'Queen of Rock 'n' Roll' Dead at 83

Spokesperson says music legend Tina Turner died after a long illness
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted May 24, 2023 1:58 PM CDT
Updated May 24, 2023 2:43 PM CDT
'Queen of Rock 'n' Roll' Tina Turner Dead at 83
Tina Turner performs at New York's Madison Square Garden on Aug. 1, 1985.   (AP Photo/Ray Stubblebine, File)

The world has lost one of the most beloved recording artists of all time. A spokesperson says Tina Turner has died peacefully at her home near Zurich, Switzerland, after a long illness, the Telegraph reports. Turner, who was born Anna Mae Bullock in Tennessee, was 83 years old. She was known as the "Queen of Rock 'n' Roll," with massive hits including "What's Love Got to Do with It" and "(Simply) The Best," per Reuters. "With her, the world loses a music legend and a role model," the spokesperson says.

Turner had been in poor health in recent years, the Guardian reports. She was diagnosed with intestinal cancer in 2016 and received a kidney transplant from her second husband, former EMI record executive Erwin Bach, in 2017. Turner's musical career began with Ike Turner's Kings of Rhythm in 1957. They were married in 1962 and the duo became one of the biggest acts of the 1960s and 1970s. She left Ike in 1976—sneaking out of a motel while he slept—and later spoke candidly about the years of horrific domestic abuse she had suffered, the AP reports.

Turner's career seemed all but over in the late '70s, but she made a powerful comeback as a solo artist in the '80s with the help of rock stars including Mick Jagger and Rod Stewart. She sold more than 150 million records worldwide and won 12 Grammys. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with Ike in 1991, and as a solo artist in 2021. The Hall of Fame said she "expanded the once-limited idea of how a Black woman could conquer a stage and be both a powerhouse and a multidimensional being," per the BBC. (More Tina Turner stories.)

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