The legendaryTina Turnerhas died at age 83.
Turner’s parents split up when she was young.
That changed when she began going out to some of the R&B clubs in the area.
Turner would regularly watch the show but longed to perform herself.
In 1958 they welcomed a son she named Craig.
Turner was catapulted to stardom, but her relationship with Ike was less successful.
Turner didn’t take all the credit for the success of the Ike and Tina Turner Revue, though.
While some were dismissive of The Ikettes, Turner defended them.
She said of her work with the women, “I don’t see it as cheap or vulgar.
Nor do I see myself as that.
Sex is not cheap or vulgar.
… Ike says he patterned me after Sheena of the jungle.
She was white, you know.
But I still love the look and action of long hair movin' and the short skirts shimmying.”
Turner alleged that Ike beat her with a shoe stretcher following a disagreement about travel plans.
“Maybe I was brainwashed,” she told People (viaThe Washington Post).
“I was afraid of him, and I cared what happened to him.
And I knew that if I left, there was no one to sing.”
Turner endured Ike’s abuse for years.
“I was unhappy when I woke up,” she wrote (viaPeople).
“But I came out of the darkness believing I was meant to survive.”
She finally worked up the courage to leave Ike in 1976.
On the way to a hotel, Ike struck her several times and hit her in the face.
She briefly stayed in a Ramada Inn before making her way to Los Angeles.
Turner’sturbulent marriageto Ike officially ended two years later when their divorce was finalized (viaBiography).
Turner is survived by her husband and her sons.
