November 20, 2009. Copyright 2009, Graphic News. All rights reserved

One of the world's most enduring rock stars, Tina Turner, celebrates 70
By Susan Shepherd

LONDON, November 20, Graphic News:  There are certain birthdays, Tina Turner is on record as saying, that "make you revalue your life". As she turns 70, the woman Rolling Stone magazine has called one of the greatest singers of all time, with record sales exceeding 200 million and more concert sales than any other solo performer, certainly has much on which she can reflect. And yet, the girl from Nutbush, Tennessee, says she doesn't like to dwell on the past. A practising Buddhist for years now, Turner has moved a long way from the segregated southern United States of her childhood and, today, is based in Europe, with homes in Switzerland, France and England. Her marriage to Ike Turner, who launched her career and then controlled her within a violent relationship until she fled in 1976, is now a memory; Turner has shared her life with German record executive Erwin Bach since 1985. When Ike's death was announced in December 2007, Turner issued a brief statement saying only that she had not seen him for 30 years and would be making no further comment. She told the full story of their volatile partnership in her autobiography, "I, Tina", published in 1986. In 1993, a movie -- What's Love Got To Do With It? -- based on the book, won actress Angela Bassett an Oscar nomination for her portrayal of Turner's darkest time.
 
Her comeback -- and what many now see as, virtually, her second career -- can be dated precisely. In June 1984, Capitol records released an album that was to sell more than 11 million copies and put Turner, by now in her mid-40s, firmly back centre stage. Private Dancer featured hit tracks including a remake of the Al Green number, Let's Stay Together, What's Love Got To Do With It?, and the title track, written specially for her by Dire Straits front man, the rock guitarist Mark Knopfler. A year later, Turner set out on her first solo world tour, thrilling audiences with her powerful, energetic stage performances. No longer the opening act for some bigger star, Turner had triumphed in her own right, just when it looked as though her recordings with Ike from the 60s -- River Deep, Mountain High, Proud Mary, and the 1973 hit she wrote about her home town, Nutbush City Limits -- would serve as her best legacy. 
 
For Turner -- born Anna Mae Bullock, a farmer's daughter, abandoned by her warring parents and brought up largely by her grandmother -- there was no looking back. A memorable performance alongside Mick Jagger at Live Aid in the summer of 1985 was immediately followed by another hit single, We Don't Need Another Hero, from the soundtrack of the film, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, in which Turner played the part of Aunty Entity, and was given a NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress as a result. Then there was a duet with Bryan Adams and, during her 1987 tour, Eric Clapton joined Turner on stage at Wembley Stadium. Another huge hit, The Best, from her 1989 album Foreign Affair, is one of the most frequently-played alternatives to traditional hymns at modern-day funeral services, to the chagrin of vicars like the Rev. Ed Tomlinson of Tunbridge Wells in England, who recently told The Times newspaper he was "fed up" of hearing Turner "blaring out of the speakers" at the crematorium. In 2005, Turner was congratulated by President George W. Bush at the White House during a reception for winners of the Kennedy Centre Honours, America's highest accolade for the performing arts.
/ENDS