Tina Turner, Legendary Musician And Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome Star, Has Died At 83

According to a report in Deadline, Grammy Award-winning pop singer, soul icon, and legend of rock 'n' roll Tina Turner has died at her home in Küsnacht, Switzerland. She was 83. 

Tina Turner, born Anna Mae Bullock, became a sensation in the 1960s, singing soul tunes with the Ike & Tina Turner Revue. In the 1980s, after escaping a particularly brutal marriage, Turner shot to superstardom with a series of massive hit singles like "What's Love Got To Do With It?," "Better Be Good To Me," "One of the Living," and "Back Where You Started." She won eight Grammys in her career, and three of her songs were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999, 2003, and 2012. In 2018, she received a Lifetime Achievement Grammy. She was in the Guinness Book of World Records from 1988 to 1997 for the Largest Paying Rock Concert Attendance from a Solo Artist. 

All told, Turner sold more than 180 million albums worldwide.

Turner's life was adapted into a biopic, "What's Love Got To Do With It?", in 1993, based on her 1986 autobiography "I, Tina." Angela Bassett played Turner and Laurence Fishburne played Ike. The two leads were nominated for Academy Awards. Turner's life was also adapted into a biographical stage play called "Tina: The Tina Turner Musical." It was nominated for a Tony Award. 

Turner's legs often got as much attention as her voice, and she was rumored to have insured her legs for $3.2 million (she was the spokesperson for Hanes Hosiery for a time). In addition to all her musical accolades, Vogue Magazine voted her legs as the best of 2018. She found the attention to be amusing. 

Turner also had a fascinating film career, appearing in numerous high-profile productions, playing outsize villains, and capable professionals. She was never anything short of enormous. 

In Ken Russell's 1975 film adaptation of The Who's "Tommy," the director captured all the weirdness and outsize surreality of the band's music. The movie was about a young boy who was struck mute, deaf, and blind after witnessing his mother (Ann-Margaret) having an affair (with a man played by Oliver Reed). The boy grows up to be The Who frontman Roger Daltrey. Despite his lack of senses, Tommy becomes a pinball wizard, taking on all the world's pinball champions. 

While Tommy was growing up, his mother subjected him to surreal drug experiments, feeding him LSD and other hallucinogens. The Acid Queen who provided the drugs was played by Tina Turner, who gnashed into her musical number with sweaty, intense energy. All of Tina's on-mic growling and belting is on full display in "Tommy." 

Throughout her career, Turner appeared in multiple films, usually as herself, or performing on stage. Her acting roles were few and far between, but every time she did play a character, she attacked it with talent and verve. 

A decade after "Tommy," Turner would appear in George Miller's post-apocalypse thriller "Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome" as Aunty Entity, the leader of a local punk tribe. Aunty Entity decided the fate of the title character and forced him to compete in the Thunderdome. Aunty Entity was a larger-than-life character that perfectly fit into the strange, cartoonish world of "Mad Max." Turner also performed two songs on the film's soundtrack: the theme song, "We Don't Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)," and "One of the Living." The former charted at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, while the latter won Turner one of her 12 Grammys.

Nine years after "Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome," Turner appeared briefly in John McTiernan's amusing action film satire "Last Action Hero." The premise of "Last Action Hero" is that a young boy finds a magical ticket that transports him into his favorite series of action movies. Naturally, the physics of action movies are different than that of the real world, and famous people tend to show up out of the blue. In the film-within-a-film, "Jack Slater III," Turner appears briefly as the Mayor of Los Angeles. Turner, however, does not appear on the film's soundtrack album, a record replete with the biggest heavy metal bands of the day (Aerosmith, Anthrax, Megadeth, etc.). 

Turner also performed on camera in the 1966 concert film "The Big T.N.T. Show," a follow-up to the celebrated 1964 concert "The T.A.M.I. Show." She appeared in the Isley Bros. documentary "It's Your Thing," and the Rolling Stones documentary "Gimme Shelter." She performed at a Ghanese Independence Day concert, filmed in the movie "Soul to Soul." She provided Angela Bassett's vocals in "What's Love Got To Do With It?" and most recently looked back at her own life in the 2021 documentary "Tina." 

Through her work, her character, and her candor, the world knew Tina well. Her openness was an inspiration and her talents were endlessly dazzling. Her film career was textured and interesting, and her musical career was unmatched. 

R.I.P. Tina Turner, a true legend.