Hanging out with Bowie and Jagger, running away from her biggest hit and possibly becoming
the world's first "Buddhist-Baptist."
Here are the untold details of the legendary Tina Turner.
Tina Turner's comeback in the 1980s has been described as one of the greatest in history,
and a key aspect that contributed to her rise back to fame was MTV.
After it started broadcasting in the early '80s, MTV brought a sudden demand for music
videos, and Tina Turner was there just as they were starting to rise to prominence.
But MTV faced criticism in its early days for playing very few videos by black artists
other than Turner.
With MTV playing her videos around the clock though, it no doubt helped her gain visibility,
popularizing her music with anyone watching the young music channel.
At the same time, her style appealed to fans of rock music, standing comfortably alongside
big names like Mick Jagger and David Bowie.
The result was a volcanic rise to stardom which saw her becoming a household name worldwide.
Impressive, considering the fact that just a few years earlier, she'd been reduced to
little more than a nostalgia act singing in hotel ballrooms.
While she was relaunching her singing career in 1981, Tina Turner joined the Rolling Stones
for their American Tour.
For each performance, Turner was the opening act, but a 1981 review by The New York Times
mentions that she also joined the Stones on stage for their performance of "Honky Tonk
Women."
Mick Jagger was good friends with Turner, and he has always been vocal about praising
her talent as a performer, as well as her warm personality.
This was actually the second time Turner had toured with the Stones.
Her autobiography, "I, Tina" mentions that she'd joined them when she was still performing
with her ex-husband Ike in their 1969 tour.
She also later mentioned that she helped teach Jagger how to dance.
"He wasn't dancing when he first saw our show and he was always standing in the wings watching
and he would come into the dressing room and we would sort of teach him the pony."
Occasionally, the Stones were also joined on their 1969 Tour by Chuck Berry.
He too would offer some help for Turner's comeback, featuring her in his 1982 TV special,
performed at The Roxy in West Hollywood.
"What's Love Got To Do With It?" is one of Tina Turner's best known songs, ranked by
Time Out at number 16 on their list of 60 best songs of the '80s.
However, when she first heard it, Turner wasn't a fan.
"Tina never really liked it."
"Ha!
It was terrible, it was awful, it was…"
The song was offered to her by producer Terry Britten, but Turner felt that it didn't fit
her style.
She disliked it so much that she would run and hide when her manager tried to play it
for her.
At the time, Turner had no idea the songs had been written specifically for her, and
Britten had to appeal to her personally to convince her to record it.
In the end, "What's Love Got To Do With It?"
ended up being the song that cemented Turner's stardom.
It would be her first and only No. 1 hit single, staying at the top spot of the charts for
three weeks.
The song helped her win two Grammys in 1985, for Record Of The Year and Best Female Pop
Vocal Performance.
Tina Turner and David Bowie were close friends, and the two performed together on the song
"Tonight," the title track to Bowie's 1984 album of the same name.
The song was recorded as a duet with Turner but strangely, when Bowie's version of the
song was first released, it didn't include a music video and made no mention of Turner's
involvement.
This probably wasn't intended as a snub though.
Bowie was one of the artists to point out the lack of Black performers on MTV, and actually
helped convince Turner's record label to renew her contract in 1983.
Female First recounts the story of how Bowie, who'd recently been re-signed by Capitol himself,
was invited to a celebration dinner.
He declined the invitation, reportedly saying -
"I'm sorry, but I'm going to the Ritz to see my favorite singer perform."
The singer in question was Turner, and her strong performance that night was what convinced
the Capitol executives to renew her record deal.
The two would later perform "Tonight" together on stage, during Tina Turner's 1985 Private
Dancer tour, and they'd occasionally perform it together again in later concerts through
the '80s.
Turner later described Bowie, together with Mick Jagger, as being like the brothers she
never had.
"We just had - it was just sort of a lock in of a - sort of a communication with those
guys you know?"
Tina Turner has been on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine several times over the decades,
but her first appearance was in 1967.
Shortly after Ike & Tina Turner had broken through into mainstream success, and at the
height of the Civil Rights Movement, Tina being featured so prominently was historic.
She became both the first woman and the first Black artist to appear on a Rolling Stone
cover.
Following her appearance on Rolling Stone, Turner would later be featured on a variety
of other magazine covers, including several of the most important in music and pop culture.
One of these was Ebony, where she was recognized as the best-dressed woman of 1971.
She'd later grace the covers of at least 137 different magazines, including Elle, NME,
Good Times, Cosmopolitan, Time Out, and Jet.
In 2013, at the age of 73, she became the oldest woman to appear on the cover of Vogue.
The jukebox comedy movie, "Sgt.
Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" is widely recognized as being completely awful.
Unlike movies like "Yellow Submarine," this was not created by the Beatles themselves.
Instead, it was based on an off-Broadway musical, "Sgt.
Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band on the Road," which also had little association with the
band other than using their music.
The Beatles themselves reportedly hated it, with Paul and Ringo disowning it after attending
the premiere, while John and George refused to watch it at all.
The movie was notable, however, for casting a variety of big-name musicians to play roles,
including The Bee Gees.
The ending features an ensemble singing a reprisal of the main Sgt.
Pepper's theme tune, referred to as "Our Guests at Heartland."
Among the many vocalists singing is Tina Turner, who can be seen standing at the front of the
group.
The James Bond movies have been running since 1962, but the early '90s saw a six-year hiatus
between movies before "Goldeneye" was released.
Promoted as a grand return for James Bond, a good title song was essential.
Tina Turner's rendition of the "Goldeneye" theme, with her characteristic powerful, gravelly
vocals perfectly hit the mark.
But when she first heard the song, Turner didn't want to sing it.
Written by Bono and The Edge from U2, it was originally intended to be sung by Depeche
Mode but, according to The Independent, they were too busy to record it at the time.
Bono then put together a demo and sent it to Tina Turner, who promptly rejected it.
While she was a fan of U2, the demo was so bad that Turner felt as if they'd expected
her to turn down the song, and later said that she hadn't even known what key she was
supposed to sing it in.
Bono had to personally ask her to perform it, and was ultimately impressed by the version
Turner came up with.
While ultimately, the movie "Goldeneye" was among the less memorable from the James Bond
catalog, Tina Turner's theme song for it has been celebrated as one of the best Bond themes.
While she had a Christian upbringing, Tina Turner began to adopt Buddhist beliefs in
the 1980s.
"When I needed help, I started the practice, and I was motivated because the practice worked
for me."
Rather than fully converting, she chose to weave together the two backgrounds, and according
to Rolling Stone, she described herself as a, quote, "Buddhist-Baptist."
She later drew on her Buddhist beliefs to write the book "Happiness Becomes You," offering
wisdom on how to find peace.
She previously noted how this helped improve her own worldview, saying,
"Buddhism changed my old thought patterns.
It taught me to be a positive thinker."
As a singer, her choice to get involved in spiritual music made perfect sense, especially
as a return to her roots singing in church.
In 2009, she formed a group called Beyond.
Their first record, "Buddhist and Christian Prayers" had words written by Turner herself.
While Turner's most famous songs may be powerful rock ballads, Beyond allowed her to show a
different side to her personality and singing style.
Buddhism got Turner through some difficult parts of her life, and she has described herself
as, quote, "a lotus flower, blooming over and over again against all odds, emerging
stronger each time."
The song "The Best" is deeply embedded in pop culture, but while Turner's version of
the song may be the most famous, it wasn't the first.
In an interview with Music Business Worldwide, songwriter Holly Knight explains that she
originally intended it to be sung by British singer Paul Young.
Young's agent declined the song though, and it was then given to Bonnie Tyler, famous
for "Total Eclipse of the Heart" and "Holding Out for a Hero."
Unfortunately, Tyler's version failed to take off.
It wasn't until it fell into the hands of Tina Turner that it became the song we all
now recognize.
Holly Knight was amazed by the song's continued widespread fame, saying,
"The Best was not written for Tina Turner, but it was meant for her."
Bonnie Tyler has also applauded Turner's rendition of the song.
When the popularity of her music began to wane towards the end of the '80s, she began
to doubt herself.
In an interview with Retro Pop, she credits Turner's success with "The Best" as helping
her regain confidence in her song choices.
Tina Turner was no stranger to acting, and her most famous role was as Aunty Entity in
"Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome" in 1985.
She brought her unique charm and charisma both to the role itself and to the movie set
where she was working.
Director George Miller has mentioned that Turner was the only person he ever asked for
the role.
Another role Turner very nearly played was a literal goddess.
In Hinduism, Kali is the goddess of power, destruction, and change.
As The Telegraph of India explains, Turner was excited to play the role in 2004 when
she was cast in a movie called "The Goddess."
In preparation, she traveled to India and toured Hindu temples, particularly in Bengal
which is famous for its Kali temples.
Unfortunately, the movie was shelved indefinitely after its director passed away.
Interestingly enough, there's also a link back to rock music in this role.
Kali is very often portrayed sticking out her tongue, said to be an expression of her
surprise at stepping on Shiva.
This imagery of Kali directly inspired Mick Jagger to create The Rolling Stones' instantly
recognizable lips-and-tongue logo.
Tina Turner was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1986, as her popularity was
at an all-time high.
Following her death, fans turned her Hollywood star into a memorial, leaving floral bouquets,
and some of them carrying her vinyl records in tribute.
But Hollywood isn't the only Walk of Fame to recognize her impact.
She also has a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame, in honor of her long and prestigious
musical career.
The third such place to immortalize Turner is the European Walk of Fame in Rotterdam,
which is in the Netherlands.
Instead of a star, the European site bears her handprints and signature in cement.
Walks of Fame aren't the only place to give Tina Turner multiple honors.
She also has the distinction of being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice.
In 1991, according to The New York Times, she was inducted together with her ex-husband
Ike — a questionable decision in itself, compounded by the fact that Ike was incarcerated
at the time for drug offenses.
Tina herself declined to attend the ceremony.
In 2021, she was finally inducted as a solo artist in her own right.
As one of the artists who originally signed in support of the hall being built in Cleveland,
it's heartening to know that they granted Tina Turner the award she truly deserved,
as one of the world's greatest solo singers.