock 'n' roller. Tina opened three shows for the Rolling Stones and began her comeback, landing a deal with Capitol Records. Turner's early singles charted in Europe, leading to a U.S. album called Private Dancer, recorded in London in less than two weeks. That album spawned the 1984 No. 1 single "What's Love Got to Do With It?" which renewed Turner's status as a U.S. star; the album went on to sell 10 million copies worldwide. Also that year Turner appeared in the film Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, whose soundtrack spawned the hit Tina Turner single "We Don't Need Another Hero." Turner won three Grammys and embarked on a world tour.
After an appearing at Live Aid, Turner returned in 1986 with Break Every Rule. While not as successful as Private Dancer, the album was a top seller. That same year Turner began dating German record excutive Erwin Bach, with whom she continues to live. Turner's subsequent albums, 1989's Foreign Affair, 1991's Simply the Best, and 1996's Wildest Dreams maintained her status as an international superstar. Her autobiography, I, Tina, inspired the 1993 Oscar-nominated movie What's Love Got to Do with It.
While popular in the U.S., Turner is bigger overseas, especially in Britain. At one point she held the world record for largest paying audience attending a solo performance, playing to over 180,000 people in Brazil in 1988. Turner was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991 and to date has sold over 50 million albums worldwide. Ike Turner has remained in trouble with the law since his divorce from Tina, recently spending time in a Mexican jail for drug possession.
