Top 10 Shocking Things We Learned From the Tina Turner Documentary
#10: A Legacy of Heartache
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Tina Turner is an artist who has electrified the world with her incredible talent. For over sixty years, countless millions of people have fallen in love with her strength and her skill. It is heartbreaking to hear Tina tell of the very different circumstances in her private life. The 1985 interview with journalist Kurt Loder gets honest about this subject in a way that is raw and real. The iconic singer goes on to talk about how she has struggled with her perception of her worth versus her experience with other people. It is sometimes hard to imagine someone so successful in public suffering so much unhappiness in private, and this reminder of Tina’s humanity strikes a deeply emotional chord.
#9: Lonely Beginnings
Unfortunately, Turner’s feelings of being unloved go all the way back to the beginning. Raised in a volatile home, Tina’s mother Zelma had left her in the sole care of her grandparents by the time she reached adolescence. Tina never stopped missing her mother as the years went by. Sadly, the relationship between them wouldn’t ever be fully repaired. With her own background of abuse to overcome, Zelma seems to have been incapable of giving her daughter the emotional support that she craved. Despite this, Tina continued to make an effort to bridge the divide between them but it was never quite enough. It’s a painful reminder that even love has limits.
#8: What’s in a Name?
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The name Tina Turner is an iconic one, yet it was not the singer’s birth name. Still, it’s not uncommon for performers to adopt stage personas. In this case though, the change was not Tina’s choice. In an act that would become part of a long pattern of controlling tactics, her husband Ike Turner was the one who decided that her early success called for a rebranding. The now legendary name was apparently inspired by a show called Sheena Queen of the Jungle that Ike enjoyed; he chose Tina for its close rhyme to the title character. The former Anna Mae Bullock went along with him. It would take years for Tina to be able to stand up for herself where Ike was concerned.
#7: River Deep – Mountain High
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Phil Spector was one of the most highly respected popular music producers of the 1960s. He quickly recognized the potential of Tina Turner, and also that certain influences in her life might be holding her back. With Ike temporarily out of the picture, Spector and Tina would get down to work on the career milestone collaboration, “River Deep - Mountain High.” Incredibly, while the song is now recognized as one of the greatest in rock and roll history, the initial reception was nothing short of shocking. Ike Turner would speculate that racial issues of the 1960s contributed to its underwhelming performance. He likely had a point, but as Kurt Loder points out, Ike probably also enjoyed the renewed control the failure allowed him.
#6: A Shortsighted Label
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When Tina finally broke out of Ike Turner’s orbit she had big ambitions for herself. Determined to conquer rock and roll she started out by making some radical changes to her music and image. Audiences went crazy for her new direction, but labels were less excited about jumping on board. Eventually Capitol Records made the smart decision to sign her. However, in an incident that was as infuriating as it was unsurprising, a sudden leadership change almost got her dropped. The new executives were racist, ageist, and just generally unwilling to support Tina. Luckily, she and her team were undeterred. In Europe she would keep making the music she wanted to make, and find her talent more readily appreciated.
#5: No Love For “What’s Love Got to Do With It”
For many people there is one song that jumps to mind when they think of Tina Turner’s music. For the singer though it’s a career highlight she would rather forget. Turner is at the very best apathetic about her gigantic success from 1984. Even the original songwriter admits that it wasn’t a great fit for her. It was only at the urging of her manager that she agreed to at least give it a try and the rest, as they say, is history. Tina’s strong voice on the pop track created a powerful, iconic song that she reinvented in her own image. It may not be Turner’s favorite entry in her discography, but it finally helped her break through to the success she had long deserved.
#4: Unintended Consequences
After a long journey to define her life and career on her own terms, Tina Turner had more than earned the respect of being seen as an individual artist. So she was rightfully frustrated when then conversation kept coming back around to her ancient history. Her famous autobiography “I, Tina” was born not from a need to tell her story, but from the hope that it would lay to rest the interest in her painful past. Of course as we all know now that’s exactly the opposite of what happened. The book and the movie it inspired, “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” only made Tina’s survivor narrative more fascinating to the public. For better or worse, it seems like that part of her life will alway define her.
#3: Survival at a Cost
One thing that should be clear beyond a shadow of a doubt is that Tina Turner is a fighter. The woman doesn’t know how to quit and it's part of what makes her so extraordinary. What the documentary also tries to make clear though is that survival didn’t come without a price. Though she has long since moved on from her days under Ike’s tyrannical control the relationship did leave her with lasting trauma. This is a situation not made better by the constant rehashing of her darkest days by the media. And yet Tina refuses to be dominated by her shadows. This quality more than any other makes her survivor label a fitting one.
#2: Forgiveness
As if we needed another reason to admire Tina Turner, we have a lot of respect for the way she looks back at Ike now. While not excusing any of his abuse she is also able to see him for the role he played in the big picture of her life. Though she would have preferred not to have lived through what she did, she has a remarkably healthy perspective in managing her relationship to her past. This is no doubt in large part due to her Buddhist beliefs. Tina has credited Buddhism for helping give her the strength to break from Ike originally. Now later in life, it gives her the peace to come to terms with her experiences.
#1: A Final Bow?
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After more than half a century of exceptional achievements, what is left for an artist like Tina Turner to conquer? With her hard won icon status it’s almost unimaginable to think of her just willingly stepping away. However, those closest to her believe that this documentary is just that: a final farewell. In this definitive retrospective on her sprawling career we are able to see the full scope of Tina Turner’s accomplishments as well as her influence over popular culture. If this is her last public foray then she has undeniably earned her retirement. Safe to say that her presence will remain long after she has left the limelight.
