Tina Turner dies

 Tina Turner dies

One of her most famous hit singles can be directly related back to her birthplace. She was the woman with a monumental voice, a woman who delivered from the mid riff ,up towards the throat before blasting out songs that would last a lifetime. Her voice had the power and authority of a local county court judge and nobody dared question it because it was her trademark and she invented it. Nobody could take that away from her and that's how it remained for most of an illustrious career at the summit of modern day pop music.

Her name was Tina Turner and yesterday the world mourned a talent of mighty magnificence, a woman who, once released from the shackles of her dressing room, would strut across the stage like a proud peacock before thumping out her songs rather like the heavyweight blows of a celebrated boxer. Tina Turner may have died at the age of 83 but her legacy is indeed unforgettable. Her music floated across the globe with all the majesty of a cruise liner and how she captured our imagination.

Tina Turner was born in Nutbush, Tennessee and, in one glorious moment of art imitating life, Turner would sit down in a recording studio during the 1960s and pay homage to the place she grew up in and then immortalised on vinyl. 'Nutbush City' is a rocky, electronic synth anthem that speeds along like a Ferrari and was years ahead of its time. It was Tina Turner at her most vocal and identifiable. It is Tina at her loudest, proudest and emphatic, a voice of conviction and truth at all times.

But at the beginning of her career surely there must have been doubts and insecurities and yet here was a girl with a ruthless and uncompromising voice, one that brooked no argument. While most of the USA was glorying in the daring sensuality and hip swaying of Elvis Presley, here was a woman with guts, a dogged determination to succeed and a presence that would never be forgotten. She was feisty, fearless, grabbing a hold of a microphone and milking the rapturous applause from her devoted fans for all it was worth.

During the 1960s of course the juke boxes, bars and clubs that would play most of Turner's finest compositions do give a revealing insight of just how much influence Tina Turner had on the world of music. For America of course racism was still rampant and at the height of the segregation crisis Turner must have felt completely rejected and ostracised from the mainstream. It was enough that Rosa Parks had already fallen victim to race hatred and vile discrimination. The whole ugly episode of being turfed off a bus for being black must have infuriated Turner. 

And yet Tina Turner will always be remembered for her violent and tempestuous relationship with her husband Ike, a man so horribly controlling and temperamental that it was a wonder Turner didn't crack sooner rather than later. But then Ike and Tina got together as husband and wife and recorded 'River Deep Mountain High' and the rest is well chronicled history. In many ways it was the most definitive of all Turner's records because it was the sound that made America sit up and take notice of her. It had a grandeur and epic quality that epitomised quite clearly Ike and Tina's mindset.

But in the years that followed there were toxic bust ups, arguments almost ad infinitum, power struggles on a huge scale and incessant tension throughout their marriage. They quite clearly didn't get on at all and when everything became ridiculously violent and abusive, Tina Turner would announce that she'd had enough. She told Ike to take a hike and the couple went their separate ways. It was a time for a radical change, a chance to recharge batteries and reclaim her crown as Queen of Soul.

Now the 1970s and 80s dawned and Turner completed her reinvention as a solo artist in her own right. She began cutting her own records, her own singles and albums without the hindrance of a man who probably didn't care for Tina in the first place. Now Turner carved out her own niche of  powerfully executed rock songs tinged with an overlay of soul. She now wore leather jackets on stage, tinted her hair with streaks of blonde and boldly stepped forward with her very own message of independence.

The chart singles were astonishingly successful. 'What's Love Got to Do With It', 'Simply the Best' Private Dancer, We Don't Need Another Hero followed in quick succession. This was Tina Turner at her most gleefully positive and defiant, an outstanding singer who, in one of her videos, swaggers around the mean streets of America as if she owned the country. Thunderdome was Turner's only venture into the world of movies and once again she proved that you can't keep a good woman down even when it looked as if the rest of the world had fallen by the wayside.

After the demise of her marriage of Ike, Tina Turner turned her attentions to writing her songs at her own leisure without feeling pressurised by Ike or agents who just wanted to exploit her. She would find love again in recent times but then her health deteriorated and she would retreat back into the sanctuary of her family home. 

For the last couple of years she would become both reclusive but still aware of the almost regal reverence with which she was still regarded by fans and colleagues in the business. Sadly Turner was diagnosed with both cancer, a severe stroke and kidney transplant. Things rapidly went downhill from that point and we could only reflect on the good times, the high points, the zenith of her career, the moments of magic to treasure.

About 10 years or so my wife and I went to see a musical called Motown which prominently featured some of the back catalogue of Tina's best songs. Then the West End produced another blockbusting musical called Tina, the story of Tina Turner which, you can imagine, must have been equally as electrifying. Yesterday though the world lost its most potent of soul voices, tigerish and tenacious in its delivery but one that felt as if it was a fabulous statement of intent. We will certainly miss Tina Turner.