A New Tina Turner Documentary Is Coming To HBO In March

A new documentary on legendary singer Tina Turner is coming to HBO. Simply titled Tina, the documentary feature will be directed by Dan Lindsey and T.J. Martin, who won an Oscar for their 2011 sports documentary Undefeated.

HBO announced that Tina, which will be a "revealing and intimate look at the life and career of musical icon Tina Turner, charting her improbable rise to early fame, her personal and professional struggles throughout her life and her even more improbable resurgence as a global phenomenon in the 1980s," is set to premiere on HBO on March 27.

Directed by Lindsey and T.J. Martin for Lightbox, the production company founded by producers Simon Chinn and Jonathan Chinn, with Diane Becker, Tina will be an "unvarnished, dynamic account features insightful interviews with Tina herself, conducted in her hometown of Zurich, Switzerland, and with those closest to her." Featuring a combination of never-before-seen archival footage spanning 60 years, audio tapes, and interviews with Angela Bassett, Oprah Winfrey, journalist Kurt Loder who co-authored I, Tina which inspired the feature film, and more, Tina sounds like a thorough and loving tribute to a rock 'n' roll icon.

Here is the synopsis for Tina:

In the fall of 1981, struggling to gain meaningful momentum in her career, Tina Turner sat for an interview with Carl Arrington, the music editor of People Magazine.  Five years earlier, she had filed for divorce from Ike Turner, her husband and musical partner for over 16 years. Together they had climbed the charts and made musical history with their hits "A Fool in Love", "River Deep – Mountain High" and "Proud Mary". Off stage, they appeared to have a healthy marriage and family life.

The story she would tell Carl was an honest and harrowing account of the abuse and torture she had suffered through during her marriage, and the brave escape she made after years of trauma. The article would be the first of many profiles that would cement Tina's image as a survivor, helping to fuel the story of her extraordinary yet improbable career comeback.

Having lost everything but her name in the divorce, Tina spent several years in Las Vegas, performing in cabaret clubs and appearing on television variety shows. In 1983, at the age of forty-four, she recorded the album "Private Dancer" in just two weeks and it quickly became a commercial and critical sensation. Her single "What's Love Got To Do With It" became her first and only number one hit on the Billboard 100 charts.

Tina 2.0 had arrived. "Private Dancer" sold over 12 million copies worldwide and cemented Tina as a bona fide superstar. She performed with Mick Jagger at LiveAid, won a slew of Grammys and wrote a best-selling autobiography, "I, Tina." In 1988, Tina performed to a record-breaking crowd of 180,000 people in Brazil. By 1993, a feature film was made about her life, starring Angela Bassett as Tina herself. As her fame grew, so did her identity as a cultural symbol, becoming a representation of strength and resilience to her fans. Privately, she wrestled with the survivor narrative that shaped her later life and career and struggled to be released from her past.

The documentary announcement comes on the same day, February 10, that Turner was nominated as a solo artist for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's class of 2021. Turner was previously inducted into the Rock Hall with Ike Turner in 1991.

Tina debuts Saturday, March 27 at 8:00 PM ET on HBO and will be available to stream on HBO Max.