Tina Turner's death, though she’d been ill for several years, felt like a gut punch for many. Whether you'd seen her perform live, on TV or grew up listening to her raspy voice belt out gutsy songs, there was something magnificent about being in the world at the same time as she was.
Born into poverty in Tennessee and abandoned by her parents at 11, she endured years of domestic abuse until she'd had enough. “Do you realize you’re a feminist hero?” Larry King asked her in 1997.
“I’m beginning to,” Tina replied. And she took on that role with the same passion as she did her musical career.
Remembering Tina
Tributes are pouring in from celebs to the White House to Cleveland, Ohio where the Rock 'N' Roll Hall of Fame, into which Tina was twice inducted and supported the decision to build it on the shores of Lake Erie because, she wrote in 1985, “The roots of Rock 'N' Roll run deep in Cleveland.”
Known for her seemingly endless energy while on stage, Turner told Oprah that she had no special exercise routine other than staying active, eating well and “never smoking, never drinking and never …