Tina Turner: the 9 most beautiful songs

Unlike many of her colleagues who, to keep fans interested over time, have changed their hairstyles and musical genres, Tina Turner has always remained true to herself, both in style and grit. She showed off her long lioness hair to the last, but also her slender and toned legs, stiletto heels, flaming red lipstick that has now become a trademark and a hoarse, powerful voice that has entered the hearts of millions of people thanks to timeless successes such as (Simply) The Best And Nutbush City limits. Today that we hear the news of his death at the age of 83, the world of rock’n roll and music mourn one of the most charismatic and iconic performers in history, one of the first to admit to practicing Buddhism well before it went out of fashion. In her life, after all, Tina Turner badly needed serenity: from poverty in the cotton fields in Tennessee where she lived to the abandonment of her mother up to the violence suffered by the then manager and later husband Ike, Tina Turner, stage name of Anna Mae Bullockhe had more than one reason to quit, but he never did.

Thanks to the children she has always loved and, above all, to the music that has allowed her to bear the many difficulties she has been forced to deal with in her life – from stroke to cancer, until the suicide of his son Craig – with his head held high, with that vibrant voice and that magnetism he exercised both on stage and in his portraits. Like the one on the cover of Vanity Fair America from 1993, with the white balloon dress, legs slightly apart and mouth open in front of an imaginary microphone that will continue to live in our memory for many more decades just like his songs, go right into rock history.

Here are some of Tina Turner’s most timeless songs.

Ike and Tina Turner, A fool in love (1960)

The early R&B hits of Ike, her pygmalion and first husband, and Tina Turner are one of sheer musical power, but also a certain restlessness in lyrical content. The duo’s first single introduces Tina’s exaggerated howling and a lyric about a troubled relationship in which her man mistreats her but “makes me smile while my heart aches”. Those words were written by Ike Turner, who has repeatedly used violence against the woman.

Ike and Tina Turner, I idolize you (1960)

It is among the strangest and, at times, disturbing lyrics because it perfectly represents the psychological subjection that Ike exercised on Tina Turner, who at one point says in a verse that «I just need a little of your attention, you know it will help me ».

Ike and Tina Turner, River Deep – Mountain High (1966)

Phil Spector had seen theIke & Tina Turner Revue – their live show – and had decided to record this single, written by Spector with Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, for his label, the Philles. At first the single was a flop, but over the years it turned into one of the singer’s biggest hits.

Ike and Tina Turner, Proud Mary (1971)

“We never do anything nice and simple. We always do it in a kind and approximate way ». So Tina Turner introduces her biggest hit with Ike, a lively remake of Creedence Clearwater Revival which has topped the US charts.

The Acid Queen (1975)

For the film version of Tommy of the Who, Tina Turner is chosen to play Acid Queen, the gypsy with a wild scream and bursting lips who uses sex and drugs to try to cure her boyfriend. She is the ultimate expression of female empowerment, also because not too long after Tina finally manages to find the strength to separate from Ike.

What’s Love Got to Do With It (1984)

In the eighties Tina is 40 years old: the songs of private dancer, her groundbreaking solo album, are written mostly by men, but fit perfectly with the spirit of an independent woman who can’t resign herself to being on her own. What’s Love Got to Do With Itin particular, is the story of a heartbroken woman who is afraid to try again with love.

Better be good to me (1984)

Written together with Holly Knight, it is a confident and provocative request for a man: “I don’t need what you vaguely call the truth.” Oh yeah?

We Don’t Need Another Hero (Thunderdome) (1985)

With white hair and a post-apocalyptic tribal dress worn for the film Mad Max Beyond Thunderdomein which she co-stars with Mel Gibson, Tina Turner sings a clean track made iconic by her unmistakable vocal scratch.

The Best (1989)

Originally recorded by Bonnie Tyler, The Best it is, on paper, a song dedicated to a lover. But if we listen carefully, it could be a hymn to Tina herself: “You’re simply the best, better than everyone else.”

More stories from Vanity Fair that may interest you:

• Tina Turner, the most beautiful vintage photos of the queen of rock’n’roll
• Star tribute to Tina Turner: “What a life, what a career”
• The violence of her first husband Ike, the love for Erwin, the tragic death of her children: the stormy life of Tina Turner