Tina Turner performs in Rotterdam, Netherlands, on Nov. 4, 1990. Photo by Rob Verhorst/Redferns.

Superstar Tina Turner, an icon for both showmanship and resilience, has died at 83 after a long illness, near Zurich, Switzerland, her home for the last years of her life.

Turner sang on iconic recordings of “Proud Mary,” “Nutbush City Limits” and “River Deep, Mountain High” with her ex-husband, and later as a solo artist on ’80s hits like  “What’s Love Got to Do with It” and “We Don’t Need Another Hero.”

Turner is a two-time member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (with her husband and as a solo artist) and 11-time Grammy winner. Her records sold more than 150 million copies. Fans have lionized Turner after she escaped her physically abusive marriage to Ike, and for staging one of the greatest comebacks in music history, scoring a huge hit in 1984 with her album Private Dancer, after a string of unsuccessful solo albums.

Thousands of fans showed appreciation online, among them the likes of Mick Jagger, former President Barack Obama and Beyoncé.

“She was truly an enormously talented performer and singer,” Mick Jagger wrote online. “She was inspiring, warm, funny and generous. She helped me so much when I was young and I will never forget her.”

I’m so saddened by the passing of my wonderful friend Tina Turner.
She was truly an enormously talented performer and singer. She was inspiring, warm, funny and generous. She helped me so much when I was young and I will never forget her. pic.twitter.com/TkG5VrdxXO

— Mick Jagger (@MickJagger) May 24, 2023

Turner, who was born Anna Mae Bullock on Nov. 26, 1939 in rural Tennessee, rose to stardom with ex-husband Ike Turner first as part of his Kings of Rhythm in 1957, and then later scored her first hit as Tina Turner in 1960 with the duet single “A Fool in Love.” She made the duo a runaway success, but wbehind the scenes, her husband beat her ruthlessly.

In a memoir, “I, Tina,” she wrote how the violence started soon after they met, in the 1950s. He would choke her, threw hot coffee at her face, punched her and raped her. Often, he forced her to perform after his abuse. She performed with a collapsed lung, a mouth full of blood, and ailments like pneumonia and bronchitis. She left him in 1976, infamously running out of their hotel room as he slept with nothing but change in her pocket, and running through highway traffic to escape. The powerful story became a powerful symbol of women’s empowerment and was made into the 1993 film “What’s Love Got To Do With It,” starring Angela Bassett.

She was one of the first celebrities to publicly address domestic violence.

“Tina Turner was raw. She was powerful. She was unstoppable,” Obama wrote online. “And she was unapologetically herself—speaking and singing her truth through joy and pain; triumph and tragedy.”

Tina Turner was raw. She was powerful. She was unstoppable. And she was unapologetically herself—speaking and singing her truth through joy and pain; triumph and tragedy. Today we join fans around the world in honoring the Queen of Rock and Roll, and a star whose light will never… pic.twitter.com/qXl2quZz1c

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) May 24, 2023

Turner didn’t start her solo career until her 40s, releasing several solo albums after divorcing Ike. After 1974’s Rough proved a commercial failure, 1979’s Love Explosion (which was released in the U.K. and Italy but not in the U.S.) failed to reach the charts, and she lost her recording contract.

In one of the greatest reversals of fortune ever, Tina Turner returned to the studio and scored her biggest commercial success with 1984’s Private Dancer, which sold more than 12 million copies worldwide and won Turner a Grammy for Best Song in 1985, with “What’s Love Got To Do With It?” The song reached No. 1. on U.S. charts.

Her stiletto-like vocal rasp cut through the muddy Motown R&B mixes, evoking a soulful urgency on songs like “Proud Mary,” which, while a cover of John Fogerty’s hit with Creedence Clearwater Revival, became synonymous with her resilience as the song’s titular hero and Turner fused into a single inspirational character in America’s musical consciousness. Turner was also renowned for her showmanship on stage. From her frenetic early performances with Ike, to her sultry and age-defying stage presence well into her golden years. 

Turner’s vocals also sizzled on the more muted and synthesizer-heavy hits of her Private Dancer period, offering up a wonderfully textured ear candy on songs like “What’s Love Got To Do With It.”

She remained a self-sufficient sex symbol well into middle age.

She also enjoyed a storied career on screen, appearing in the Rolling Stones documentary “Gimme Shelter,” as The Acid Queen’ in The Who’s “Tommy,” Aunty Entity in “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome” and The Mayor in 1992’s “Last Action Hero,” to name just a few.

The words legendary, iconic, diva, and superstar are often overused and yet Tina Turner embodies them all and so many more – an incredible performer, musician and trailblazer. To me, she will always be a survivor and an inspiration to women everywhere. Her music will continue to… pic.twitter.com/ur7djmFHnW

— Mariah Carey (@MariahCarey) May 24, 2023