Tina Turner

Tina Turner biography

Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939) is an American singer and actress whose career has spanned more than 50 years. She has won numerous awards. Turner started out her music career with husband Ike Turner as a member of the Ike & Tina Turner Revue. Success followed with a string of hits including "River Deep, Mountain High" and the 1971 hit "Proud Mary". With the publication of her autobiography I, Tina (1986), Turner revealed severe instances of spousal abuse against her by Ike Turner prior to their 1976 split and subsequent 1978 divorce. After virtually disappearing from the music scene for several years following her divorce from Ike Turner, she rebuilt her career, launching a string of hits beginning in 1983 with the single "Let's Stay Together" and the 1984 release of her fifth solo album Private Dancer.

Her musical career led to film roles, beginning with a prominent role as The Acid Queen in the 1975 film Tommy, and an appearance in Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. She starred opposite Mel Gibson as Aunty Entity in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome for which she received the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture, and her version of the film's theme, "We Don't Need Another Hero", was a hit single. She appeared in the 1993 film Last Action Hero.

One of the world's most popular entertainers, Turner has been called the most successful female rock artist and was named "one of the greatest singers of all time" by Rolling Stone. She is known for her energetic stage presence, and widespread appeal. In 2008, Turner left semi-retirement to embark on her Tina!: 50th Anniversary Tour. Turner's tour became one of the highest selling ticketed shows of 2008-2009. Rolling Stone ranked her at 63 on their 100 greatest artists of all time and considers her the "Queen of Rock and Roll".

Early life

Anna Mae Bullock was born in Nutbush, an unincorporated area in Haywood County, Tennessee, on November 26, 1939, the daughter of Zelma Bullock (née Currie), a factory worker, and Floyd Richard Bullock, a Baptist deacon, farm overseer, and factory worker. She long believed her mother had significant Native American ancestry, specifically Navajo and Cherokee; however, a DNA test showed her to be 66% African American, 33% European and 1% Native American. She attended Flag Grove School in Haywood County, Tennessee (the land for the school was sold below market value to the school trustees by her great great-uncle in 1889). Ann's older sister was named (Ruby) Aillene. For a time during World War II, their parents relocated to Knoxville, Tennessee to do factory work. By the time of their return to Nutbush, they separated and later divorced following an abusive marriage. Zelma Bullock later relocated to St. Louis, Missouri. Floyd Bullock moved to Detroit and later settled in California.

Ann and her sister relocated to Brownsville where they were raised by their grandmother. She recalled in her early years working with her parents at a farm as sharecroppers. She performed on several talent shows as a child and sang at her church choir. She was raised Baptist and lived most of her childhood as a tomboy participating in her high school's basketball team. When she was 14, she began work as a domestic for a family in Ripley. This continued until she was sixteen when her half-sister Evelyn was killed in a car crash followed by the death of her grandmother around the same time. After her mother returned from St. Louis to attend her funeral, she invited her daughter to move with her in St. Louis, where Anna and her sister reunited. In St. Louis, she attended Sumner High School. She eventually graduated from the school in 1958 and, following graduation, took work as a nurse aide at Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

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