Simply The Best : a tribute to TINA TURNER by Queerguru’s Music Editor Allison Ananis

As a young girl growing up in Nutbush Tennessee, Anna Mae Bullock liked to sing and recite movie dialogue to entertain her family – but by age 20 she had a new name— Tina Turner—and a blossoming music career with her partner, Ike.

Tina embarked on her career in the late 1950s, while still attending high school, when she began singing with Ike Turner and his band, the Kings of Rhythm. At first, she was only an occasional performer, but she soon became the group’s star attraction — as well as Mr. Turner’s wife. With her potent, bluesy voice and her eclectic dancing style, she made an instant impression on the music world.

Their ensemble, soon renamed the Ike and Tina Turner Revue, became one of the premier touring soul acts in Black venues on the so-called chitlin’ circuit. After the Rolling Stones invited the group to open for them, first on a British tour in 1966 and then on an American tour in 1969, white listeners in both countries began paying attention.

Ms. Turner, who insisted on adding rock songs by the Beatles and the Stones to her repertoire, reached an enormous new audience, giving the Ike and Tina Turner Revue its first Top 10 hit with her version of the Creedence Clearwater Revival song “Proud Mary” in 1971 and a Grammy Award for best R&B vocal performance by a group.

Tina’s relationship with Ike, whom she married in 1962 on a quick trip to Tijuana, Mexico, became extremely violent and tumultuous. She finally found the courage to leave him in 1976, with 36 cents and a gasoline card in her pocket, and ultimately divorced him two years later. “When I left, I was living a life of death,” she told People in 1981. “I didn’t exist. I didn’t fear him killing me when I left, because I was already dead. When I walked out, I didn’t look back.” 

Tina attributes finding her inner strength to her spiritual awakening as a Buddhist. Buddhism allowed her to become her authentic self – she evolved into a more cheerful, confident, and resilient person. She would often credit her spiritual practice with all the positive transformations—from the smallest to the largest—in both her career and personal life.

After she walked out on her marriage, encumbered with debt, Tina struggled to build a solo career, appearing in cabaret acts, before signing with Roger Davies, the manager of Olivia Newton-John, in 1979. Guided by Mr. Davies, she returned to the gritty, hard-rocking style that had made her a crossover star and would propel her through the coming decades as one of the most iconic performers of all time. 

In 1982, Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh, of the band and production company known as the British Electric Foundation, recruited Tina to record the Temptations’ 1970 hit “Ball of Confusion” for an album of soul and rock covers backed by synthesizers. Its success led to a second collaboration, a remake of Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together.” A surprise hit in the United States and Britain, it was the turning point that led to my favorite Tina Turner album, “Private Dancer.”

I listened to that album on my boombox incessantly from start to finish, day in and day out. As a little kid I was enthralled by Tina’s strong, raspy voice.  The music that she made seemed to emanate deep within her gut. Even at an early age I knew Tina was a force to be reckoned with – so I would put in that cassette tape and listen until I knew every word to every song by heart. One of my all-time favorite tracks is “I Might Have Been Queen.” This was THE song that really showcased the depth of her voice, and the lyrics perfectly aligned with her personal growth. “I’m a new pair of eyes every time I am born. An original mind because I just died. And I’m scanning the horizon for someone recognizing that I might have been queen. For every sun that sets, there is a new one dawning. For every empire crushed, there is a brand-new nation. Let the waters rise, I’ve ridden each tide.”

Aside from being one of the most legendary and talented artists of all time, Tina Turner showed others who lived in fear what a beautiful future filled with love, compassion, and freedom should look like. She is a gift that will always be “simply the best.”

Rest in peace, Queen.

Queerguru’s Music Editor ALLISON ANANIS is a graduate of Bowdoin College and also holds a Master of Public Administration from Suffolk University. Currently, she works in Health and Human Services in Boston where she also resides with her wife Meg. Weekends are spent in Provincetown where the incessant playing of her eclectic choice of music very loudly brought her to the attention of Queerguru’s Editor