Legendary music icon Tina Turner dies aged 83 in her home in Switzerland
The rock icon spoke candidly about her health battle just two months before she passed away at her Switzerland home, aged 83.
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Tina Turner spoke openly about her battle with kidney disease just two months before her death revealing she was in “great danger”.
The music powerhouse, who died at the age of 83 in her home in Switzerland, spoke about her health battle on March 9 for International Kidney Day.
“My kidneys are victims of my not realising [sic] that my high blood pressure should have been treated with conventional medicine,” she told her Instagram followers.
“I have put myself in great danger by refusing to face the reality that I need daily, lifelong therapy with medication. For far too long I believed that my body was an untouchable and indestructible bastion.”
Turner, one of rock’s most famous voices, sold 200 million records worldwide with timeless hits including Proud Mary, What’s Love Got to Do With It and The Best.
A rep for the US songstress confirmed Turner passed away in her home in Küsnacht near Zurich on Wednesday.
“It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Tina Turner,” read a statement on the official Instagram page of the eight-time Grammy winner.
“With her music and her boundless passion for life, she enchanted millions of fans around the world and inspired the stars of tomorrow.
“Today we say goodbye to a dear friend who leaves us all her greatest work: her music. All our heartfelt compassion goes out to her family. Tina, we will miss you dearly.”
Publicist Bernard Doherty confirmed the news, which he said had robbed the world of “a music legend and a role model.”
Turner had suffered ill health in recent years after being diagnosed with intestinal cancer in 2016 and having a kidney transplant in 2017.
“There will be a private funeral ceremony attended by close friends and family,” Turner’s publicist said, according to the Telegraph.
“Please respect the privacy of her family at this difficult time.”
Turner was one of the best-selling artists of all time. She had 12 Grammy Awards under her belt, as well as a Grammy lifetime achievement award and multiple other accolades.
Tributes began flooding in for the queen of rock ‘n’ roll moments after news of her death was announced.
Bryan Adams sent his condolences to her family.
“I’ll be forever grateful for the time we spent together on tour, in the studio and as friends,” he wrote in a tribute, along with a sweet photo of the pair together.
“Thank you for being the inspiration to millions of people around the world for speaking your truth and giving us the gift of your voice. It’s Only Love and that’s all.”
Rest in peace to one of my favorite artists of all time, the legendary queen of rock n’ roll Tina Turner. I’ve seen her many many times and hands down, she gave one of the best live shows I’ve ever seen. She always gave you your moneys worth. pic.twitter.com/VqlTjy1LUR
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) May 24, 2023
Star Trek actor, George Takei, said a true legend had passed.
“She was our River Deep and our Mountain High, the Private Dancer in our hearts,” he said. “She showed us that love really does has everything to do with it, and that we really did need another hero. And she was it.”
Singer Ciara added Turner would rest in “paradise”. “Heaven has gained an angel,” she wrote. “Thank you for the inspiration you gave us all.”
British singer Paloma Faith described Turner as being one of her “greatest influences and inspirations”.
“I grew up with you in the background of my childhood and all through my time learning my craft I always returned to you,” she said.
Rosario Dawson said “Legends never die”, while model Naomi Campbell wrote on Instagram that there’ll never be another “queen, legend, icon”.
“Cherish my times with you,” the supermodel said.
“Rest in Peace & Power THE QUEEN, LEGEND, ICON. There will never be another. Cherish my times with you,” model Naomi Campbell wrote on Instagram.”
The White House called Turner’s death “a massive, massive loss” to the communities that love her and the music industry.
“Tina Turner was an icon, a music icon who had many stages, many amazing moments in her career,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.
“Very sad to hear the news. I was a huge fan of Tina Turner. As you can see from my reaction, that is the first I’m hearing of it.”
Turner began her career in the 1950s during the early years of rock and roll and evolved into an MTV phenomenon. In the video for her chart-topping song “What’s Love Got to Do with It,” in which she called love a “second-hand emotion,” Turner epitomised 1980s style as she strutted through New York City streets with her spiky blond hair, wearing a cropped jean jacket, mini skirt, and stiletto heels.
Her 1988 show in Rio de Janeiro drew 180,000 people, which remains one of the largest concert audiences for any single performer.
By then, Turner had been free from her marriage to guitarist Ike Turner for a decade. Turner left her husband one night in 1976 on a tour stop in Dallas, after he pummelled her during a car ride and she struck back, according to her memoir. Their divorce was finalised in 1978.
The superstar was forthcoming about the abuse she suffered from her former husband during their marital and musical partnership in the 1960s and 1970s.
She described bruised eyes, busted lips, a broken jaw and other injuries that repeatedly sent her to the emergency room.
“Tina’s story is not one of victimhood but one of incredible triumph,” singer Janet Jackson wrote about Turner, in a Rolling Stone issue that placed Turner at No. 63 on a list of the top 100 artists of all time.
“She’s transformed herself into an international sensation – an elegant powerhouse,” Jackson said.
After leaving her husband, Turner spent years struggling to regain the limelight, releasing solo albums and singles that flopped and gigging at corporate conferences.
In 1980, she met new manager Roger Davies, an Australian music executive who went on to manage her for three decades. That led to a solo no. 1 – “What’s Love Got to Do With It” – and then in 1984 her album “Private Dancer” landed her at the top of the charts.
“Private Dancer” went on to become Turner’s biggest album, the capstone of a career that saw her sell more than 200 million records in total.
Most of Turner’s hit songs were written by others, but she enlivened them with a voice that New York Times music critic Jon Pareles called “one of the more peculiar instruments in pop.”
“It’s three-tiered, with a nasal low register, a yowling, cutting middle range and a high register so startlingly clear it sounds like a falsetto,” Pareles wrote in a 1987 concert review.
In 1985, Turner gave a fictional turn to her reputation as a survivor. She played the ruthless leader of an outpost in a nuclear wasteland, acting opposite Mel Gibson in the third instalment in the Mad Max franchise, “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.”
That same year, Turner met German music executive Erwin Bach who became her long-term partner and in 1988 she moved to London, beginning a decades-long residency in Europe. She released two studio albums in the 1990s that sold well, especially in Europe, recorded the theme song for 1995 Bond movie “GoldenEye,” and staged a successful world tour in 2008 and 2009.
After that, she retired from show business. She married Bach, relinquishing her U.S. citizenship and becoming a citizen of Switzerland.
She battled a number of health problems after retiring and in 2018 she faced a family tragedy, when her oldest son, Craig, took his life at age 59 in Los Angeles. Her younger son Ronnie died in December 2022.
The superstar bid a final farewell to her fans in the 2021 documentary Tina.
“Some people say the life that I lived and the performances that I gave, the appreciation … I should be proud of that. I am,” Turner said in the HBO film.
“But when do you stop being proud? I mean, when do you, how do you bow out slowly? Just go away?”
– with wires
Originally published as Legendary music icon Tina Turner dies aged 83 in her home in Switzerland
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