Today (May 24), devastating news was announced. Pioneering music legend Tina Turner has passed away at the age of 83.
Known to many across the globe as the Queen of Rock’n Roll, the “Proud Mary” singer died after a long illness at her home in Küsnacht near Zurich, Switzerland, according to Deadline. “With her, the world loses a music legend and a role model,” her U.K. spokesperson, Bernard Doherty, said of the late icon in a statement. The Brownsville, Tennessee native began her career as the lead singer of the Ike & Tina Turner Revue before going solo and reaching international fame.
Her volatile relationship with Ike was told in the 1993 biopic What’s Love Got to Do With It? starring Angela Bassett. The cult-classic film was named after Tina’s 1984 hit single from her album Private Dancer. Other notable songs that catapulted her career include “Nutbush City Limits,” “The Best,” and “Rolling On The River.” Just last month, the icon reflected on the major motion picture during an interview for TIME magazine’s annual “TIME100” list which featured Bassett. “I was a little bit skeptical when work began on the 1993 film. First of all, who are they going to find to sing, dance, and act like me?” the hitmaker recalled.
She admitted to being proud of the actress because she “never mimicked” her, instead, she found her “inner Tina, and showed her to the world.” The adoration for the trailblazer has manifested in other ways. “Tina: The Tina Turner Musical” is currently on Broadway “rolling across North America,” as the official website states. The production released a statement saying they are “deeply saddened to share the news,” noting that her “contribution as an iconic music artist and performer, her influence on fellow artists and her inspiration to generations who followed her is legendary.”
A cause of death has not yet been revealed.