WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.040 Welcome back to The Deep Dive. This is where 00:00:02.040 --> 00:00:04.860 we take the raw material of history, of music, 00:00:04.960 --> 00:00:07.679 of biography, and we crystallize it. Right. We 00:00:07.679 --> 00:00:09.480 do the heavy lifting. We rip through all the 00:00:09.480 --> 00:00:11.779 source materials you don't have to. We turn that 00:00:11.779 --> 00:00:15.240 information overload into pure insight. And our 00:00:15.240 --> 00:00:17.899 subject today, well, she demands that level of 00:00:17.899 --> 00:00:19.500 scrutiny. We're talking about Anna Mae Bullock. 00:00:19.660 --> 00:00:21.899 The woman who, of course, became Tina Turner. 00:00:22.179 --> 00:00:24.839 And she wasn't just the queen of rock and roll. 00:00:25.199 --> 00:00:27.600 That title almost feels too simple. She was this 00:00:27.600 --> 00:00:30.559 walking contradiction, a massive selling artist. 00:00:30.820 --> 00:00:32.399 I mean, the numbers are staggering, over 100 00:00:32.399 --> 00:00:36.719 million records globally. Exactly. But her personal 00:00:36.719 --> 00:00:40.399 story, that narrative of survival, it's so powerful 00:00:40.399 --> 00:00:42.020 that it's often the first thing people mention, 00:00:42.119 --> 00:00:44.460 sometimes even before her musical genius. OK, 00:00:44.539 --> 00:00:46.640 let's unpack that right away, because the accolades 00:00:46.640 --> 00:00:49.700 themselves, they tell a story of defiance, of 00:00:49.700 --> 00:00:52.219 just unmatched capability. They really do. When 00:00:52.219 --> 00:00:53.960 you look at her professional record, what's the 00:00:53.960 --> 00:00:56.250 first thing? that just jumps out at you. It's 00:00:56.250 --> 00:00:58.789 the cross -genre mastery. I mean, it is truly 00:00:58.789 --> 00:01:01.210 unique. Think about this incredible achievement 00:01:01.210 --> 00:01:04.390 for a moment. Tita Turner is the only female 00:01:04.390 --> 00:01:08.109 artist in history, ever, to win a Grammy Award 00:01:08.109 --> 00:01:11.310 in the pop, rock, and R &B categories. All three. 00:01:11.569 --> 00:01:14.590 All three. She didn't just dabble in those genres. 00:01:14.689 --> 00:01:16.930 She absolutely conquered them, often at the same 00:01:16.930 --> 00:01:19.629 time. She was breaking down barriers that the 00:01:19.629 --> 00:01:21.890 music industry had, well, very strictly enforced 00:01:21.890 --> 00:01:24.849 back then. Right. That achievement alone just 00:01:24.849 --> 00:01:27.049 speaks volumes about her versatility, her ability 00:01:27.049 --> 00:01:29.030 to just transcend all those restrictive labels. 00:01:29.129 --> 00:01:31.409 And that duality, it extends to her institutional 00:01:31.409 --> 00:01:33.569 recognition, too. I mean, she's not just the 00:01:33.569 --> 00:01:35.950 legend. She's one of only two artists ever to 00:01:35.950 --> 00:01:37.829 be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. 00:01:38.189 --> 00:01:40.629 Twice. Twice. First with Ike Turner and then 00:01:40.629 --> 00:01:43.129 later, triumphantly, as a solo artist. It's like 00:01:43.129 --> 00:01:47.049 her life had this necessary traumatic prologue 00:01:47.049 --> 00:01:49.810 and then this magnificent self -authored main 00:01:49.810 --> 00:01:51.709 event. And the one thing connecting those two 00:01:51.709 --> 00:01:53.670 phases, the reason she endured, was her voice. 00:01:54.409 --> 00:01:56.670 When critics talk about her legacy, they always 00:01:56.670 --> 00:01:58.430 come back to how she combined, and this is a 00:01:58.430 --> 00:02:00.689 great quote, the emotional force of the great 00:02:00.689 --> 00:02:03.609 blues singers with a sheer wallpaper -peeling 00:02:03.609 --> 00:02:07.359 power. Wow. Wallpaper peeling power. Yeah. It 00:02:07.359 --> 00:02:09.539 was just made for the age of amplification. It 00:02:09.539 --> 00:02:12.360 was raw, it was spiritual, and it was completely 00:02:12.360 --> 00:02:14.740 unstoppable. It carried the weight of her entire 00:02:14.740 --> 00:02:18.479 life in every single note. So that's our mission 00:02:18.479 --> 00:02:21.319 for this deep dive, to trace that journey from 00:02:21.319 --> 00:02:24.240 the cotton fields of Tennessee all the way to 00:02:24.240 --> 00:02:27.280 the quiet, self -chosen peace of Switzerland. 00:02:27.680 --> 00:02:30.500 And to understand the profound cost, but also 00:02:30.500 --> 00:02:33.139 the ultimate liberation of writing your own story. 00:02:33.639 --> 00:02:36.159 So where does that foundational voice even come 00:02:36.159 --> 00:02:38.020 from? The sources take us all the way back to 00:02:38.020 --> 00:02:41.680 1939 to a world that is just utterly removed 00:02:41.680 --> 00:02:45.080 from global superstardom. Right. The rural, segregated 00:02:45.080 --> 00:02:47.159 South. Yeah, Tennessee. Anna Mae Bullock was 00:02:47.159 --> 00:02:49.060 born near Brownsville, Tennessee, November 26, 00:02:49.400 --> 00:02:52.139 1939. But her childhood, the place she really 00:02:52.139 --> 00:02:54.300 grew up, was Nutbush. The place she later made 00:02:54.300 --> 00:02:56.479 famous in song. Exactly. And this wasn't some, 00:02:56.539 --> 00:02:58.419 you know, quaint little southern town. This was 00:02:58.419 --> 00:03:01.180 a deeply agricultural, often really hardscrabble 00:03:01.180 --> 00:03:03.919 environment in the 1940s. The sources really 00:03:03.919 --> 00:03:06.639 highlight how physical her upbringing was. Her 00:03:06.639 --> 00:03:09.340 father, Floyd Richard Bullock, he was an overseer 00:03:09.340 --> 00:03:11.599 of sharecroppers at a place called Poindexter 00:03:11.599 --> 00:03:15.199 Farm. And Anna Mae herself. She vividly remembered 00:03:15.199 --> 00:03:17.659 picking cotton with her family when she was just 00:03:17.659 --> 00:03:21.280 a little girl. That life, that immersion in hard 00:03:21.280 --> 00:03:23.960 agricultural labor, it was just woven into the 00:03:23.960 --> 00:03:26.340 fabric of her earliest existence. It adds such 00:03:26.340 --> 00:03:28.780 a powerful layer of contrast to the future queen 00:03:28.780 --> 00:03:30.939 of rock and roll, doesn't it? It really does. 00:03:31.139 --> 00:03:34.870 And that environment. was harsh. It's also interesting 00:03:34.870 --> 00:03:37.590 to note because identity was such a complex theme 00:03:37.590 --> 00:03:40.129 for her that while she grew up believing she 00:03:40.129 --> 00:03:43.169 had significant Native American ancestry, DNA 00:03:43.169 --> 00:03:46.469 testing later confirmed her heritage was predominantly 00:03:46.469 --> 00:03:49.699 African American. So she was navigating this 00:03:49.699 --> 00:03:52.479 complex identity from birth in a world that was 00:03:52.479 --> 00:03:54.939 already so racially stratified. But the biggest 00:03:54.939 --> 00:03:57.400 trauma of this early period wasn't the hard labor. 00:03:57.520 --> 00:03:59.699 It was the instability at home, this feeling 00:03:59.699 --> 00:04:02.439 of being fundamentally unwanted. Her home life 00:04:02.439 --> 00:04:05.400 just shattered. Her mother, Zelma, she left the 00:04:05.400 --> 00:04:07.900 family when Anna Mae was only 11. And the sources 00:04:07.900 --> 00:04:10.580 are very clear about why. Zelma was fleeing an 00:04:10.580 --> 00:04:13.520 abusive relationship with Floyd. And that abandonment 00:04:13.520 --> 00:04:16.370 by her mother. It was just psychologically shattering 00:04:16.370 --> 00:04:18.949 for a young girl. It created this core wound 00:04:18.949 --> 00:04:21.810 of rejection that would manifest later in her 00:04:21.810 --> 00:04:23.990 life. And the instability just continued. Two 00:04:23.990 --> 00:04:26.410 years after her mother left, her father also 00:04:26.410 --> 00:04:29.149 left the family, remarried, and moved to Detroit. 00:04:29.759 --> 00:04:31.680 She later recalled that her mother never really 00:04:31.680 --> 00:04:34.759 wanted another child and that she always felt 00:04:34.759 --> 00:04:36.699 like a burden. I mean, that's the root of the 00:04:36.699 --> 00:04:39.439 trauma that tragically underpinned her future, 00:04:39.600 --> 00:04:42.740 her drive, and eventually her attraction to these 00:04:42.740 --> 00:04:45.459 really volatile, controlling relationships. So 00:04:45.459 --> 00:04:47.300 she and her sisters, they were sort of shuffled 00:04:47.300 --> 00:04:49.199 around, eventually landing with their paternal 00:04:49.199 --> 00:04:52.069 grandparents, Alex and Roxanna Bullock. who were 00:04:52.069 --> 00:04:54.990 very strict, very religious. They were prominent 00:04:54.990 --> 00:04:57.870 figures in their community, a deacon and a deaconess 00:04:57.870 --> 00:05:00.069 at the Spring Hill Baptist Church. A rigid environment. 00:05:00.509 --> 00:05:03.189 Very rigid. But it gave her two critical things. 00:05:03.569 --> 00:05:06.290 One was a grounding in faith, and the other, 00:05:06.370 --> 00:05:09.569 crucially, was musical exposure. She sang in 00:05:09.569 --> 00:05:11.550 the church choir. But even then, the performer 00:05:11.550 --> 00:05:13.790 was already trying to get out. You can see that 00:05:13.790 --> 00:05:17.269 instinct in her childhood habit of singing and 00:05:17.269 --> 00:05:19.370 acting in the streets for spare change. Right. 00:05:19.680 --> 00:05:21.819 Not for food, specifically to go to the movies, 00:05:21.980 --> 00:05:25.019 to escape into those big, dramatic stories that 00:05:25.019 --> 00:05:28.100 offered a world so far beyond Nutbush. So we 00:05:28.100 --> 00:05:30.519 fast forward a few years. As a teenager, she's 00:05:30.519 --> 00:05:33.180 working as a domestic helper. And then at 16, 00:05:33.319 --> 00:05:35.560 her grandmother dies and she makes the big move 00:05:35.560 --> 00:05:38.240 to St. Louis to live with her mother. And that 00:05:38.240 --> 00:05:40.879 move from the rural South to a bustling city, 00:05:41.000 --> 00:05:44.240 it's this massive cultural shift. It shows her 00:05:44.240 --> 00:05:46.899 determination, her hustle. She gets a steady 00:05:46.899 --> 00:05:49.519 job as a nurse's aide at Barnes Jewish Hospital. 00:05:49.779 --> 00:05:52.540 She's trying to build a stable, working class 00:05:52.540 --> 00:05:55.819 life, a safe life. But life rarely grants safety 00:05:55.819 --> 00:05:58.279 that easily. She has her first major heartache 00:05:58.279 --> 00:06:00.860 with a popular boy named Harry Taylor, dated 00:06:00.860 --> 00:06:03.259 for a year. then found out he'd married someone 00:06:03.259 --> 00:06:05.740 else who was expecting his child. And then, almost 00:06:05.740 --> 00:06:08.879 immediately after, she meets Raymond Hill, a 00:06:08.879 --> 00:06:11.079 saxophonist for a band called the Kings of Rhythm. 00:06:11.220 --> 00:06:13.480 She becomes pregnant, gives birth to her first 00:06:13.480 --> 00:06:17.420 son, Raymond Craig Hill, in August of 1958. But 00:06:17.420 --> 00:06:19.779 then Hill breaks his ankle in a fight and leaves 00:06:19.779 --> 00:06:23.009 the band, and he's gone. So there she is. Still 00:06:23.009 --> 00:06:26.089 a young woman working a day job and now a single 00:06:26.089 --> 00:06:28.709 mother. And that context is so crucial for you, 00:06:28.750 --> 00:06:30.949 the listener, to understand. Anna Mae Bullock 00:06:30.949 --> 00:06:34.290 was already fighting for survival, working and 00:06:34.290 --> 00:06:36.870 raising a child long before she ever stepped 00:06:36.870 --> 00:06:39.490 on a stage as a professional singer. So the stage 00:06:39.490 --> 00:06:42.110 is set in St. Louis. She's a single parent. She's 00:06:42.110 --> 00:06:44.149 struggling financially, but she's drawn to the 00:06:44.149 --> 00:06:46.750 city's nightclub scene. She starts going to a 00:06:46.750 --> 00:06:49.110 place called Club Manhattan in East St. Louis. 00:06:49.269 --> 00:06:51.310 And that's where she sees him, Ike Turner and 00:06:51.310 --> 00:06:54.000 the Kings of Rhythm. She describes watching Ike 00:06:54.000 --> 00:06:57.800 play and feeling this powerful, almost hypnotic 00:06:57.800 --> 00:07:00.240 attraction. She said she almost went into a trance. 00:07:00.399 --> 00:07:02.779 He was magnetic, a controlling force, a band 00:07:02.779 --> 00:07:05.040 leader who just commanded the room. And she, 00:07:05.079 --> 00:07:07.160 carrying all that unresolved trauma of rejection, 00:07:07.420 --> 00:07:09.819 of being controlled by her father, she was just 00:07:09.819 --> 00:07:12.379 inexorably drawn right into his orbit. She kept 00:07:12.379 --> 00:07:14.579 asking to sing, right, but Ike just kept brushing 00:07:14.579 --> 00:07:16.860 her off. Yeah, he assumed she was just another 00:07:16.860 --> 00:07:20.100 hopeful groupie. But then, in 1956, during an 00:07:20.100 --> 00:07:22.420 intermission, she showed that powerful initiative 00:07:22.420 --> 00:07:25.000 that would define her entire career. She grabs 00:07:25.000 --> 00:07:27.360 the mic. Literally grabs the microphone from 00:07:27.360 --> 00:07:29.500 the drummer and just starts belting out the B 00:07:29.500 --> 00:07:32.040 .B. King ballad, You Know I Love You. And Ike's 00:07:32.040 --> 00:07:34.519 reaction. He was stunned, not just impressed, 00:07:34.740 --> 00:07:38.199 stunned by that sound, that sheer untamed power. 00:07:38.660 --> 00:07:41.660 He hired her immediately as a featured vocalist. 00:07:41.720 --> 00:07:44.300 And importantly, He took on the role of her musical 00:07:44.300 --> 00:07:46.620 mentor. He was the one who taught her, quote, 00:07:46.800 --> 00:07:49.240 the finer points of vocal control and performance. 00:07:49.639 --> 00:07:52.899 So he turned that raw talent into a disciplined, 00:07:52.939 --> 00:07:55.740 explosive instrument. Exactly. Her first recording, 00:07:55.779 --> 00:07:58.720 Box Stop, in 1958, she was just credited as Little 00:07:58.720 --> 00:08:02.220 Ann. But the huge shift, the moment Tina Turner 00:08:02.220 --> 00:08:05.740 is really born, happens around 1960. With a song 00:08:05.740 --> 00:08:08.120 called A Fool in Love. And it's really a story 00:08:08.120 --> 00:08:10.399 of accidental stardom. Ike had written it for 00:08:10.399 --> 00:08:12.639 a male singer, Art Lasseter, who, thankfully 00:08:12.639 --> 00:08:15.160 for music history, didn't show up to the recording 00:08:15.160 --> 00:08:17.579 session. So Anna Mae stepped in to sing the lead 00:08:17.579 --> 00:08:20.899 vocals just as a demo. It's filling in. And that 00:08:20.899 --> 00:08:23.259 demo lands on the desk of Juggie Murray, the 00:08:23.259 --> 00:08:26.420 head of Sue Records. And his reaction to her 00:08:26.420 --> 00:08:29.699 voice is just... Yeah. It's key to understanding 00:08:29.699 --> 00:08:32.419 her primal appeal. What did he say? He said she 00:08:32.419 --> 00:08:35.080 sounded like screaming dirt. It was a funky sound. 00:08:35.460 --> 00:08:38.340 Screaming dirt. Wow, that's a quote. Isn't it? 00:08:38.730 --> 00:08:40.870 It's so beautifully descriptive. It captures 00:08:40.870 --> 00:08:45.110 that raw, untamed, deeply soulful, almost vulgar 00:08:45.110 --> 00:08:47.470 energy that was just missing from mainstream 00:08:47.470 --> 00:08:50.110 music at the time. Murray knew immediately he 00:08:50.110 --> 00:08:52.690 had a star. So he insists Ike make her the front 00:08:52.690 --> 00:08:55.429 woman. And Ike, you know, seeing the huge financial 00:08:55.429 --> 00:08:58.429 opportunity, renames her Tina, inspired by Sheena, 00:08:58.509 --> 00:09:00.490 Queen of the Jungle. But here's the detail, the 00:09:00.490 --> 00:09:02.690 detail that is absolutely crucial to her entire 00:09:02.690 --> 00:09:05.309 life story, the moment the financial exploitation 00:09:05.309 --> 00:09:07.809 and psychological control really begins. This 00:09:07.809 --> 00:09:10.720 is it. because Ike immediately and legally trademarked 00:09:10.720 --> 00:09:13.779 the name Tina Turner. It's just, it's not just 00:09:13.779 --> 00:09:16.779 controlling, it's a deeply cynical piece of entrepreneurial 00:09:16.779 --> 00:09:20.200 genius. By trademarking the name, Ike guaranteed 00:09:20.200 --> 00:09:22.700 that if Anna Mae ever left him, which his other 00:09:22.700 --> 00:09:24.759 singers often did, he wouldn't lose the asset. 00:09:24.980 --> 00:09:28.000 He wouldn't lose the asset. He could literally 00:09:28.000 --> 00:09:30.500 just hire another woman and call her Tina Turner. 00:09:30.960 --> 00:09:35.429 The name, the brand. was legally his. It established 00:09:35.429 --> 00:09:38.490 in black and white that she was his professional 00:09:38.490 --> 00:09:40.970 property right from the very start. That's the 00:09:40.970 --> 00:09:43.389 very first chain she had to break. Absolutely. 00:09:43.750 --> 00:09:46.049 Incredible. And despite that deep structural 00:09:46.049 --> 00:09:49.070 control, the music they made was transcendent. 00:09:49.429 --> 00:09:54.549 A Fool in Love from 1960 was a huge hit. Number 00:09:54.549 --> 00:09:57.070 two on the R &B chart, and it crossed over to 00:09:57.070 --> 00:09:59.210 number 27 on the pop charts, which was rare. 00:09:59.629 --> 00:10:01.970 Kurt Loder famously called it the blackest record 00:10:01.970 --> 00:10:04.289 to ever creep into the white pop charts since 00:10:04.289 --> 00:10:06.809 Ray Charles' What I Say. And that success immediately 00:10:06.809 --> 00:10:09.529 led to the Ike and Tina Turner Revue. Which was 00:10:09.529 --> 00:10:11.809 an organizational powerhouse. It had the Kings 00:10:11.809 --> 00:10:13.909 of Rhythm, the legendary girl group, the Ikeettes. 00:10:14.129 --> 00:10:16.309 And they built their reputation by relentlessly 00:10:16.309 --> 00:10:18.730 touring the Chitlin Circuit. And for our listeners, 00:10:18.830 --> 00:10:21.490 that was not a glamorous tour. It was a rigorous, 00:10:21.710 --> 00:10:24.570 often segregated network of venues that was the 00:10:24.570 --> 00:10:27.110 entire professional backbone of black entertainment. 00:10:27.289 --> 00:10:30.629 And Ike imposed a brutal schedule. I mean, sources 00:10:30.629 --> 00:10:32.669 mentioned performance stretches of nearly 90 00:10:32.669 --> 00:10:35.210 days straight, just driving hundreds of miles 00:10:35.210 --> 00:10:38.529 between towns. But that nonstop grind is what 00:10:38.529 --> 00:10:41.870 perfected their craft. It honed their live show 00:10:41.870 --> 00:10:44.470 into something unmatched. They became known for 00:10:44.470 --> 00:10:47.269 their explosive live performances, right? Rivaling 00:10:47.269 --> 00:10:49.879 the James Brown review. He did. Because they 00:10:49.879 --> 00:10:52.779 were such a huge draw, their success actually 00:10:52.779 --> 00:10:56.120 allowed them to play Before desegregated audiences 00:10:56.120 --> 00:10:57.840 in the South, which shows the power of their 00:10:57.840 --> 00:11:01.080 music to just transcend those rigid racial boundaries 00:11:01.080 --> 00:11:03.840 of the 1960s. And the hits kept coming. It's 00:11:03.840 --> 00:11:06.139 going to work out fine. And 61 got them a Grammy 00:11:06.139 --> 00:11:09.440 nomination. Yeah. And poor fool. Tra la la la. 00:11:09.740 --> 00:11:12.299 But they bounced around between like 10 different 00:11:12.299 --> 00:11:14.840 record labels in the 60s. Their reputation as 00:11:14.840 --> 00:11:16.919 a live act, though, just kept growing. The big 00:11:16.919 --> 00:11:19.480 attempt at mainstream pop dominance comes in 00:11:19.480 --> 00:11:22.860 1966. Thanks to the legendary producer Phil Spector. 00:11:22.960 --> 00:11:25.299 Right. The actor saw them perform and was so 00:11:25.299 --> 00:11:28.100 impressed, he actually bought Tina out of her 00:11:28.100 --> 00:11:31.299 contract with Loma for $20 ,000. Just so he could 00:11:31.299 --> 00:11:33.460 have complete creative control. Total creative 00:11:33.460 --> 00:11:36.960 control. He saw the resulting single, River Deep 00:11:36.960 --> 00:11:40.320 Mountain High, as his absolute masterpiece. He 00:11:40.320 --> 00:11:43.820 paired her raw power with his signature maximalist 00:11:43.820 --> 00:11:46.759 wall of sound. And that wall of sound is just 00:11:46.759 --> 00:11:50.610 this dense, overwhelming sonic presence. Her 00:11:50.610 --> 00:11:52.789 voice had to be powerful enough to cut through 00:11:52.789 --> 00:11:55.929 all of it. It was. But here's that duality again 00:11:55.929 --> 00:11:58.590 that defines her whole career. The song was a 00:11:58.590 --> 00:12:01.149 colossal flop in the U .S., peaked at number 00:12:01.149 --> 00:12:04.629 88. But overseas. An international smash, number 00:12:04.629 --> 00:12:07.429 three in the U .K., number one in Spain. And 00:12:07.429 --> 00:12:09.690 that U .S. failure, it's been debated for decades. 00:12:09.950 --> 00:12:12.090 Was America not ready for a black woman singing 00:12:12.090 --> 00:12:14.370 that kind of aggressive operatic rock? Or was 00:12:14.370 --> 00:12:16.830 it Spector's production? Or just pure racial 00:12:16.830 --> 00:12:19.769 bias? Who knows? But whatever the reason, that 00:12:19.769 --> 00:12:22.309 international success established this deep European 00:12:22.309 --> 00:12:24.990 appreciation for her talent that laid the groundwork 00:12:24.990 --> 00:12:26.850 for everything that came later. Culturally, though, 00:12:26.870 --> 00:12:29.870 she was breaking ground. November 1967, Tina 00:12:29.870 --> 00:12:31.929 Turner becomes the first female artist and the 00:12:31.929 --> 00:12:33.990 first black artist on the cover of Rolling Stone 00:12:33.990 --> 00:12:37.039 magazine. Which is just a foundational... barrier 00:12:37.039 --> 00:12:39.960 -breaking moment in rock history is huge. And 00:12:39.960 --> 00:12:42.919 then rock royalty embraced them. The Rolling 00:12:42.919 --> 00:12:45.399 Stones had them open their tours in the UK and 00:12:45.399 --> 00:12:47.340 the US. That raised their profile immensely. 00:12:47.580 --> 00:12:49.960 By 1970, with albums like Come Together, they 00:12:49.960 --> 00:12:51.980 were fully incorporating rock tunes into their 00:12:51.980 --> 00:12:54.779 set. Honky -tonk women, get back! They were officially 00:12:54.779 --> 00:12:58.059 crossing over, from an R &B review to rock legends. 00:12:58.279 --> 00:13:00.519 And the culmination of that was their cover of 00:13:00.519 --> 00:13:04.100 Credence Clearwater Revival's Proud Mary in 1971. 00:13:04.559 --> 00:13:07.549 Their biggest hit. A Million Seller, hit number 00:13:07.549 --> 00:13:10.149 four on the Hot 100, and won the Grammy for Best 00:13:10.149 --> 00:13:12.990 R &B Performance. They were professionally unstoppable. 00:13:13.529 --> 00:13:15.610 And what's so fascinating is how Tina completely 00:13:15.610 --> 00:13:18.450 redefined that song. Her arrangements start slow, 00:13:18.629 --> 00:13:20.570 it's conversational, and then it just erupts 00:13:20.570 --> 00:13:23.370 into that signature high -energy rock breakdown. 00:13:23.590 --> 00:13:25.509 It encapsulated their entire live experience 00:13:25.509 --> 00:13:27.909 in one track. And we have to mention her own 00:13:27.909 --> 00:13:30.529 songwriting. She wrote the 1973 international 00:13:30.529 --> 00:13:33.870 hit Nutbush City Limits. A direct callback to 00:13:33.870 --> 00:13:37.419 her rural roots. And that song was huge. Number 00:13:37.419 --> 00:13:39.860 one in Austria, number four in the UK. The sales 00:13:39.860 --> 00:13:42.000 were so extraordinary, they earned the very first 00:13:42.000 --> 00:13:44.860 Golden European Record Award for selling over 00:13:44.860 --> 00:13:47.799 a million copies in Europe. It's just so resonant 00:13:47.799 --> 00:13:50.159 that the song about the poverty of Anna Mae Bullock 00:13:50.159 --> 00:13:52.940 is what cemented the global financial power of 00:13:52.940 --> 00:13:55.340 Tina Turner. Exactly. And her visibility just 00:13:55.340 --> 00:13:57.980 kept soaring. She's in the rock opera Tommy in 00:13:57.980 --> 00:14:01.000 75 playing the acid queen. Her performance was 00:14:01.000 --> 00:14:03.039 critically acclaimed. So the global stage was 00:14:03.039 --> 00:14:05.240 set for superstardom. But behind the scenes, 00:14:05.259 --> 00:14:07.740 the marriage was just collapsing spectacularly. 00:14:07.759 --> 00:14:09.600 The professional machine was running parallel 00:14:09.600 --> 00:14:12.590 to a catastrophic personal life. Ike's cocaine 00:14:12.590 --> 00:14:15.190 addiction became deeply entrenched, and it just 00:14:15.190 --> 00:14:17.509 worsened the existing pattern of domestic violence 00:14:17.509 --> 00:14:20.029 and infidelity, which she later detailed in her 00:14:20.029 --> 00:14:22.809 autobiography, I, Tina. And it all reached this 00:14:22.809 --> 00:14:25.690 dramatic, desperate breaking point on July 1st, 00:14:25.690 --> 00:14:29.070 1976. After a brutal physical fight in the car 00:14:29.070 --> 00:14:31.769 on the way to a gig in Dallas, Tina ran. She 00:14:31.769 --> 00:14:35.070 literally fled across a freeway. I mean, can 00:14:35.070 --> 00:14:38.620 you imagine? The risk, the sheer terror she must 00:14:38.620 --> 00:14:41.379 have felt to make that break so violently. She 00:14:41.379 --> 00:14:45.299 had nothing. 36 cents? 36 cents in cash and a 00:14:45.299 --> 00:14:47.600 mobile credit card. She left the controlling 00:14:47.600 --> 00:14:50.539 husband, the career, the money. She left everything 00:14:50.539 --> 00:14:53.460 and took only her name and her will to survive. 00:14:53.799 --> 00:14:55.679 That's the definition of a desperate escape. 00:14:56.100 --> 00:14:58.360 It is. She filed for divorce later that month. 00:14:58.639 --> 00:15:01.139 And when you look at the settlement terms, they 00:15:01.139 --> 00:15:03.100 are an incredible testament to her priorities. 00:15:03.340 --> 00:15:05.789 Right. Because Ike was seeking a massive financial 00:15:05.789 --> 00:15:09.029 settlement. But Tina waived all of it. No alimony, 00:15:09.090 --> 00:15:11.730 no child support, except for their sons. In exchange 00:15:11.730 --> 00:15:14.009 for her freedom, she took on crippling debt. 00:15:14.149 --> 00:15:16.889 She took responsibility for an IRS tax land and 00:15:16.889 --> 00:15:19.230 for missed tour dates. And the single asset she 00:15:19.230 --> 00:15:21.929 insisted on keeping. The stage name, Tina Turner. 00:15:22.230 --> 00:15:24.990 The very brand Ike had trademarked to control 00:15:24.990 --> 00:15:27.149 her. She chose the brand over financial stability, 00:15:27.470 --> 00:15:30.879 over immediate comfort. And that decision forced 00:15:30.879 --> 00:15:33.519 her to play small cabaret clubs and rely on food 00:15:33.519 --> 00:15:36.379 stamps for almost two years just to pay off those 00:15:36.379 --> 00:15:39.059 debts. The distance between the queen of rock 00:15:39.059 --> 00:15:41.220 and roll and her lived reality at that time was 00:15:41.220 --> 00:15:43.879 immense. But she bet everything on that name. 00:15:44.019 --> 00:15:46.440 And that bet is what fueled the greatest comeback 00:15:46.440 --> 00:15:49.539 in rock history. She won her freedom. But yeah, 00:15:49.600 --> 00:15:51.559 it came with a price tag of absolute financial 00:15:51.559 --> 00:15:55.679 ruin. Those early solo years from 76 to 83 are 00:15:55.679 --> 00:15:59.019 just a monumental grind. She was trying to redefine 00:15:59.019 --> 00:16:01.059 herself when the industry pretty much saw her 00:16:01.059 --> 00:16:03.980 as yesterday's news. The struggle was so intense. 00:16:04.700 --> 00:16:07.259 At first, she was earning money from any TV appearance 00:16:07.259 --> 00:16:09.639 she could get. You know, the Hollywood Squares, 00:16:09.720 --> 00:16:11.399 the Brady Bunch hours. Just to pay the bills. 00:16:11.720 --> 00:16:14.460 Exactly. Performing to pay off debts, headlining 00:16:14.460 --> 00:16:17.159 cabaret shows in Vegas, often in these elaborate 00:16:17.159 --> 00:16:19.720 Bob Mackie costumes. But musically, nothing was 00:16:19.720 --> 00:16:22.019 working. Her first solo albums, Rough and Love 00:16:22.019 --> 00:16:25.620 Explosion, they failed completely. United Artists 00:16:25.620 --> 00:16:28.600 dropped her. For years, she was harshly seen 00:16:28.600 --> 00:16:31.620 by the mainstream as just a nostalgia act. The 00:16:31.620 --> 00:16:34.840 pivotal moment comes in 1979. And Australian 00:16:34.840 --> 00:16:37.899 manager Roger Davies sees her perform at the 00:16:37.899 --> 00:16:40.440 Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco. And Davies, 00:16:40.440 --> 00:16:44.340 crucially, he saw past the cabaret setting. He 00:16:44.340 --> 00:16:47.519 recognized the raw power she still had. He agreed 00:16:47.519 --> 00:16:50.059 to manage her and he became the shrewd architect 00:16:50.059 --> 00:16:53.019 of her second act. So Davies focused on strategic 00:16:53.019 --> 00:16:56.159 exposure. He got her that high profile opening 00:16:56.159 --> 00:16:59.259 slot on the Rolling Stones 1981 American Tool. 00:16:59.419 --> 00:17:02.240 And her 82 cover of Ball of Confusion, produced 00:17:02.240 --> 00:17:04.759 by a British team, became a massive European 00:17:04.759 --> 00:17:07.299 dance hit. Which led to her becoming one of the 00:17:07.299 --> 00:17:10.259 very first black American artists to have a music 00:17:10.259 --> 00:17:12.920 video on the brand new and increasingly crucial 00:17:12.920 --> 00:17:16.259 MTV. That was vital. It exposed her powerful 00:17:16.259 --> 00:17:19.380 image, the hair, the legs, the fashion to a whole 00:17:19.380 --> 00:17:22.559 new young international audience. It set the 00:17:22.559 --> 00:17:24.660 table. So here's where the legend really starts 00:17:24.660 --> 00:17:27.759 to catch fire. 1983, she signs with Capitol Records. 00:17:27.880 --> 00:17:29.839 They give her a small budget and she puts out 00:17:29.839 --> 00:17:32.079 a cover single. Al Green's Let's Stay Together. 00:17:32.490 --> 00:17:34.089 And the success was just an absolute surprise. 00:17:34.329 --> 00:17:36.690 Hit number six in the UK and critically number 00:17:36.690 --> 00:17:38.750 one on the U .S. Hot Dance Club Songs chart. 00:17:38.910 --> 00:17:42.430 That single success convinced Capitol to greenlight 00:17:42.430 --> 00:17:45.089 a full album. That album was Private Dancer, 00:17:45.130 --> 00:17:48.269 and the sources say it was recorded in an astonishingly 00:17:48.269 --> 00:17:50.650 quick two weeks. Just pieced together with different 00:17:50.650 --> 00:17:53.349 producers in London, it was risky, but the album 00:17:53.349 --> 00:17:56.250 was a masterpiece that just perfectly captured 00:17:56.250 --> 00:17:59.369 the 80s sound. with her blues and rock grit. 00:17:59.490 --> 00:18:02.390 Released in 1984, it soared to number three on 00:18:02.390 --> 00:18:05.349 the Billboard 200, sold over 10 million copies 00:18:05.349 --> 00:18:08.589 worldwide. It was the ultimate vindication, and 00:18:08.589 --> 00:18:11.509 its second single defined the entire era. What's 00:18:11.509 --> 00:18:14.910 love got to do with it? In September 1984, at 00:18:14.910 --> 00:18:18.109 the age of 44, it became her first and only number 00:18:18.109 --> 00:18:20.769 one hit on the Billboard Hot 100. You have to 00:18:20.769 --> 00:18:22.809 step back and just appreciate the magnitude of 00:18:22.809 --> 00:18:25.130 that. A woman achieving the pinnacle of American 00:18:25.130 --> 00:18:28.069 solo success decades into her career after leaving 00:18:28.069 --> 00:18:30.009 an abusive marriage that almost destroyed her. 00:18:30.170 --> 00:18:32.190 The victory was cemented at the Grammy Awards. 00:18:32.470 --> 00:18:35.430 She didn't just win. She swept three major awards, 00:18:35.490 --> 00:18:37.869 including Record of the Year. This was more than 00:18:37.869 --> 00:18:40.309 a comeback. It was a total professional and cultural 00:18:40.309 --> 00:18:43.210 reset. And beyond the charts, her image became 00:18:43.210 --> 00:18:46.450 a global force. David Bowie collaborated with 00:18:46.450 --> 00:18:48.950 her. Karl Lagerfeld was obsessed with her, putting 00:18:48.950 --> 00:18:51.750 models in those iconic Tina Turner wigs. Her 00:18:51.750 --> 00:18:54.410 whole visual presentation, the short skirts, 00:18:54.710 --> 00:18:57.890 the famous legs, the towering hair, it was all 00:18:57.890 --> 00:19:00.109 about unapologetic strength and glamour. Which 00:19:00.109 --> 00:19:02.690 vaulted her straight into Hollywood. In 1985, 00:19:02.930 --> 00:19:05.529 she starred opposite Mel Gibson in Mad Max Beyond 00:19:05.529 --> 00:19:07.990 Thunderdome. Playing the glamorous, menacing 00:19:07.990 --> 00:19:11.309 villain, Anti -Entity. And she had really positive 00:19:11.309 --> 00:19:14.009 reviews for her acting. The film was a huge success. 00:19:14.650 --> 00:19:17.150 And her two soundtrack songs, We Don't Need Another 00:19:17.150 --> 00:19:20.829 Hero and One of Living, were massive hits. The 00:19:20.829 --> 00:19:23.369 latter won her a Grammy for Best Female Rock 00:19:23.369 --> 00:19:25.390 Vocal Performance. And at that point, she'd done 00:19:25.390 --> 00:19:27.869 it. She had achieved the unprecedented trio of 00:19:27.869 --> 00:19:30.490 Grammys across R &B, pop, and rock. And who can 00:19:30.490 --> 00:19:33.349 forget that Live Aid performance in July 85 with 00:19:33.349 --> 00:19:35.750 Mick Jagger? The sheer chaotic energy of that 00:19:35.750 --> 00:19:38.170 moment with Jagger ripping off her skirt, it 00:19:38.170 --> 00:19:40.970 captivated the whole world. It was pure, unscripted 00:19:40.970 --> 00:19:44.880 rock theater. So by 1986, she releases Break 00:19:44.880 --> 00:19:48.240 Every Rule, number one in four countries. The 00:19:48.240 --> 00:19:50.500 tour for that album became the highest grossing 00:19:50.500 --> 00:19:53.980 tour by a female artist of the 1980s. She truly 00:19:53.980 --> 00:19:56.900 broke global records on that tour. When she played 00:19:56.900 --> 00:19:59.720 in Rio de Janeiro in January 1988, she set a 00:19:59.720 --> 00:20:01.759 Guinness World Record for the largest paying 00:20:01.759 --> 00:20:05.779 audience for a solo artist. 180 ,000 people. 00:20:06.019 --> 00:20:08.440 Just think about the scale of that. The ability 00:20:08.440 --> 00:20:10.960 to command an audience that size in a single 00:20:10.960 --> 00:20:13.819 night. Her global dominance just continued. The 00:20:13.819 --> 00:20:15.960 1989 album Foreign Affair, number one in eight 00:20:15.960 --> 00:20:18.200 countries, had the massive international hit 00:20:18.200 --> 00:20:20.779 The Best. And this reinforced her own observation 00:20:20.779 --> 00:20:23.059 that her fame was perhaps even greater overseas 00:20:23.059 --> 00:20:25.980 than it was in America. Oh, absolutely. The European 00:20:25.980 --> 00:20:28.240 tour for that album drew nearly four million 00:20:28.240 --> 00:20:30.420 people. It broke the touring record previously 00:20:30.420 --> 00:20:33.079 held by the Rolling Stones. She was now competing 00:20:33.079 --> 00:20:35.900 with and beating the biggest rock acts in history. 00:20:36.079 --> 00:20:38.579 The accolades just kept piling up. In 1991, she 00:20:38.579 --> 00:20:40.240 and Ike were inducted into the Rock and Roll 00:20:40.240 --> 00:20:42.759 Hall of Fame as a duo. But Tina, citing emotional 00:20:42.759 --> 00:20:45.460 reasons, specifically chose not to attend the 00:20:45.460 --> 00:20:48.259 ceremony. Ike was incarcerated at the time. Her 00:20:48.259 --> 00:20:51.000 absence was a deliberate, profound statement. 00:20:51.500 --> 00:20:53.700 she acknowledged the history but she refused 00:20:53.700 --> 00:20:55.539 to participate in celebrating the relationship 00:20:55.539 --> 00:20:58.099 that almost ended her and that desire to control 00:20:58.099 --> 00:21:01.059 her narrative became even stronger with the release 00:21:01.059 --> 00:21:03.960 of the film what's love got to do with it in 00:21:03.960 --> 00:21:08.000 1993. That film was a huge success. Angela Bassett 00:21:08.000 --> 00:21:10.460 and Laurence Fishburne both got Oscar nominations, 00:21:10.700 --> 00:21:14.000 and it allowed her to really finalize the narrative 00:21:14.000 --> 00:21:16.460 arc of her life for a global audience. Right. 00:21:16.539 --> 00:21:18.859 And she contributed to the soundtrack, re -recording 00:21:18.859 --> 00:21:20.640 her classic hits and releasing the new song, 00:21:20.740 --> 00:21:22.680 I Don't Want to Fight, which is a top 10 hit. 00:21:22.779 --> 00:21:25.000 It offered a kind of musical conclusion to that 00:21:25.000 --> 00:21:28.150 whole era. And she kept dominating the late 90s. 00:21:28.150 --> 00:21:31.589 The iconic Bond -themed Goldeneye in 95. Her 00:21:31.589 --> 00:21:34.029 Wildest Dreams tour was the first tour by a woman 00:21:34.029 --> 00:21:37.710 to earn $100 million. Her final full album, 24 00:21:37.710 --> 00:21:41.359 -7, came out in 1999. The tour for that in 2000 00:21:41.359 --> 00:21:43.539 was the highest grossing tour of that year. And 00:21:43.539 --> 00:21:46.099 at the end of that tour in Zurich, she announced 00:21:46.099 --> 00:21:48.440 her retirement from performing. She did have 00:21:48.440 --> 00:21:51.039 a brief comeback, performing with Beyonce at 00:21:51.039 --> 00:21:53.660 the 2008 Grammys and doing the 50th anniversary 00:21:53.660 --> 00:21:55.519 tour, which was one of the best selling tours 00:21:55.519 --> 00:21:58.319 in history. But she officially retired from performing 00:21:58.319 --> 00:22:01.819 in 2009. And just to prove her staggering chart 00:22:01.819 --> 00:22:05.670 longevity, even in retirement. In 2020, she collaborated 00:22:05.670 --> 00:22:07.869 on a remix of What's Love Got To Do With It. 00:22:07.890 --> 00:22:10.269 With a Kygo. Right. And she became the first 00:22:10.269 --> 00:22:12.970 artist ever to score a top 40 hit in seven consecutive 00:22:12.970 --> 00:22:16.309 decades in the UK. Seven decades, from the 1960s 00:22:16.309 --> 00:22:19.309 to the 2020s. It's an unparalleled career span. 00:22:19.630 --> 00:22:22.069 And fittingly, she got her solo induction into 00:22:22.069 --> 00:22:24.869 the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2021, accepting 00:22:24.869 --> 00:22:27.710 via satellite from her home in Switzerland. Finalizing 00:22:27.710 --> 00:22:30.549 that narrative shift from duo member to undisputed 00:22:30.549 --> 00:22:32.920 self -possessed solo legend. The final chapter 00:22:32.920 --> 00:22:35.019 of her life, starting in the 90s, it's really 00:22:35.019 --> 00:22:37.259 defined by this absolute search for peace and 00:22:37.259 --> 00:22:40.000 privacy. Which led her to Kussnacht, Switzerland. 00:22:40.559 --> 00:22:42.740 Far away from the pressures and the spotlight 00:22:42.740 --> 00:22:46.000 of her career's roots. Yeah. She started living 00:22:46.000 --> 00:22:48.680 at Chateau Algonquin on the shore of Lake Zurich 00:22:48.680 --> 00:22:52.059 back in 1994. And while she had properties all 00:22:52.059 --> 00:22:54.119 over, Switzerland offered her something she'd 00:22:54.119 --> 00:22:57.339 never really had in the U .S. Discretion, privacy, 00:22:57.700 --> 00:23:00.880 and a deep sense of security. The ultimate commitment 00:23:00.880 --> 00:23:03.740 came in 2013. She took a mandatory citizenship 00:23:03.740 --> 00:23:07.200 test in German about Swiss history and was granted 00:23:07.200 --> 00:23:09.559 Swiss citizenship. And she didn't stop there. 00:23:09.779 --> 00:23:12.180 She formally renounced her U .S. citizenship 00:23:12.180 --> 00:23:15.019 later that year, which is just a deeply significant 00:23:15.019 --> 00:23:17.930 decision for an American icon. Her stated reason 00:23:17.930 --> 00:23:20.529 was crucial. She said she no longer had any strong 00:23:20.529 --> 00:23:22.529 connections to the United States and had no plans 00:23:22.529 --> 00:23:25.470 to live there. It was a decisive, active break 00:23:25.470 --> 00:23:27.269 from the country where she was born and where 00:23:27.269 --> 00:23:29.789 she'd endured so much trauma. This chosen home 00:23:29.789 --> 00:23:31.890 also brought her enduring romantic happiness. 00:23:32.210 --> 00:23:36.549 In July 2013, after 27 years together, she married 00:23:36.549 --> 00:23:39.190 the German music executive Erwin Bach. Their 00:23:39.190 --> 00:23:41.130 relationship really represented the stability 00:23:41.130 --> 00:23:43.170 and deep emotional support that she had always 00:23:43.170 --> 00:23:45.390 craved. Tragically, though, this period of peace 00:23:45.390 --> 00:23:48.569 was just ravaged by intense health battles, which 00:23:48.569 --> 00:23:51.750 she detailed so unflinchingly in her 2018 memoir, 00:23:52.029 --> 00:23:54.809 My Love Story. She revealed she suffered from 00:23:54.809 --> 00:23:57.990 high blood pressure, mostly untreated since 1978, 00:23:58.289 --> 00:24:00.710 which had severely damaged her kidneys. And the 00:24:00.710 --> 00:24:03.660 trials just came one after another. Three weeks 00:24:03.660 --> 00:24:06.519 after her wedding in 2013, she had a stroke and 00:24:06.519 --> 00:24:09.759 had to learn how to walk all over again. In 2016, 00:24:09.920 --> 00:24:12.220 she was diagnosed with intestinal cancer. And 00:24:12.220 --> 00:24:15.220 she revealed this terrifying near -fatal event 00:24:15.220 --> 00:24:18.140 with her kidneys. She tried homeopathic remedies, 00:24:18.220 --> 00:24:20.319 which tragically worsened her condition to the 00:24:20.319 --> 00:24:22.819 point of catastrophic failure. Her prognosis 00:24:22.819 --> 00:24:25.279 was so poor she actually joined Exit International, 00:24:25.660 --> 00:24:28.019 an assisted suicide organization that's legal 00:24:28.019 --> 00:24:30.380 in Switzerland. She was preparing for the end. 00:24:30.730 --> 00:24:32.710 And here's the most profound testament to the 00:24:32.710 --> 00:24:34.950 love of Erwin Bach. When her chances of getting 00:24:34.950 --> 00:24:38.170 a kidney transplant were critically low, he volunteered 00:24:38.170 --> 00:24:40.410 without hesitation to donate one of his own. 00:24:40.529 --> 00:24:42.710 It's the ultimate gesture of selfless devotion, 00:24:42.930 --> 00:24:45.190 isn't it? A woman who was treated as property 00:24:45.190 --> 00:24:47.869 and abused was saved by the man who loved her 00:24:47.869 --> 00:24:50.549 unconditionally, sacrificing a part of himself 00:24:50.549 --> 00:24:52.990 to save her. She had the life -saving transplant 00:24:52.990 --> 00:24:56.650 surgery in April 2017. Unfortunately, even as 00:24:56.650 --> 00:24:59.589 her own health stabilized, the personal tragedies 00:24:59.589 --> 00:25:01.930 just kept coming. She faced the heartbreaking 00:25:01.930 --> 00:25:05.089 loss of her two biological sons in quick succession. 00:25:05.410 --> 00:25:07.789 Her eldest son, Craig, died by apparent suicide 00:25:07.789 --> 00:25:11.390 in 2018. Then her son, Ronnie, died from complications 00:25:11.390 --> 00:25:14.549 of colon cancer in 2022. And her adopted son, 00:25:14.730 --> 00:25:17.589 Ike Jr., died from kidney failure just in 2023. 00:25:18.670 --> 00:25:21.170 I mean, that string of profound losses in her 00:25:21.170 --> 00:25:23.670 final years really highlights that the narrative 00:25:23.670 --> 00:25:26.670 of the survivor often means just enduring continued 00:25:26.670 --> 00:25:30.140 pain. But central to her resilience through all 00:25:30.140 --> 00:25:32.279 of these trials was her deep spiritual practice. 00:25:32.480 --> 00:25:34.740 Though she was raised Baptist, she often called 00:25:34.740 --> 00:25:36.799 herself a Buddhist Baptist. Right, though later 00:25:36.799 --> 00:25:38.700 she just said, I consider myself a Buddhist. 00:25:38.900 --> 00:25:41.200 She credited Nichiren Buddhism, which she was 00:25:41.200 --> 00:25:43.440 introduced to back in 1973 while she was still 00:25:43.440 --> 00:25:45.200 with Ike, with helping her through the hardest 00:25:45.200 --> 00:25:47.380 times. And the practice itself, the chanting 00:25:47.380 --> 00:25:49.740 of Nami Shrenkaj, it was therapeutic for her. 00:25:49.799 --> 00:25:51.859 She famously likened the chanting to singing. 00:25:52.039 --> 00:25:54.740 And she sometimes practiced for up to four hours 00:25:54.740 --> 00:25:57.630 a day during her deepest struggles. believe the 00:25:57.630 --> 00:25:59.329 practice helped her realize her own internal 00:25:59.329 --> 00:26:01.789 strength, giving her the courage to finally break 00:26:01.789 --> 00:26:04.970 free from Ike. This commitment to spiritual upliftment, 00:26:05.069 --> 00:26:08.289 it manifested in her later projects. In 2009, 00:26:08.430 --> 00:26:11.109 she co -founded the Beyond Foundation and released 00:26:11.109 --> 00:26:13.750 several albums of spiritual and uplifting music. 00:26:13.990 --> 00:26:16.549 It was a final artistic offering that was focused 00:26:16.549 --> 00:26:19.250 entirely on peace and internal strength, not 00:26:19.250 --> 00:26:22.750 performance spectacle. Her final years saw massive 00:26:22.750 --> 00:26:27.130 tributes. She passed away on May 24th, 2023 in 00:26:27.130 --> 00:26:30.150 Kusnock, Switzerland at age 83. And the tributes 00:26:30.150 --> 00:26:33.240 were just global. From Beyonce. Oprah, Mick Jagger, 00:26:33.299 --> 00:26:36.240 President Biden. And that profoundly unique gesture 00:26:36.240 --> 00:26:39.180 by King Charles III, having the best perform 00:26:39.180 --> 00:26:41.839 during the changing of the guard, it just underscores 00:26:41.839 --> 00:26:43.759 that she had transcended pop stardom. She was 00:26:43.759 --> 00:26:46.200 a global figurehead for resilience. Her legacy 00:26:46.200 --> 00:26:48.359 is absolutely secure. Rolling Stone ranked her 00:26:48.359 --> 00:26:50.420 among the greatest artists and singers of all 00:26:50.420 --> 00:26:53.079 time. She still holds the shared record for most 00:26:53.079 --> 00:26:55.339 awards for best female rock vocal performance. 00:26:55.779 --> 00:26:58.539 And three of her most iconic recordings, Riverdeep. 00:26:59.660 --> 00:27:02.299 Proud Mary, and her ultimate victory track, What's 00:27:02.299 --> 00:27:04.940 Love Got to Do With It, are all preserved in 00:27:04.940 --> 00:27:07.000 the Grammy Hall of Fame. Beyond the charts, her 00:27:07.000 --> 00:27:09.980 cultural impact is indelible. The Kennedy Center 00:27:09.980 --> 00:27:13.339 Honors in 2005, Tennessee named a state route 00:27:13.339 --> 00:27:16.640 the Tina Turner Highway. And in a fitting modern 00:27:16.640 --> 00:27:19.619 tribute, Mattel released a Barbie doll in her 00:27:19.619 --> 00:27:24.000 likeness in 2022. She truly became an immortal 00:27:24.000 --> 00:27:26.730 symbol of power. So what stands out when we look 00:27:26.730 --> 00:27:28.970 back across all these decades of sources is that 00:27:28.970 --> 00:27:31.970 unbelievable journey from being a piece of intellectual 00:27:31.970 --> 00:27:34.269 property. Literally trademarked so she could 00:27:34.269 --> 00:27:36.549 be replaced. To becoming the self -owned, self 00:27:36.549 --> 00:27:39.230 -directed global phenomenon. She was a cultural 00:27:39.230 --> 00:27:41.730 force who just redefined what was possible for 00:27:41.730 --> 00:27:43.829 a woman, especially a black woman, in rock and 00:27:43.829 --> 00:27:46.630 roll. All while carrying the mantle of the ultimate 00:27:46.630 --> 00:27:49.349 survivor. And her fame, particularly in Europe, 00:27:49.450 --> 00:27:52.660 was just staggering. And that narrative of ultimate 00:27:52.660 --> 00:27:55.200 choice, it's all crystallized in her final decision. 00:27:55.440 --> 00:27:57.700 After achieving the absolute pinnacle of fame, 00:27:57.839 --> 00:28:00.299 she actively and willingly renounced her U .S. 00:28:00.319 --> 00:28:03.279 citizenship to fully embrace Swiss life. Stating 00:28:03.279 --> 00:28:05.859 she had no strong connections left to the U .S. 00:28:06.099 --> 00:28:08.900 So what does it all mean? She was the queen of 00:28:08.900 --> 00:28:11.680 rock and roll, born in the raw country soil of 00:28:11.680 --> 00:28:14.569 Nutbush, Tennessee. Yet she found her truest 00:28:14.569 --> 00:28:17.210 peace not under the American spotlight that both 00:28:17.210 --> 00:28:20.069 created and traumatized her, but in the quiet 00:28:20.069 --> 00:28:22.730 diplomacy and protection of Switzerland. So the 00:28:22.730 --> 00:28:24.490 provocative thought we want to leave you with 00:28:24.490 --> 00:28:27.650 builds on that final act of liberation. What 00:28:27.650 --> 00:28:30.190 does it truly take for a person, defined by a 00:28:30.190 --> 00:28:32.329 lifetime of struggle and the painful geography 00:28:32.329 --> 00:28:35.089 of their origins, not just to survive that history, 00:28:35.289 --> 00:28:37.900 but to actively choose where they belong? to 00:28:37.900 --> 00:28:39.960 decide that peace and self -authorship are worth 00:28:39.960 --> 00:28:41.779 more than the identity tied to their traumatic 00:28:41.779 --> 00:28:45.059 roots. She chose her final home, not by birthright, 00:28:45.200 --> 00:28:47.980 but by choice. That is the ultimate act of liberation. 00:28:48.400 --> 00:28:50.359 Think about the power in choosing your own safe 00:28:50.359 --> 00:28:52.180 harbor. Until the next time we do a deep dive, 00:28:52.359 --> 00:28:52.960 thanks for listening.