The takeaway from the HBO Tina Turner documentary? The woman is a genuine force of nature. Yet at the same time, she’s like the calm in the eye of some of the worst storms that can afflict a human life.
It almost goes without saying: What a voice! What a dancer and entertainer! And at the risk of making a statement some may feel is tinged with sexism: What gams!
At 81 years old, retired from singing and living in opulent luxury in Zurich, Switzerland, with her adoring husband Erwin Bach (16 years her junior), Tina has truly earned her happiness and rewards, as seen in the doc “Tina.”
Her life story is an iconic American tale that began on just about the lowest rungs of our nation’s social and economic ladder. Born into sharecropper poverty, Tina, née Anna Mae Bullock, hails from the tiny, evocatively-named town of Nutbush, Tennessee. She grew up working in the fields. Both her mother and father tossed her off at various points to relatives as they bowed out of the parenthood picture.
After she got up to sing during a break in an Ike Turner club show in St. Louis at age 18 in 1957, she quickly became the group’s featured singer. Ike renamed her Tina. By the early 1960s, the Ike & Tina Turner Revue were one of the most dynamic, roof-raising acts on the R&B “chitlin’ circuit.” By the end of the decade they had crossed over to win the rock’n’roll audience.
Yet for all the success to be enjoyed, Ike’s control freak strictness and violently abusive ways made Tina’s life a living hell for many years, especially as his cocaine addiction spiraled out of control. In 1976, she fled him with little more than the clothes on her back.
The doc recounts how she started over as a solo, and finally, with the guidance of manager Roger Davies, began her ascent to the pinnacle of superstardom. She has sold more than 100 million records, won a dozen Grammy Awards, and toured around the world to rapturous audiences. With a voice that’s a blowtorch fueled by honey and a classic entertainer’s verve and charisma, she danced and sang her way to well-deserved true legend stature. Her autobiography was a best-seller, and the movie based on her life story was a hit. In 2009, Turner retired from performing at the top of her game.
For all the hard times, privations, scars, bruises and other travails that she suffered before her star power went supernova, Tina retained her soul, dignity and innate class. Though I never formally interviewed Turner, I did spend time with her at a photo session when I was writing an article about the photographer, Laura Levine, for a short-lived magazine, “Rock Photo.”
In my own dealings with Turner that day as well as her interactions during the shoot with Levine, the singer was kind, gracious, modest, friendly and delightfully good humored. She showed not even the slightest hint of diva attitude and behavior. Already well on her way in her ascent to global fame and success, Tina brimmed with a sense of class and dignity that certain other stars could learn a thing or two from observing. And even if she suffered mightily in her youth and years married to Ike – who, it must be noted, was one of the initial musical architects of rock’n’roll with the 1951 #1 R&B chart song “Rocket 88,” credited to Jackie Brenston, a saxophonist with Mr. Turner’s band, and recorded at Sun Studio, where Elvis Presley started his recording career three years later – Tina seems quite free of any bitterness regarding her past.
As the film points out, practicing Buddhism has helped bring peace and happiness to Turner’s soul. But no matter what the emotions in any song she sings, Tina can channel and project it in a fashion that makes the listener deeply feel the vibe. She’s a shining light among musical talents and celebrities, and the doc is a fascinating and ultimately sweet and satisfying tale from which we all can learn a thing or two about living well in spite of whatever challenges life throws our way.
Music Album: “Dreamers Are Waiting” by Crowded House – It’s been more than a decade since the group has issued a new album of original songs. The line-up now includes bandleader Neil Finn’s two sons and the act’s longtime producer, Mitchell Froom. They remain the gold standard for smart, canny and sophisticated pop, and even if there’s a slightly jaundiced eye winking here and there in the lyrics, this disc is a layer cake of musical beauty created with humanity and soul.
TV Documentary: “The Framing of John DeLorean” – When the visionary General Motors executive left the company in the 1970s to start his own automotive firm, great things were expected from his company. But by the end of the decade it had only begun to roll out its flagship sports cars and was massively in debt. DeLorean’s arrest for a multimillion dollar cocaine deal in an attempt to shore up financing made him something of a public joke even though he was found not guilty. With dramatized segments starring Alec Baldwin as DeLorean, this is a bit of an odd duck of a doc that nonetheless tells this fascinating tale of American entrepreneurialism rather effectively.
Rob Patterson is a music and entertainment writer in Austin, Texas. Email orca@prismnet.com.
From The Progressive Populist, August 1, 2021
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