Posted on by Randy Slovacek

Showstopping Music Legend Tina Turner Dies At Age Of 83

Legendary pop/rock star Tina Turner has passed at the age of 83 Wednesday at her home near Zurich, Switzerland.
Legendary music Icon Tina Turner (image via official Facebook)

Legendary pop/rock star Tina Turner – 12-time Grammy Award winner and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee – has passed at the age of 83 Wednesday at her home near Zurich, Switzerland.

“With her, the world loses a music legend and a role model,” Turner’s publicist, Bernard Doherty, said in a statement. He added that there will be a private funeral ceremony for close friends and family members.

No cause of death has been made public although Turner had suffered a stroke in recent years. She was also known to be struggling with a kidney disease and other illnesses.

From the Washington Post:

She may have had second billing in her own group, but everyone knew who the star of the Ike and Tina Turner Revue was.

It was Tina Turner the world came to see, when she and her husband, Ike, toured with the Rolling Stones in the 1960s and scored a Grammy-winning hit with “Proud Mary” in 1971.

It was Tina Turner who ignited the stage with her raw voice and her frenzied, sweat-soaked dancing, as she became one of the most dynamic and influential performers in popular music.

And it was Tina Turner who, after walking away from the spotlight and her volatile, abusive husband, remade herself as a solo artist, selling more than 100 million records, winning eight Grammy Awards and becoming a brighter star in her 40s and 50s than she had been in her youth.

As we all know, Turner’s talent and drive propelled her to one of the most triumphant comebacks in modern rock music, reinventing herself as a liberated hit-maker topping the Billboard charts and earning the admiration of the entertainment industry and the world.

Angela Bassett, who garnered her first Oscar nomination playing Turner in the 1993 bio-pic What’s Love Got To Do With It? issued this statement to Deadline:

“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?

“Through her courage in telling her story, her commitment to stay the course in her life, no matter the sacrifice, and her determination to carve out a space in rock and roll for herself and for others who look like her, Tina Turner showed others who lived in fear what a beautiful future filled with love, compassion, and freedom should look like.”

 “Her final words to me — for me — were ‘You never mimicked me. Instead, you reached deep into your soul, found your inner Tina, and showed her to the world.’ I shall hold these words close to my heart for the rest of my days.

“I am honored to have known Tina Turner. I am humbled to have helped show her to the world. So on today, while we mourn the loss of this iconic voice and presence, she gave us more than we could have ever asked. She gave us her whole self. And Tina Turner is a gift that will always be “simply the best.” Angels, sing thee to thy rest…Queen.”

God, the hits…