Tina Turner, the music superstar whose career spanned five decades, has died at the age of 83. His spokesman, Bernard Doherty, confirmed his death to CBS News on Wednesday afternoon.
Known for hits like “What’s Love Got To Do With It,” Turner has won 12 Grammy Awards during her storied career.
“Tina Turner, the ‘Queen of Rock’n’Roll,’ died peacefully today at the age of 83 at her home in Kusnacht, near Zurich, Switzerland, after a long illness,” Doherty said in a news release. “With her, the world loses a musical legend and an icon.”
Turner will be honored at a private funeral, he said.
Turner shared a photo on Instagram announcing his death.
“It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Tina Turner,” the post read. “With his music and his boundless passion for life, he mesmerized millions of fans around the world and inspired the stars of tomorrow. Today we bid farewell to a dear friend who left us all his greatest work: his music. Our deepest sympathies go out. To her family. Tina, we will miss you so much.”
Turner was born Anna Mae Bullock in Nutbush, Tennessee in 1939 and rose to fame in 1960 with her performance in Ike Turner’s “A Fool in Love.” She and Ike Turner would later marry and perform as the Ike & Tina Turner Revue, touring cross-country and performing together with a band and female vocalists called the Ikettes.
However, the relationship was abusive, and in 1976 Turner left her husband. Their divorce was finalized in 1978. Ike Turner has died In 2007.
Tina Turner had two biological children, Raymond Craig and Ronald Turner. He was survived by both: his eldest son Died by suicide in 2018, and his younger son died in 2022. She also adopted Ike Turner’s two sons from a previous relationship.
In 2013, she married German music executive Erwin Bach After 27 years of dating.
He continued to act professionally until 2009. During her decades-long career, she would release 10 studio albums, score dozens of hit songs, and sell more than 180 million albums worldwide, making her one of the most successful female artists of all time. the time
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Turner told CBS News in 1984 that he initially struggled to break into the rock-and-roll genre because of his race.
“I had a real hard time because I’m black. In America, radio programmers don’t program you as a black person as rock ‘n’ roll. You’re R&B,” he said. “It’s something that people don’t know. Prince just walked his way through there and he said ‘I am’ and you take me. Of course, he had to change… as a man. But I had to prove it. For years. This is the part about being a woman and being black.”
Turner’s longtime manager, Roger Davis, said in a statement that Turner was “a unique and extraordinary force of nature with her strength, incredible energy and immense talent”.
“From the first day I met him in 1980, he believed in himself completely when few others did at the time,” Davis said. “It was a privilege and an honor to have been a close friend as well as his manager for over 30 years. I will miss him deeply.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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