Rock Legend Tina Turner Dies at 83

By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

Tina Turner, the “Queen of Rock ‘n Roll’, has died at the age of 83. The superstar’s family confirmed her death in a statement on Wednesday, May 24, noting that Turner died “peacefully” at her home near Zurich, Switzerland.

Born Anna Mae Bullock in Tennessee in 1939, Tina Turner started her career in 1958 as the lead singer for Ike Turner and his Kings of Rhythm band. Later, the couple changed the name to the Ike & Tina Revue and spun out hit after hit with songs like “Nutbush City Limits,” “River Deep,” and the seminal “Proud Mary.”

Following a tumultuous and abusive relationship, Tina escaped from

Ike’s clutches in 1976 with no money and just the clothes on her back that reportedly were bloodied following Ike’s latest assault.

During divorce proceedings, Tina simply demanded that she keep her stage name which the judge granted.

With assistance from rock stars like Mick Jagger and David Bowie, Turner rebounded several years later and topped the pop music charts with her 1984 solo album, Private Dancer.

The album included a bevy of hit singles, including a remake of Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together,” and “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” which became the title of her successful 1993 biopic starring Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne.

She then enjoyed the starring role alongside Mel Gibson in the 1985 movie, “Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome.” In 1986, Tina wrote her memoir, “I, Tina,” which writers used to create the film, What’s Love Got to Do With It.”

Over her career, Turner earned 11 Grammy Awards and sold an estimated 180 million records globally.

In 2001, Turner earned induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and, in 2008, after having taken a hiatus from performing, toured the world for her 50th anniversary in show business.

Panelists gave several free tips for owners looking to market their businesses, such as knowing your customer, working with influencers, growing a network, and creating demand online.

Harrison used his network from high school basketball, the Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, and his local community to create his “ecosystem.”

“Most of my friends or people in my ecosystem are like business cards for me. They get around people just like I do,” he says. His background in product placement led him to think of influencers as a way to get his products placed and known within their expansive networks.

What’s the best way to reach more customers? That’s the big question for small business owners across the country. There are marketing tools like newsletters, advertisements, social media, press, and influencers. However, most of these options come at a cost.

The DC Chamber of Commerce 2023 Small Business Summit convened a panel of small business owners from Washington, D.C., to share easy and cost-effective ways for other owners to market their businesses.

Owners, including panelist LeGreg Harrison, co-founder of D.C.-based premium retail boutique The Museum, believed the best way to market a business was through “pay to play.”

This is the concept of putting in money to play a game or sport. In the business world, it refers to an initial financial investment to start and grow the business.

“I think that everything has to be grassroots first,” Harrison says. “If you take that vantage point, to run everything through community first, I think you will build an ecosystem of people who will buy into your brand and into your story.”

Carolina Furukrona, panelist and founder of artisanal lifestyle boutique NOVA BOSSA in D.C., spent over $20,000 on photography in her first year of business and hired a PR consultant. But found that she could do most of the work herself using free tools and applications like Canva. For fellow panelist, CEO, and founder of TCapri Spirits, Tiffany Capri Hainesworth, her misconception was needing to hire someone to do public relations or PR for her tequila brand. The powerful alternative for her was word of mouth. She knew she had a great product and a unique story that powered her ability to reach more customers.

“You don’t need someone to do that for you in the beginning. I agree with Tiffany. You are the brand. It’s your point of view. You should be doing, for the first year, your own social media as a small business owner.”

– Carolina Furukrona, Founder of Nova Bossa

Hainesworth uses the review section on her business’s website and the reviews from the Total Wine and Liquor website to promote her brand.

“I take every constructive criticism very, very seriously,” Hainesworth says. “And we post the good reviews back onto our social media.”

Although Hainesworth takes reviews, both positive and negative, into consideration, she doesn’t make every change reviewers want.

“You have to believe in yourself, and you have to believe that whatever you launch is going to be a good product,” she says.

“You know that when it launches, people are going to give you good reviews. You can take that review and put it on your social media — Instagram, Facebook — and you rave about the review and thank your customers for giving you a good review about your earthshaking product.”

– Tiffany Capri Hainesworth, CEO and Founder of TCapri Spirits

Businesses with retail spaces have a unique opportunity to work with local organizations. Furukrona’s store is in the first highend Latin market in Union Market in D.C., La Cosecha.

She used her previous experiences working in the event planning industry and with embassies to create a cultural festival hosted in the market’s space.

“What we started doing is approaching embassies to do cultural festivals with our collection drops,” she says. From this, they got 14,000 people to attend the festival at La Cosecha during the pandemic.

One of the best parts about this partnership for Furukrona was the access and free promotion this gave her business.

“In the press release, we had the embassy’s logo, our logo, and we got on the embassy’s list, which they sent to all of their people,” she says. “They usually don’t turn over their list, but having those logos with our logo brings credibility as well.”

The store and the market have hosted similar events for Guatemalan Independence Day, and with Trinidad and Tobago.

“I didn’t spend any money on it — it was just effort,” Furukrona says.

Across the panelists, being at the core of their business’s marketing helped them reach goals and customers.

Harrison says finding alignment and walking in purpose, which goes hand in hand with marketing, leads customers to businesses. And that’s a sign of a successful business.