Tina Turner dead: Mick Jagger, Oprah Winfrey, Questlove, Beyoncé, and two U.S. presidents honor the late icon

On Wednesday, the entertainment icon Tina Turner died at the age of 83 at her home in Küsnacht, Switzerland. Though her recording career slowed down this century, she continued to tour until 2009. And you have to work pretty hard to not have a familiarity with her biggest hits.

The singer-actress-dancer-activist born Anna Mae Bullock and famously raised in Nutbush, Tennessee won eight Grammys out of 25 nominations as a solo artist, including Record of the Year for “What’s Love Got To Do With It,” and another Grammy plus three nominations with her abusive ex-husband, Ike Turner. She was a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member and a Kennedy Center honoree, and the recent Broadway musical “Tina: The Tina Turner Musical” was nominated for a Tony Award in 2020. For a while, she was recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records for headlining the largest ticketed concert in history: 180,000 people in Brazil in 1988. (This is still the record for a solo woman headliner.)

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Someone so beloved, and with such a long career, naturally brought out the instant memorials. Mick Jagger, with whom Turner shared a close relationship in the 1960s, wrote, “The passing of my wonderful friend Tina Turner so saddens me. 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.”

Oprah Winfrey shared some images and even a video of the two on stage together. In a lengthy (for Instagram) tribute, she wrote in part, “I started out as a fan of Tina Turner, then a full-on groupie, following her from show to show around the country, and then, eventually, we became real friends. She is our forever goddess of rock ‘n’ roll who contained a magnitude of inner strength that grew throughout her life. She was a role model not only for me but for the world. She encouraged a part of me I didn’t know existed.” 

On the homepage of her website, Beyoncé, currently on the first leg of her “Renaissance” tour in Europe, wrote, “I’m so grateful for your inspiration, and all the ways you have paved the way.”

Questlove bid her goodbye, wishing her “Rest In Melody,” and former president Barack Obama called her “raw and powerful.”

Current President Joe Biden issued a statement that read, in part, “In addition to being a once-in-a-generation talent that changed American music forever, Tina’s personal strength was remarkable. Overcoming adversity, and even abuse, she built a career for the ages and a life and legacy that were entirely hers.”

Even John Cleese weighed in.

We’ll conclude with Angela Bassett, who played Turner in the biopic of her life, “What’s Love Got To Do With It” in 1993. She asked, “How do we say farewell to a woman who owned her pain and trauma and used it as a means to help change the world?” and concluded “Tina Turner is a gift that that will always be ‘simply the best.’ Angels sing thee to thy rest…Queen.”

And here’s something cool I found flying around the internet. Viva Tina!

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