Tina Turner has been acknowledged as one of the world's most popular and biggest-selling music artists of all time and is the most successful female rock artist of all time with record sales exceeding 180 million. She has sold more concert tickets than any other solo performer in history.

Tina Turner is an eight time Grammy Award winning American singer-songwriter, dancer, and actress. Turner's consistent contributions to rock music have earned her the title "The Queen of Rock & Roll." Besides rock music, she has also performed R&B, soul, dance and pop music. She was listed on Rolling Stone's list The Immortals — The Greatest Artists of All Time. Turner is represented in the Grammy Hall of Fame with two of her singles inducted including "River Deep - Mountain High" (1999) and "Proud Mary" (2003).

Turner was born Anna Mae Bullock in Nutbush, Tennessee on November 26, 1939, the daughter of a factory worker and a Baptist deacon, farm overseer and factory worker. Tina is of African-American, European, and Native American descent specifically of the Cherokee and Navajo tribe, making her one of many people who are both of African American and Native American descent. Turner and her elder sister, Alline Bullock, were abandoned by their father and temporarily by their mother.

hey moved from Nutbush, Tennessee to St. Louis to reunite with their mother in 1956. In St. Louis, Anna met a rock and roll musician Ike Turner and later asked him if she could sing for him. Ike was initially skeptical, but after much persistence on Bullock's part, Ike Turner eventually decided to let her perform for him.

In 1960, when a singer scheduled to record the song, "A Fool In Love", didn't appear, Bullock stepped in and recorded the vocals instead. "A Fool In Love" was a huge R&B hit reaching #2 crossing over to the top 30 of the US pop chart. Ike changed Bullock's name to Tina and his band's to The Ike & Tina Turner Revue. In 1962, the two married in Mexico.

Ike and Tina Turner recorded a string of hits in the 1960s, including "A Fool In Love," "It's Gonna Work Out Fine," "I Idolize You," and the groundbreaking "River Deep, Mountain High" with producer Phil Spector in his Wall of sound style. By the end of the decade, Tina had discovered rock and roll and the duo began including their interpretations of classics such as "Come Together", "Honky Tonk Woman," and "I Want to Take You Higher" in their act. In fact, their high-energy cover version of Creedence Clearwater Revival's 1968 "Proud Mary" remains Tina's signature hit and one of her longest enduring standards.

Ike acted as the group's manager and musical director, calling all the shots and ruling the act - and Tina - with an iron fist. While a fine musician and an early rock and roll influence, Ike's control of the Revue's management, recording contracts and performances eventually led to their decline as his drug abuse worsened. This controlling (and often violent) atmosphere caused the musicians and backup singers to come and go frequently, and Tina later reported being isolated and physically abused by Ike on a regular basis for most of their marriage.

After a final vicious beating before an appearance in Dallas over the Fourth of July weekend in 1976, Tina abruptly left Ike fleeing with nothing more than thirty-six cents and a gas-station credit card. She spent the next few months hiding from Ike, staying with various friends and relying on food stamps to exist.

Tina credited her newfound Buddhist faith with giving her the courage to eventually strike out on her own. By walking out on Ike in the middle of a tour, she learned she was legally responsible to tour promoters for the cancelled tour. Needing to earn a living, she became a solo performer, supplementing her income with TV appearances on shows.

Through the 80's she turned out 7 solo albums, produced a duet with Bryan Adams, appeared in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome and entered the Guinness Book of World Records during her Break Every Rule tour when she performed in front of the largest paying audience ever to see a single performer. Turner settled in Europe in 1986 to share a home with Erwin Bach, a German-born EMI record company executive 16 years her junior.

In the 90's she completed 2 more albums and an autobiography entitled I, Tina which became the film Whats Love Got to Do With It? starring Angela Bassett. In the same year she embarked on her record breaking Wildest Dreams World Tour becoming one of the most extensive tours ever by a single performer grossing over $100 million in Europe alone. The video, Tina Turner Live in Amsterdam, (premiering today on Ovation TV) was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Video, Long Form.

Turner retired from major tours after 2000. She continues to make public appearances and collaborations. On April 29, 2008, Turner announced that she will embark on her Tina: Live in Concert Tour in early October. This is Turner's first tour since her record breaking Twenty Four Seven Tour.

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If James Brown is the hardest working man in show business, then Tina Turner is definitely the hardest working woman. Its her energy and drive through the years that truly make her revolutionary.

Related Links:

Tina Turner Fan site - Best of All Tina

International Tina Turner Fan Club

On Rolling Stone

Live In Amsterdam Program Page