Tina Turner, the dynamic rock and soul singer who rose from humble beginnings and overcame a notoriously toxic marriage to become one of the most popular female artists of all time, has died. She was 83.
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Turner passed away on Wednesday at her home in Küsnacht near Zurich, Switzerland.
"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," a statement on her verified Instagram account read.
But there's one more post on her account from a few months ago that her mourning fans have been sharing, where Tina got candid about her health.
Music legend Tina Turner has died at the age of 83 after a long illness
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She was diagnosed with intestinal cancer in 2016 and had a kidney transplant in 2017
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Just two months ago, Turner got candid about her health
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Image credits: tinaturner
A riveting live performer, Tina Turner had a string of R&B hits in the 1960s and early '70s with her domineering and violent husband Ike Turner. But their marriage was far from pretty.
After her vocal talents became apparent, Ike gave her the name Tina Turner and trademarked it in case she left him and he wanted to replace her in his act. He quickly became abusive: when Tina tried to leave the group early on after having got a sense of his mercurial character, he hit her with a wooden shoe stretcher.
"My relationship with Ike was doomed the day he figured out I was going to be his moneymaker," Turner wrote in her 2018 autobiography My Love Story. "He needed to control me, economically and psychologically, so I could never leave him."
One day, however, she managed to escape, fleeing their Dallas hotel room with 36 cents.
She rose to fame alongside her husband Ike in the 1960s with songs including Proud Mary and River Deep – Mountain High
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Her solo career floundered for years before she mounted a stunning comeback in 1984 with her multiplatinum album Private Dancer and its hit, What's Love Got to Do With It.
The artist herself described Private Dancer as her debut. "I don't consider it a comeback," she said. "Tina had never arrived."
Soon after, Tina became a global superstar, commanding MTV with her spiky wigs, short skirts, and famously long legs strutting across concert stages in three-inch heels.
Her talent earned her the title of the Queen of Rock 'n' Roll and her resiliency made her a hero to struggling women all over the world. When Tina sang of pain and heartache in her husky, full-throated voice, every word entered your soul and rang true.
She divorced the abusive Ike in 1978 and went on to find even greater success as a solo artist
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Turner announced her retirement in 2000, a year after releasing her final solo album, Twenty Four Seven, though she would return to the stage in 2008, performing at the Grammy awards with Beyoncé, and for a final tour to mark 50 years of her career.
That was conclusively the end. "I was just tired of singing and making everybody happy,” she told the New York Times in 2019. "That's all I'd ever done in my life."
Turner often said she did not relate to the "invincible" persona that others put on her. "I don't necessarily want to be a 'strong' person," she told the New York Times. "I had a terrible life. I just kept going. You just keep going, and you hope that something will come."
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She found happiness with her second husband, German music executive Erwin Bac
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He donated one of his kidneys to her in 2017 after it was discovered she was suffering from kidney failure
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She also lost her eldest son Craig to suicide in 2018. His father was Turner's former bandmate, Raymond Hill
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Another son, Ronnie, whose father was Ike, died in 2022
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Tina also had two adopted sons, Ike Jr and Michael, Ike's children from his previous relationship
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In an interview with Marie Claire South Africa in 2018, Turner said: "People think my life has been tough, but I think it's been a wonderful journey"
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"The older you get, the more you realize it's not what happened, it's how you deal with it"
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Image credits: tinaturner
In 2020, Turner told the Guardian that despite having some serious health problems, the last 10 years of her life had embodied her vision of happiness.
"True and lasting happiness comes from having an unshakeable, hopeful spirit that can shine, no matter what," she said. "That's what I've achieved, and it is my greatest wish to help others become truly happy as well."
Everyone has been incredibly saddened by the news
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