Tina Turner

By Anthony Ewart

TINA TURNER NEVER wanted to be an icon, she only wanted a better life. The path Tina took to enhance her life, and the sacrifices she made for her children is an iconic testimony to self-preservation and survival. In her song "Two People," Tina sings that you need "Two People who love each other to provide shelter for a rainy day." The reality is Tina Turner had to learn to provide protection for herself and her four children, two of whom she adopted from Ike Turner. In 1976 Tina Turner was a world renown star, yet on July 1st of that year in Dallas she was hiding from Ike Turner in a Ramada Inn, with 36 cents and a Mobil gas card to her name. This was a milestone in Tina's life, and the beginning of her true destiny towards her iconic status.

There's a reason Mattel's BARBIE franchise chose to honor Tina Turner with her own "What's Love Got To Do With It" Barbie Doll, she is a true example of a woman who fought for her personal and artistic freedom. Tina's remarkable accomplishments are forgotten today, but in November 1967, she was the first female artist and black woman to appear on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. "Nutbush City Limits," a song Tina composed herself, earned her and Ike Turner a Golden European Record Award, which was the first ever bestowed for selling more than one million records in Europe.

Tina Turner has sold approximately 100 to 150 million records worldwide, with certified RIAA album sales of 10 million. She's been inducted into the

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice, once with Ike Turner in 1991 and again in 2021 for her achievements as a solo performer. She's won 12 Grammy Awards, including eight categorized as competitive wins, and yet with all of these accolades, the greatest accomplishment Tina Turner made in this world is proving that none of us are victims of the circumstances we are born into. In addition, perhaps more importantly, we are not held prisoners by the mistakes we make in our past. The drama and anxiety of escaping Ike Turner was already made into a movie called "What's Love Got To Do With It," it's what happened after Tina left Ike that firmly established her as an iconic individual. Tina Turner continued to produce and be creative and involved in the world, despite the pain of her personal past.

Oprah Winfrey was quoted saying this about Tina Turner: "We don't need another hero. We need more heroines like you, Tina. You make me proud to spell my name w-o-m-a-n. Thousands of women and men who pay tribute to Tina's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame respect and admire her the way Oprah and Mariah Carey do, as a survivor of unprecedented strength and resilience. Tina Turner made a decision to take care of herself before the #metoo movement, before second-wave feminism and even before racial integration. Tina Turner's passion and love of life could never be thwarted or stifled and suppressed. Regardless of whatever cultural and social restrictions were placed on Tina Turner she broke free of those chains and created a better life for herself.

Tina Turner is an iconic singer, performer, humanitarian and human. Cliche as it may sound, Tina was "Simply The Best."

By Alex A. Kecskes

Founder of the Creative Center for the Arts and the Los Angeles Acting Conservatory, Michelle Danner is wellestablished as a film director and acting coach/mentor.