Tina Turner: legendary rock’n’roll singer dies aged 83

Editor Stephen Hill  24th May 2023

legendary rock’n’roll singer Tina Turner passes away at the age of 83.

The singer who initially found fame in a turbulent musical partnership, became one of the biggest acts in the world as a solo artist and one of the defining pop icons of the 1980s  

The singer has been suffering ill health in recent years, having being diagnosed with intestinal cancer in 2016 and having a kidney transplant in 2017.  

 The singer publicist Bernard Doherty said: “Tina Turner, the ‘Queen of Rock’n Roll’ has died peacefully today at the age of 83 after a long illness in her home in Kusnacht near Zurich, Switzerland. 

Turner affirmed and amplified Black women’s formative stake in rock’n’roll, defining that era of music to the extent that Mick Jagger admitted to taking inspiration from her high-kicking, energetic live performances for his stage persona.  

After two decades of working with her abusive husband, Ike Turner, she struck out alone and – after a few false starts – became one of the defining pop icons of the 1980s with the album Private Dancer. Her life was chronicled in three memoirs, a biopic, a jukebox musical, and in 2021, the acclaimed documentary film, Tina.  

The singer made her recorded debut under the name with the Ike and Tina Turner single A Fool in Love in July 1960, which broke the US Top 30 and started a run of respectable chart success. 

But it was their live performances that made them a sensation. Ike toured the Ike and Tina Turner Revue aggressively on the Chitlin’ Circuit – including in front of desegregated audiences, such was their commercial power. 

Tributes have been poring in from Stars including Sir Mick Jagger, Gloria Gaynor, Elton John and Naomi Campbell were among the first to pay tribute to Turner, widely referred to as the Queen of Rock and Roll, following the announcement. 

 Rolling Stones frontman Sir Mick took to Instagram to honour his friend. He wrote: “I’m so saddened by the passing of my wonderful friend Tina Turner. She was truly an enormously talented performer and singer. “She was inspiring, warm, funny and generous. She helped me so much when I was young and I will never forget her.”  

Turner sold more than 100 million records worldwide, including certified Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) album sales of 10 million.