Tina Turner died on Wednesday May 24 following a long illness. In sixty years of a prolific career, the American singer has asserted herself, thanks to her iconic voice and her undeniable sense of rhythm, as the queen of rock'n'roll. A look back at five successes that marked his career.
It was with her husband, Ike, that Tina Turner rose to fame when she covered Proud Mary, a bayou ballad also known as "Rolling on a River" and composed two years earlier by the band Creedence Clearwater Revival (1969 ).
On the original clip from 1971, we see Ike in the background with his guitar, afro ball and golden torque around his neck, and Tina, slicked back hair and short dress of white pearls, behind the microphone. The duo starts "nicely and smoothly", then builds muscle, over the seconds, in a funk-rock cadence tinged with Tina's gospel accents.
The song, set to the tones of Southern rhythms, tells how a servant leaves her job as a dishwasher in Memphis and New Orleans and embarks on a large steamboat descending the Mississippi.
Repeated many times by different formations, this classic of the American repertoire has been a red thread in the career of Tina Turner. His flamboyant duet with Beyoncé in 2008, for the 50th anniversary of the Grammys, became legendary.
Tina separated from her abusive husband in 1976, after twenty years of beatings. Without a producer, it fell almost into oblivion in the United States. "Given my age, 39, my gender and the color of my skin, let's say I was facing headwinds," she says in her autobiography. In the United States, she skims TV sets and small rooms, while in Europe she makes beautiful posters.
With Private Dancer, an album offered to her in 1984, Tina Turner returned to grace in her country. "What's Love got to do with it" would become the king single of his entire career. It will earn him the Grammy for best recording of the year in 1985. The song written by Terry Britten and Graham Lyle should have originally been sung by Cliff Richard, but, due to a misunderstanding, it passes through many hands. before falling to Tina Turner. The hit joined the pantheon of world music by obtaining a Grammy Hall of Fame in 2012.
Tina Turner, who had already distinguished herself as the delirious "Acid Queen" in Tommy - the rock opera of The Who in 1975 - was chosen to play in Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome alongside Mel Gibson. In this new adventure of anticipation, she also performs the soundtrack with "We Don't Need Another Hero", a new song by Graham Lyle and Terry Britten which becomes another planetary hit.
In the summer of 1985, the title was number 1 in Australia, number 2 in the United States and number 3 in the United Kingdom. For this futuristic role, Tina Turner did not hesitate to shave her head to screw on an impressive synthetic blonde crest enhanced with two oversized hoops. She wears a 55 kg dress cut from chain mail with giant shoulder pads.
The queen of rock excels in covers. Originally sung by Bonnie Tyler in 1988, the title was taken up the following year by Tina on her album Foreign Affair, and was a huge success. Some 6 million copies were sold in 1988.
In 1992, 'The Best', renamed 'Simply the Best', was chosen to promote the Australian Rugby Championship. Thanks to its advertising clip animated by the flamboyant Tina in the middle of sweaty and sexy rugby players, the National Rugby League will never be like before. Soon, the anthem was taken up in the United States before certain baseball or football games. Tina becomes the stadium goddess.
After the box of Mad Max, she is chosen for the credits of the eponymous James Bond, with Pierce Brosnan in the title role. In her silver dress slit over her shapely legs, the singer, now in her fifties, brings all her vocal power to the score of Bono and The Edge, of the group U2, in the pure tradition of the 007 theme.
