Tina Turner Has Passed Away

DEVASTATING News. Rest in power.

Simply the best.

Not just a Super Star. A Super Woman.

Updated On: 5/24/23 at 02:57 PM

The Greatest. Her like will never be seen again. RIP

RIP to a legend.

It's upsetting to think of how few genuine legends we have left.

Kenneth Anger also died in the last 24 hours. Some people you simply think are going to live forever.

For many of us, this will be the biggest gut punch since Sondheim’s passing.

Training staff today. Trying to keep it together until tonight. I predict a good cry in my hotel room tonight. No words suffice to describe her impact on me & the world.

The music world lost a true icon! The Queen of Rock & Roll has left this earth! May she rest in peace!

I was 4 years old when Tina Turner released the song "What's Love Got to Do with It?" and it was the first time in my short life that I ever noticed a song entirely on my own--that I said, "Hey, I like that!" Until then I had only heard standard kid fare, like "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" and "The Wheels on the Bus." I quickly became obsessed with "What's Love Got to Do with It?" and the music video. I would walk around the house singing it, driving my family crazy because I really didn't know or understand the lyrics. My sister kept trying to explain to me that the lyric is not "What's love but a second hand in motion" but actually "What's love but a second hand emotion." I certainly did not understand the difference, but boy did I love that song.

Around age 6, one of my 13-year-old brother's friends made fun of me when I proudly announced Tina Turner was my favorite singer. He was shocked and concerned and informed me that I can't like her because she's "88 years old." (She was in her 40s at the time, so I have no idea what that was about.) I didn't listen to him anyway, because with her stylish hair and denim jacket in that video she was simply the coolest thing ever. Wasn't it obvious to everyone? Oh and she was a woman totally in charge in that video, another thing my young self had never seen.

We had these very nice next-door neighbors, and one time their teenage kids played a harmless cute little trick on me. I forget what it was because it was so insignificant. Again, I was 6 or 7. But I was livid about it and demanded that to make things better they "buy me a Tina Turner poster." A few days later they actually showed up at my house with a poster--but Madonna. They said they looked all over the mall for Tina but couldn't find her, so would Madonna do? My mother was very annoyed that I guilted these older kids into buying me a poster, and she told them they really shouldn't have, but what could she do? I was allowed to keep it.

Ten years ago, in my 30s, I hadn't heard the song in a while. So one day I listened to it, just the song, no music video, over and over again, and got in touch with my little young self. Thanks, Tina, for introducing me to real music.

I think we are all born sleeping within ourselves, slowly waking up to who we actually are (if we are permitted, if we are allowed to bloom). I would honestly say that this song was one of maybe 15 significant awakenings across my life because it showed me real music for the first time, and music is one of the most important things to me as an adult, from Bach to Broadway.

Updated On: 5/24/23 at 07:02 PM

I first saw her live (with Ike) when I was about 10 years old. I will never get that Proud Mary out of my head.