Let me be your private dancer for a moment as I talk about the one and only Tina Turner. But I don’t want to lose you because you’re simply the best, better than all the rest. We might feel like two people rolling on the river stopping only to see the spirit of the bear, but you better be good to Tina and pay her some mind. It’s easy to do because she will win your heart and instead of you missing her, you will feel like she is missing you too.
If you didn’t catch that, I used a whole bunch of her title songs above. Tina Turner is one of my quieter favorite singers. Quieter in the sense in that I don’t broadcast it a lot, she is close to my heart though. I’m actually like imitating her in drag. She is certainly not a quiet figure though she has given America a bit of the silent treatment in the latter half of her years with due cause. It is sad to hear the news of her passing. More than just her songs, Tina is an overcomer. She faced great obstacles and people judged her as someone who didn’t fit in, and wasn’t going to make it. People used Tina. I can relate to that. She also eventually left America for good in the very latter half of her life because the idiots in this country refused to recognize her as who she is now. Instead, they focused on and asked the same old questions she had already answered a billion times over, triggering her past trauma. She made her last concert here and left. You heard Tina’s spirit, passion, angst, pain, and love in her voice in a way that cannot be produced. It was raw and it rattled the cages and well, sold lots and lots of tickets.
Fun Facts About Tina You May Not Know
Tina Turner was born Anna Mae Bullock. She was a self-professed “Tom-boy” and joined both the cheerleading and the football team in school! She started off with a group called“Ike Turner’s Kings of Rhythm” She debuted as Tina Turner in 1960 with the hit duet single with Ike Turner “A Fool in Love”. They formed the Ike and Tina Turner Revue which was the most popular duo in history producing other hits like “It’s Gonna Work Out Fine”, “River Deep – Mountain High”, “Proud Mary”, and “Nutbush City Limits” before disbanding in 1976.
Tina was abandoned by her mother at age 11 and then again later in life. Though Tina lived with her grandmother, her relationship with her mother and father remained rocky. Ironically Tina had an abusive relationship with Ike and Tina’s mom cited abuse as the reason she left them and her kids. Though raised Baptist, Tina grew to consider herself a Buddhist.
In 2013, Tina suffered a stroke and had to learn to walk all over again. She was diagnosed with cancer and chose homeopathic remedies for high blood pressure that ended up severely damaging her kidneys! Not everything with the label “natural” is good for you!! She eventually had to have a kidney transplant.
In 1988 (the year I graduated High School!), Tina won the Guinness Book For World Records for most tickets sold in a concert for a solo artist —> 180,000 tickets on one of her world tours!
My personal favorites of Tina’s songs are Proud Mary, What’s Love Got To Do With It, Simply The Best, River Deep-Mountain High, Private Dancer.
You made own your way Tina. You are forever on my heart. You were simply the best!
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