It is the end of an era.
Tina Turner delighted generations with her powerful voice and numerous platinum hits.
She has now passed away.
The music legend was 83 years old.
This sad news comes by way of the phenomenal musician’s official Facebook page.
“It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Tina Turner,” the post began on Wednesday, May 24.
“With her music and her boundless passion for life,” the post noted, “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,” the memorial post began.
“All our heartfelt compassion goes out to her family,” the post then expressed.
Finally, the post concluded: “Tina, we will miss you dearly.”
It is no exaggeration to say that Tina Turner is one of the world’s most iconic singers.
Not simply of her era. She was a singular talent who left an indelible mark upon our culture and upon the music world.
She entertained and inspired generations. And her hits will endure for generations to come..
She was more than a singer.
Over the decades, she had numerous movie appearances. Often as herself, but not always.
Memorably, she played a character by the name of Aunty Entity in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. She also provided the singing voice for Angela Bassett in What’s Love Got To Do With It, which took its title from one of her biggest hits.
Tina Turner was born on November 26, 1939, in Tennessee. At birth, her name was Anna Mae Bullock.
She began performing for audiences early, and quickly immersed herself in the world of rhythm and blues when she entered her teens.
Unfortunately, the story of her rise to fame is inescapably entangled with the great tragedy of her life — because she met Ike Turner of the band, Kings of Rhythm. This is when she began performing as “Tina Turner.”
Together, they were the Ike & Tina Revue.
In the 1960s, they churned out hits like “A Fool in Love,” “It’s Gonna Work Out Fine,” “I Idolize You,” and “River Deep — Mountain High.”
The two welcomed a child in 1960. They married in 1962. And they continued to climb the music charts higher and higher into the early ’70s.
Infamously, Tina also endured years of monstrous physical abuse, which she has described in detail.
Though she did not go public with the information at first, there were times when even her audience could see her recent injuries.
Tina went on stage to sing despite bruised ribs and more. One time, her mouth was full of her own blood. Her life was a success story and a horror story all at once.
In the late ’70s, she escaped — literally sneaking out of their room. A motel clerk saw her face and immediately offered her a room. She was able to contact an attorney, who helped her to get far away from Ike.
In 1978, she filed for divorce, going public about the years of brutal domestic violence and years of adultery.
Like so many abuse survivors, Tina would later go on to recall how she felt resolved to not be one of the women who “abandoned” Ike. This is an extremely common manipulation tactic for domestic abusers.
“There was violence, because he had this fear that I was going to leave him,” Tina described in a 2018 interview.
“The other women, because I didn’t love him that way … the other women weren’t so bad,” she said of his adultery. “But it was the constant, constant ill treatment.”
Tina Turner lived out her final years in a Swiss mansion on Lake Zurich. She is beloved, and we will all miss her.