Tina Turner, singer, 1939-2023 | Financial Times

When Tina Turner sang a song, it stayed sung. The Tennessee-born singer, who has died aged 83, brought the tradition of blues and gospel shouters to the loudly amplified world of rock ‘n’ soul in the 1960s. His vocal style pushed things to the limit, a lofty yet risky place where words flirted with the chaos of pure sound. Witness the electrifying roar with which she owns the word “proud” in one of her best-known songs, “Proud Mary.”

Few have achieved his estimated 100 million record sales or his confidence behind the microphone. But what did they claim? Born in 1939, Turner grew up in the American South during the Jim Crow era, the daughter of black sharecroppers. However, she did not become a leading voice of the civil rights movement like her contemporary, Aretha Franklin. His honesty compressed more violently. It was an expression of drive, a determination to be heard, whatever the obstacle.

“You take away the bonds, the problems, the hang-ups, the ego, and I can fly,” he told the LA Times in 1984. “I can laugh, I can dance, I can sing, and I can’t. to get tired Freedom. That’s my motivation.”

For the white rock musicians who copied him, freedom was a rhetorical concept. For Turner, it had an urgent practical meaning. Not only did she grow up in a southern state during a time of legalized racism, but she also entered a branch of the music business in which young female singers were choreographed and directed by men.

Raised Anna Mae Bullock, the stage name Tina was given to her by R&B bandleader Ike Turner, who recruited her after hearing her sing in a St Louis nightclub in 1957. By the time they were married in 1962, he had moved out of the back. even a lead singer. Calling it an eroticized primitive, Ike chose “Tina” to rhyme with the comic book heroine Sheena, Queen of the Jungle. “Ike always wanted me to scream and shout to his songs — he would sell them,” he recalled. I, Tina.

Phil Spector was the first producer to notice the quality of her singing. “He said I had an extremely unusual voice, that he had never heard a female voice like mine before,” she recalled. He paid $20,000 to sign the Turners to his label. In 1966, the film “River Deep — Mountain High” was made under his auspices. It was Turner’s stormy vocals that fought Spector’s imposing instruments in an operatic competition. The producer rated the song among the best.

Tour support for The Rolling Stones in 1966 and 1969 brought the married couple to a crossover audience. The rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Proud Mary” was originally their biggest hit, selling over 1 million copies in 1971. The singer’s unabashed stage presence was also admired by rock frontmen such as Mick Jagger. His dance moves had an unbridled energy, closer in spirit to James Brown than the drilled moves of a Motown act or girl group.

Behind the outward signs of success, Turner’s marriage was marred by Ike’s violence against her. When he attempted suicide with sleeping pills, he went over to find her shouting, “You must die.” She left him in 1976, a decision she attributed to her faith in Buddhism. (Spector, who was later convicted of murdering a woman in her home, denounced Turner at her ex-husband’s funeral in 2007.) The decision left him in debt and pursuing a failed solo career—until one of his most notable comebacks. pop story.

Turner album Private dancer It appeared in 1984, when he was in his forties. It was made in the UK, a frequent haven for American soul stars in the upper reaches, and rebooted it into the era of synthesizers and MTV. His voice resonated no less in this new landscape, revealing his ability for storytelling and role-playing. The album went multi-platinum, making him one of the biggest names in pop.

The singer’s string of hits continued throughout the decade, her particular specialty being soulful empowerment anthems like “The Best.” She moved to Switzerland in 1995, where she became a citizen in 2013 after marrying her second husband, Erwin Bach. She survived him and two adopted sons.

His reputation as an archetypal survivor was tarnished by the Hollywood biopic What’s love gotta do and the jukebox musical Tina. Behind the general tale lay an individual talent, an outstanding voice and inimitability. “Whatever you want in life, you can have it,” he said in 1979, before his big comeback. “All you have to do is speak, demand; your will can make it happen. We humans are very strong.”