Tina-Turner.co.uk

Children Beyond

2011-12-13T02:05:00.000-08:00

The rock legend Tina Turner, the Christian Regula Curti and the Buddhist Dechen Shak-Dagsay are releasing their new CD - 'Children Beyond'. This is the follow-up project to the successful 'Beyond' CD which gave the singers' musical interpretation of Christianity and Tibetan Buddhism traditions and sold over 100,000 copies worldwide. It was not only these three singers who contributed to 'Children Beyond' but also thirty children. The CD is a musical interpretation of prayers and mantras from the five world religions and Sikhism. These were set to music by Roland Frei from NJP-Studios with a bridging combination of East-West melodies. The children sang the prayers and songs on 'Children Beyond' in the old languages of Arabic, Hebrew, Latin and Sanskrit. Furthermore, the singers were selected in consultation with various religious leaders to reflect different religious beliefs.

Tina Turner 2012 Calendar

2011-09-28T12:10:00.000-07:00

Get yourself's the new tin Calendar

Tina Turner SKY TV Live In Holland

2011-08-02T10:09:00.000-07:00

The legs, the lips, the hair and the voice - Tina Turner has been entertaining crowds for more than 50 years.

And now, kick-starting Bio’s Month of Music, you can catch the legend in concert on her recent sell-out stadium tour.

The Queen of rock and roll, who President George W. Bush proclaimed had ‘the most famous legs in show business’, Tina Turner has been belting out the hits for more than a century.

She took to the road on a worldwide comeback tour in 2008/9 to celebrate her golden anniversary. This concert, which was released on DVD as Tina Live, was filmed in front of 90,000 adoring fans in Arnhem, the Netherlands, and features many of her greatest hits.

With her trademark powerful voice, mane of wild hair and dance moves that belie the fact the icon is now in her seventies, Tina always puts on a fantastic show, and she works her way through her back catalogue, with her belting out Proud Mary, Nutbush City Limits and River Deep, Mountain High. There are a few covers, too, including Get Back, Jumpin’ Jack Flash and Addicted To Love.

All the big numbers which have helped her to sell more than 180 million records worldwide are also here, including Steamy Windows, What’s Love Got To Do With It, James Bond theme Goldeneye and Private Dancer.

Watching Tina give everything she’s got, it’s easy to see why – after all these years – she’s still simply the best.

Music Month: Tina Turner BIO: SAT 6 AUG, 9PM

Tina Paintings

2011-07-15T13:06:00.000-07:00

Various painting of Tina from the web

Tina Wallpaper 93

2011-04-13T14:07:00.000-07:00

Photography by Michel Comte

Tina Turner Wallpaper

2011-04-05T15:09:00.001-07:00

Tina Turner Photography by Michel Comte

taken around the wildest dreams release.

Beyond - Tina Turner, Dechen Shak-Dagsay and Regula Curti

2011-01-26T08:11:00.000-08:00

Long time Buddist Tina Turner has released a Buddhism and Christian album titled "Beyond".

The album is a very spiritual and peaceful album unlike any other album she has recorded. The album was released in 2010 in Europe.

CD Description

New Earth Records proudly presents this collaboration of talented musicians - Tina Turner, Dechen Shak-Dagsay and Regula Curti - sharing a vision that reveals the oneness that is within us all. The CD features a 6 page digipack and a beautiful 36 page booklet. With the CD Beyond New Earth Records wish to share their vision that whoever we may be, whatever religion we may come to - when we pray and our prayers come from the deepest of our hearts, a transformation takes place and we find ourselves 'Beyond right and wrong'. We experience the immense power of deep spirituality whenever we chant together although each person is praying in his own tradition. In this CD we have Tina Turner chanting three Buddhist prayers and a spiritual message, Dechen Shak-Dagsay singing Buddhist prayers, and Regula Curti singing Christian prayers.

Steamy Windows Wide-screen Wallpaper

2010-12-29T02:30:00.001-08:00

Tina Turner - Wallpapers

2010-12-20T03:33:00.001-08:00

Break Every Rule Gallery

2010-12-20T02:50:00.001-08:00

Tina Turner - Don't turn around

2010-12-20T02:42:00.000-08:00

D. Warren, A. Hammond)
Producers: Bryan Adams and Bob Clearmountain
Album: The Collected Recordings (94)
B-SIDE OF THE "TYPICAL MALE" SINGLE

If you wanna leave I won't beg you to stay
And if you gotta go darling maybe it's better that way
I'm gonna be strong, I'm gonna do fine
Don't worry about this heart of mine
Just walk out that door, see if I care
Go on and go now but

Don't turn around
Cause you're gonna see my heart breaking
Don't turn around
I don't want you seeing me cry
Just walk away
It's tearing me apart that you're leaving
I'm letting you go
But I won't let you know

I won't miss your arms around me holding me tight
If you ever think about me just know that I'll be alright
I'm gonna be strong, I'm gonna do fine
Don't worry about this heart of mine
I know I'll survive, sure i'll make it through
And I'll even learn to live without you

Don't turn around
Cause you're gonna see my heart breaking
Don't turn around
I don't want you seeing me cry
Just walk away
It's tearing me apart that you're leaving
I'm letting you go
But i won't let you know

I wish I could scream out loud that I love you
I wish I could say to you don't go, don't go, don't go

Don't turn around
Cause you're gonna see my heart breaking
Don't turn around
I don't want you seeing me cry
Just walk away
It's tearing me apart that you're leaving
I'm letting you go
But i won't let you know

Tina Turner - Keep your hands off my baby.

2010-12-20T02:33:00.000-08:00

A great Tina Turner Track, It was only released as a B-side on the German Private Dancer Single.

Keep Your Hands of My Baby
(t. kelly, b. steinberg)
Producer: carter
Album: non-album track
B-side of the german private dancer single

I've seen the way that you look at him,
When you think I'm not around,
And I've seen you try to catch his eyes,
And you think you're gainin' ground.
You know last night he told me,
Everything that you said,
You asked him if he gets lonely,
Well then get this through your head

Keep your hands off my baby,
Keep your hands off my baby,
Don't you know you better give it up,
Give it up, give it up, give it up, give it up,
Don't you know you better stop, better stop,
Leave my baby alone.

I've seen the way that you brushed back your hair,
I've heard your baby-talk,
I know just what you're thinkin' there,
Ooo, I'm watchin' what you want.
You know it took a lot of patience,
To win my baby's love,
Now you're tryin' my patience,
If you push, I'm gonna shove.

Keep your hands off my baby,
Keep your hands off my baby,
Don't you know you better give it up,
Give it up, give it up, give it up, give it up,
Don't you know you better stop, better stop,
Leave my baby alone (yeah).

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah....

I've seen the way that you look at him,
When you think I'm not around,
I've seen you try to catch his eyes,
And you think you're gainin' ground.
You know last night he told me,
Everything that you said,
You asked him if he gets lonely,
Well get this through your head.

Keep your hands off my ....,
Keep your hands off my baby,
Keep your hands off my baby,
Don't you know you better give it up,
Give it up, give it up, give it up, give it up,
Don't you know you better stop, better stop,
Leave my baby ....

Give it up (yeah), give it up (yeah), said give it up (yeah),
Give it up (yeah), give it up (yeah),
Don't you know you better stop, (better stop),
Leave my baby alone

Wallpapers from 2008

2010-07-16T03:05:00.001-07:00

Tina Turner Break every Rule wallpapers

2010-07-12T08:27:00.000-07:00

Tina's 247 wallpapers

2010-07-12T08:26:00.000-07:00

Tina Turner Wallpaper Simply The best Collection

2010-07-12T08:24:00.000-07:00

6 Tina Turner Wallpapers

2010-06-20T03:40:00.000-07:00

Tina Turner - 7 Wallpapers

2009-12-20T03:34:00.000-08:00

60 is nothing for women these days...Mail Online Interview 2009

2009-07-07T15:50:00.000-07:00

60 is nothing for women these days... in today's world you can be the woman you want to be, says Tina Turner as she takes her leg on tour again at 69

By Robin Eggar

During the interval at Tina Turner's concert in Chicago last month, I was chatting to her manager, Roger Davies, when up chugged an electric buggy, its passenger smothered in a white towelling robe, nodding her head in time to an imaginary beat.

Then she raised her head, tossed back a mane of hair and unleashed that grin, the one that begins near one ear, shows all her teeth and stretches way into the other cheek.

Only Tina can wear a dressing gown as if it were a designer winter coat. She was wearing such a coat, flashing such a smile, on our first meeting on a frozen Paris afternoon 25 years ago: an elegant woman very much at odds with a stage persona that would make a burlesque dancer blush. A lady with a terrible tale to tell.

The past 25 years have been kinder to Tina than she could ever have dreamt. She is a rock'n'roll icon who has sold millions of albums and performed before millions more people.

Now, after an eight-year retirement that everyone - including Tina - believed was final, she's back on stage.

She had been talking of retirement since the early Nineties. She has always wanted to spend 'real time' at her homes in Kuesnacht, overlooking the lake in Zurich, and the South of France.

'For the whole of my career I've lived in hotels,' she says, when we meet again after her recent show at Madison Square Garden in New York. 'I wanted to be at home and that is exactly what I have done, I have enjoyed just driving backwards and forwards from France to Switzerland, through the mountains. I didn't miss the stage, I wanted solitude and I got that. It was one long wonderful chill-out.'

However, her friends had other ideas. America's queen of chat, Oprah Winfrey, regularly stays with Tina on her way to Africa.

'There is a lot of laughter,' Tina says. 'In the evening we drink champagne and enjoy more loud laughter. We definitely knew each other in another lifetime.'

Oprah was always nagging Tina to go back on stage and persuaded her to make an appearance at the White House.

But the real push came at Giorgio Armani's Milan fashion show in 2006. Tina was sitting next to Sophia Loren, who said: 'Tina, when are you going back to work? You were born with a gift, so it is your duty.'

'I said: "I thought I was able to stop when I am ready. I didn't know I have to continue until I'm 100."'

'When I went to say goodbye to Giorgio, he said: "When are you going back to work? It is time." I started to think more and more about it. Then I began to look around - a lot of the acts of my time are back. The Rolling Stones, the Eagles, Tina Turner. We are the Mozarts of these times, we've proved that we can last.

'So I decided if I'm going to do it, this is the time I can still do it and live up to the expectations of the crowd.'

She called manager Roger Davies and he assembled the usual crew: the musicians, dancers, stage designer Mark Fisher, choreographer Toni Basil and, of course, the king of sequins, dress designer Bob Mackie.

'I am going back to my roots with Bob,' she laughs, 'I must have one dress or the crowd might hose me out of the joint. I can't go on without the high heels, lipstick, hair - and make sure you bring the legs along. People always want to see Tina Turner's legs.'

Although she has been a legendary performer since the early Sixties, Tina's second career took off only in 1985, with the mega-selling Private Dancer.

She was 47, an age when most rock stars are looking to slow down. Today, there are those who carp that Madonna is too old to strut her stuff at 50.

'What would they say about me now,' she chuckles, before getting serious. 'As the spiritualist writer Deepak Chopra has said: "We have been given a new old age."

'A 50-year-old woman is equivalent to 40 when I was growing up. If you take care of yourself, 60 is nothing for women these days. In today's world you can be the kind of woman you want to be. I remember my grandmother wearing the apron and the hairdo, but that's gone. Believe me, that is totally finished.'

She grins: 'So what can you do? Keep up with fashion, keep up with your figure and the clothes you wear. I am an American size ten, which I think in the UK is 14 - that has remained constant.'

Tina does not try to kid herself that she looks the same as she did 20 years ago, but she is comfortable with her own style.

Eight years ago she appeared on a TV chat show wearing a leather suit. 'The host asked "Do you feel a little strange wearing that?" ' says Tina. 'I looked down at myself, saw everything was in place and told him: "No, that's my right size. It fits me and that is what I am wearing."

'I have thought: "I can't wear that, I am in my 60s." But if you look good and you can still do it then go and do it. I'm not 60 in my head, I don't live that lifestyle: my physical attitude is not that of a 69-year-old woman.

'I have never worried about age. I didn't worry back when I was with Ike Turner that I'd better hurry up and leave him to go out on my own before I got too old to perform.

'Maybe I would relate to my age if my skin was falling from my face because I'd had so many facelifts and was trying too hard to be Tina Turner. But I'm not.

She adds: 'Of course I've aged a bit in the face, but not enough to worry about it. I have common sense enough to know that if I'm nearly 70 something has to happen.'

'Part of it may be luck of the draw. It could be good genes, but then again, as I look at my family, I have to say I'm the only one that got them.'

Even great genes need help to prepare for the rigours of a tour. For the Twenty Four Seven Tour back in 2000, Tina resorted to a diet that required eating cabbage soup three times a day - this time, she has taken a less radical approach.

'The pleasure of life for me is dinner,' she confesses. 'In the morning I eat breakfast - banana, kiwi and melon - and brown German bread. I only have two meals a day, because I sleep for a very long time - practically ten hours a night.

'I decided to eat what I wanted to and as soon as I got a negative result I'd stop. I don't abuse myself with sweets, sugars, cakes and fat. I eat what I like and how I eat is healthy.'

On tour, Tina travels with her own cook and her favourite coffee. 'My diet has changed from the soul food of the south to Thai and Asian food and, since I settled full-time in Europe, to Italian. I know that pasta can be bad for you, so it's twice a week only. Once my weight starts to rise, I cut back on the calories and all that.'

Unlike Mick Jagger, who undergoes a punishing regime to get fit for touring, Tina is a devotee of saunas and steam rooms and when she's not busy working she's 'walking about ten miles up and down stairs at my homes. I don't sit around drinking champagne and wine'.

Once she begins rehearsing, strutting her stuff in those heels under the burning heat of the stage lights, the weight tumbles off, as it always has.

She says she is at her physical peak after six months - which happens to be exactly when she hits the UK in March. Her 50th Anniversary Tour is exactly that - drawing its material all the way back to a glorious, triumphant River Deep Mountain High.

In the second half of the multimedia extravaganza you see images of her entire career, including some with Ike, who died of a cocaine overdose on December 12, 2007. After enduring years of physical and mental abuse, with Ike flaunting his drug-taking and infidelities, she walked out on him in 1976 and never looked back.

'His death meant nothing to me,' she says, her voice betraying no emotion. 'He had been dead to me for 30 years. When I left, I really left. It was a bad dream, and when you spend 16 years in a certain lifestyle, you never want to think about it again.

'My life then was much worse. It couldn't have got lower. And since then, every part of my life has been a high point.'

I remember her telling me years ago: 'Ike took every single thing we made together. I gave him 16 years and he took it all. I was a singer when I met him, I was a dancer when I met him. When I walked away, all I took was my performance.

'I am strong, I lived through a divorce, separation from my family, all kinds of hell. I never let it break me down. I'm not an alcoholic, I've never smoked, I've never done drugs. I've floated through the disaster of my past clean. I arrived here undamaged, I haven't aged from all that stress.'

If there is a sadness in her life, it might be that over the years her family ties have slowly disintegrated. Her mother Zelma died in 2000, while contact with her four sons (she adopted Ike's two boys and has two of her own) is distant.

The youngest, Michael, her son with Ike, is now 47 and has two children, Racquel, 17, and Ronnie Jr, 15. 'They're not children any more,' she told me once.

'They haven't found their place in the world. I try to encourage them. If they call I will help, but I always tell them I'm not the Zurich Bank.'

There is still Erwin Bach, the German record executive who has been her partner for the past 22 years. 'Wherever I go,' she says simply, 'I always take a picture of Erwin - my love, my companion, my boyfriend - and pictures of my houses.'

Erwin, who is 17 years her junior, has now left EMI Records and so he is able to spend more time on tour with Tina.

At home, she gives him the space to drive cars and motorbikes and he does the cooking.

Above all else, they are comfortable together. He sees her without the wigs, wearing the loose cashmere sweater dresses she favours at home, and she trusts him absolutely.

Yet despite the beautiful homes, the Louis Quatorze furniture, antique Egyptian vases and gorgeous couture clothes, and the fact that she is 70 in November, this lady is still a rock 'n' roller at heart.

Just watch the climax of her show. There's Tina, strutting on those gravity-defying heels along a narrow gantry 20 rows into the huge crowd, belting out Nutbush City Limits. The sharecropper's daughter from Tennessee has come a long way.

'I never expected to be out here at this stage in my life,' she says, 'But I am rock 'n' roll. I am not R&B, I always wanted to sing rock songs. My music doesn't sound dated, It's still standing strong. Like me.'

And Tina Turner roars with laughter.

• The Tina Turner UK tour begins at the 02 Arena in London on Tuesday, March 3. She has just added another date in Sheffield on March 12 and will also be playing in Manchester and Birmingham, ending in Dublin on April 12. For full date information and tickets, please go to www.ticketmaster.co.uk or call 0870 534 4444.

This interview appears in the February issue of Saga Magazine, www.saga.co.uk

2008-01-26T08:33:00.000-08:00

Tina Turner CD Singles Part 2 1995 - 2005


	Tina Turner - GoldenEye
	1.	GoldenEye (Edit)
	2.	GoldenEye (Urban mix)
	3.	GoldenEye (A/C mix)
	4.	GoldenEye (Urban A/C/ mix)
	5.	GoldenEye (Club edit)
	Released UK November 95, Chart Position No 10


	Tina Turner - Whatever you want
	1.	Whatever You Want
	2.	GoldenEye (Single edit)
	3.	Whatever You Want (Album version)

	Released UK March 96, Chart Position No 23


	Tina Turner - Whatever you want (CD2)
	1.	Whatever You Want (Album version)
	2.	Unfinished Sympathy
	3.	Unfinished Sympathy (Extended olympic mix)
	4.	Whatever You Want (Alternative mix)
	Released UK March 96, Chart Position No 23


	Tina Turner - On Silent Wings
	1.	On Silent Wings (Single edit)
	2.	Private Dancer
	3.	The Best
	4.	I Don't Wanna Lose You
	Released UK June 1996, Chart Position No 13


	Tina Turner -On Silent Wings (CD2)
	1.	On Silent Wings (Single edit)
	2.	Whatever You Want
	3.	Do Something
	4.	On Silent Wings (Alternative version)
	Released UK June 1996, Chart Position No 13


	Tina Turner - Missing You
	1.	Missing You (Edit)
	2.	The Difference Between Us
	3.	Whatever You Want (Todd Terry mix)
	4.	Missing You (Alternative mix)
	Released UK July1996, Chart Position No 12


	Tina Turner - Missing You (CD2)
	1.	Missing You (Single edit)
	2.	We Don't Need Another Hero (live)
	3.	What's Love Got To Do With It (live)
	4.	Let's Stay Together (live)
	Released UK July1996, Chart Position No 12


	Tina Turner - Something Beautiful Remains
	1.	Something Beautiful Remains (Joe Urban remix edit)
	2.	Something Beautiful Remains (Original album version)
	3.	Something Beautiful Remains (Joe Urban remix )

	Released UK October 1996, Chart Position No 27


	Tina Turner - Something Beautiful Remains (CD2)
	1.	Something Beautiful Remains (Joe Urban remix edit)
	2.	Steamy Windows
	3.	Better Be Good To Me
	4.	Addicted to love (live)
	Released UK October 1996, Chart Position No 27


	Tina Turner Featuring Barry White - In Your Wildest Dreams
	1.	In Your Wildest Dreams
	2.	In Your Wildest Dreams (Joe Urban extended mix)
	3.	In Your Wildest Dreams (Antonio slow mix)

	Released UK December 1996, Chart Position No 32


	Tina Turner Featuring Barry White - In Your Wildest Dreams (CD2)
	1.	In Your Wildest Dreams
	2.	What's love got to do with it
	3.	GoldenEye (live)
	4.	Missing You (live)
	Released UK December 1996, Chart Position No 32


	Tina Turner & Eros Ramazzotti - Cose Della Vita (import)
	1.	1 Cose Della Vita - Tina & Eros
	2.	2 Taxi Story - Eros
	3.	3 Un Grosso No - Eros

	Released Europe1998,


	Tina Turner - When The Heartache Is Over
	1.	When The Heartache Is Over (Album version)
	2.	I Can't Stand The Rain (live in Amsterdam)
	3.	On Silent Wings (live in Amsterdam)

	Released UK Oct 1999, Chart Position No 10


	Tina Turner - When The Heartache Is Over (CD2)
	1.	When The Heartache Is Over (Album version)
	2.	When The Heartache Is Over (Metro Mix)
	3.	When The Heartache Is Over (7th district club mix)

	Released UK Oct 1999, Chart Position No 10


	Tina Turner - Whatever You Need
	1.	Whatever You Need
	2.	The Best (Recorded live in london '99)
	3.	River Deep Mountain High (Recorded live in london '99)
	4.	Whatever You Need (Enchanced Video)
	Released UK 2000 ,


	Tina Turner - Don't Leave Me This Way (Import)
	1.	Don't Leave Me This Way
	2.	The Best - (Live In London)
	3.	Steamy Windows (Live In London)
	4.	River Deep Mountain High
	Released Europe 2000, Not Uk


Tina Turner - Open Arms
1.	Open Arms	4:03
2.	Great Spirits	3:57
3.	Cose Della Vita	3:43
4.	Open Arms enchanced interview footage
Released UK 2004, UK Chart Position 16


Tina Turner - Open Arms
1.	Open Arms	4:03
2.	The Best (edit)	4:09


Released UK 2004, UK Chart Position 16


	Tina Turner// Elissa - Teach Me Again (Import)
	1.	Teach Me Again
	2.	Teach Me Again (Instrumental)
	3.	Teach Me Again (Elissa Version)
	4.	Teach Me Again (video)
	Released Germany/Italy 2006 Chart Position Italy No1

Turner Prized 2004

2004-10-05T04:22:00.000-07:00

The RADIO Times Interview OCT 2004

Turner Prized

ALAN JACKSON MEETS TINA TURNER

In her only UK print interview, the high-heeled queen of rock reveals her secret singing fantasy - and why she's about to stir up controversy again.

Younger readers might care to imagine how they'd react on hearing that Britney had crossed the Atlantic to settle in Frinton, or that Christina Aguilera had taken up residence on an executive estate outside Leamington Spa. For the rest of us, the news that Tina Turner who's a guest on this week's Parkinson - is living quietly these days, not in LA or New York or even London but Zurich, may be similarly shocking. The woman with the highest heels and shortest skirts in pop, the one who titled an album Break Every Rule, now domiciled in clockwork-efficient, Alpine-fresh Switzerland? "But I love that it's so strict, and that everything runs exactly as it's supposed to," she protests, bidding welcome to a lakeside home that, though large, is the epitome of mittel-Europe haute bourgeoisie, not a pop star palace.

"I appreciate order and control.I like it that everything's done according to the rules. This is very much my kind of place." Very much Anna Mae Bullock's, that is. That was the name of the child born Brownsville, Tennessee, back in 1939, and raised in the nearby backwater of Nutbush. And that's who the off-stage Turner says she still sees on confronting her reflection in the bathroom mirror each morning. But 64? Even in the full, unforgiving glare of the late summer sun, she looks considerably younger, though not in that all-too familiar Botoxed celebrity way.

Spend just five minutes in her company and you'll know that here is someone who loves to laugh and, yes, she has the lines to prove it. That the famous body (today it's clad in pinstriped Armani trousers and a loose white top) remains as slim and toned as ever is down to good genes and a healthy diet, she claims, not any obsessive gym or fitness routines. "My only beauty secrets are having learnt to like myself, and having found a way of life that I love," she says.

Brief though it is, that last sentence of hers speak volumes. Having exorcised her demons publicly in a no-holds-barred autobiography, I, Tina, she now refuses to dwell on the distant past and the years of abuse and humiliation she suffered at the hands of former husband and musical partner Ike Turner. In fact, she takes just seven words to sum up the whole long, unhappy saga: "I feel like I've never been married." Altogether different has been her relationship with Erwin Bach, a German record-company consultant 16 years her junior, and with whom she has lived since 1986. Over the course of our time together, she refers to him repeatedly, but never by name: variously, he is "my love", "my man" or "my companion". Early in their romance, she was asked repeatedly if they might marry. Eighteen years on, she simply smiles and tells me, "We're like an old wedded couple anyway, so we really don't see the need."

Turner insists it was an Englishman who prompted her initial move to Europe. "In 1983, David Bowie did something very special and significant for me. We were on the same labelat the time, but the decision had been taken not to re-sign me. He, however, had just had his contract renewed, and the record-company people in New York wanted to take him out to dinner that night in order to celebrate. `I'm sorry,' he told them, `but I can't, because I'm going to the Ritz to see my favourite singer perform.' And that was me. Well, the bigwigs tagged along and found the place not only packed to the rafters, but with Keith Richards and Rod Stewart heading the list of celebrities already there in the audience. Luckily, it was a wonderful show, with a very special energy, and seeing it and the crowd's reaction completely turned round how Capitol viewed me. It was because of David that I got another deal, from which everything else followed, and I'll be for ever thankful to him."

Those who have worked with her over the years say that loyalty is a quality Turner values highly, and which she always repays in kind. This clearly extends to those who first welcomed her in from the cold after some initially barren years commercially, post Ike. "I moved to Europe because my success levels were much higher here than they were in the US, and I felt I should be available to my fan base," she shrugs of the subsequent renaissance triggered .by Sheffield band Heaven 17's production of her version of the Al Green classic, Let's Stay Together. "I was in London for the first three years, which was an easy landing because you guys speak the same language." On a promotional trip, she met Bach, at the time employed by her record company in Germany. "Which very quickly became a whole other reason to want to be in a place other than my homeland."

In addition to their Zurich home (the size of a small embassy, it has been remodelled and furnished in eclectic but quiet good taste by Turner herself), she and Bach enjoy a villa in Villefranche, high in the mountains above Nice, in southern France. "flow fortunate is that?" she demands, laughing. "We can say to each other on a whim, and at any time, `What's your schedule looking like the next few days, honey?' and just head off there to relax and enjoy each other's company. But even when business demands that we're here for weeks on end, I have my escape should I ever need it. If the memory of Nutbush suddenly calls to me, I'll get into my car and, in just over five minutes, can be among fields and cattle and that old, familiar Tennessee-style farm life."

Given the obvious attractions lying on her two doorsteps, it's unsurprising that Turner is loathe to leave home. Last December, after 40 years on the road, she called a halt to touring, bowing out in front of 18,000 fans in California. Any subsequent ' regrets? "None. The time was absolutely right." Retirement is far from being on the cards, though. There's a greatest hits double CD to promote: titled All the Best, it includes Ike-era hits as well as solo favourites. There are three new tracks, including a single, Open Arms. "It's a classic Tina-type song, which is great, but I like the idea of going in a more Sade-type direction in the future. I dream of sitting on a stool, singing something soft and gentle, but (here she chuckles warmly) people seem to want to see me in my high heels, kicking out these legs. And given that you've got to give your public a little of what they want, I guess it's going to be a while before I get to sit a whole song through."

Meanwhile, a revival of Tina Turner, movie star, is imminent. She hasn't appeared on the big screen since providing a memorable cameo in 1985's Mad Max beyond Thunderdome, but next spring will begin filming The Goddess for the acclaimed directorial team of Ismail Merchant and James Ivory (Howards End, A Room with a View). "I take the titular role, which is that of the Hindu deity Kali - or Shakti, as she's sometimes known. She's the goddess of power, can be both a creator and a destroyer, and wears a necklace made up of men's skulls." A Buddhist for the past 20 years, she's already familiar with many aspects of Indian culture, but admits she's now on a learning curve: the script requires her to sing classical songs in English, Latin and Sanskrit, and to perform Indian classical dance.

In preparation, Turner has already paid a two-week visit to India with Merchant. This has not stopped some Hindu groups in Britain condemning her casting as Kali as "insensitive and insulting", given her reputation as "a sex icon", and organising internet petitions in protest. Merchant, however, is unrepentant: "The film is being made in a spirit of reverence, and Tina has thrown herself wholeheartedly into the learning process. I can think of no one more appropriate to represent the energy, compassion and wisdom of our goddess. She is mesmerising."

She's also required here and now in her own back garden by a film crew that has arrived to shoot promotional footage for All the Best. "Time to put on Tina," she smiles, and disappears indoors, re-emerging in cropped black pants and camisole top by Sonia Rykiel and vertiginous Armani sandals. "See what I told you?" she says over her shoulder, as the camera whirs. "I'm two different entities. Some people seem to imagine I start each day with a short dress and wild hair, saying to myself, `Tina! You're simply the best!' When are they going to realise I'm just putting on a show?"

All the Best is released by EMI Records on 1 November.

Ebony Interview 1996

1996-09-02T01:49:00.000-07:00

Tina Turner - Interview

Ebony, Sept, 1996 by Lynn Norment

With boundless energy, Tina Turner prances into the spotlight and throws loud kisses to the 50,000 cheering fans packed shoulder to shoulder in t he soccer stadium in Bremen, Germany, "Tell me what you want!" she screams repeatedly at the crowd. "You, Tina! You, Tina!" they yell back. And then, dressed in a short, silver, metallic, T-strap dress and high heels, she gives it to them as she sassily sings "Whatever You Want," a hit from her new album, Wildest Dreams.

For two solid nonstop hours, the ageless rock diva gives an electric performance that encompasses 20 songs, six costume changes, three dancers, and a barrage of continuous video and sound wizardry that bedazzles the crowd but does not tire Tina.

The new album, just recently available in the United States, was released overseas last spring, and Tina started performing in Europe in May after rehearsing and kicking off the tour in South Africa. In the Bremen audience there are grandparents alongside people in their 50s, 40s, and 30s. And, yes, there are plenty of twenty-something fans as well as a smattering of teens and kids.

No one leaves disappointed. Against an elaborate and gigantic golden-eye backdrop, which takes its theme from the 1995 James Bond GoldenEye film for which Tina recorded the theme song, the tireless performer goes through a varied repertoire of new songs and favorite oldies. Among them are the beautiful ballad, "On Silent Wings," with clips from the video filmed in South Africa, the sultry "Private Dancer" and the sassy "Whats Love Got To Do With It," which heralded her comeback into the limelight. She also sings the triumphant "We Don't Need Another Hero," the theme from the movie Mad Max: Beyond The Thunderdome, in which she co-starred opposite Mel Gibson, Al Green's "Lets Stay Together," and "Proud Mary" from her like and Tina Turner Revue days. Through it all, she and her perfectly formed legs keep the audience thoroughly entertained with shimming, dancing and throaty vocals. And she loves every minute of it.

The next day, while relaxing in a suite in a luxury hotel in Copenhagen, Denmark, Tina reflects on the performance, her career, her life - and her mildest dream. "I've lived it," she says, smiling warmly with sparkling eyes. "My wildest dream, after I got my divorce, was for all of this to happen," she says, making a sweeping motion with well-manicured fingers accented with subtle gold polish. "That was my wildest dream - to pack a stadium, to walk out on stage to that many people who came to see me, to know what that feels like. Now, that's a dream!"

She says audiences throughout Europe seem to enjoy her more, and they are more supportive of her work even when she does not have a hit record. "I almost can say that I don't really have an audience in America like I have in Europe," she says while sipping hot tea and snacking on caviar. "I have a drawing, but it's not the same drawing that I have here because of my style of work, and that's just how it is. It was never that big in America, even at my biggest, as it is in Europe."

She say's she moved to Europe in the '80s because "the energy was gone for me in America," and she was not able to get a producer to work with her or the attention of a record company. When she went to Europe, however, "everybody was jumping up and down" to work with her. "If you don't get a hit record in America, it's a loss to actually work there, to really try to get a decent shot," she says, referring to her years of struggle after she struck out on her own in the late '70s. "That's just how it is. I don't mind it. You know why? I spent, let's see, 35 years in America performing. I've already done it in America they remember me. I've done some good stuff there. So, now I'm in another part of the world. If you are not successful in your own country, go where your success is."

Many Tina Turner fans would disagree that she is loved less in the U.S. than she is in Europe. Without a doubt, the legendary performer is revered and respected as a survivor, a comeback queen, a Grammy Award-winning recording artist and as a talented performer who has sold more than 50 million records during her solo career.

For 10 years, this 57-year-old Tennessee native and grandmother of London, then lived in Europe, first in London, then in Germany and now in Switzerland. She also has a house in France. She acknowledges that her decision to make Europe her home was influenced by her relationship with German Erwin Bach, an executive with EMI Records, her European label. (In the U.S., she is represented by Virgin Records.)

The diva and the record company executive met when he was asked to pick her up at the London airport in 1986. They hit it off immediately and shared lively conversations and laughs as he tooled her about London. Later, she invited him to celebrate her birthday. and before long they were dating steadily. She says the transcontinental relationship was very hard at first. "I was never home. He was never home, and all that flying! I loved him, so I just said, `I gotta go.' I was excited about it," she explains.

She says even if she had not met Bach, she would have moved to Europe. "I would have moved here eventually, but I was able to root myself because I had a friend," she says. "So it helped me anchor myself rather than moving without a boyfriend."

Just as she moved from London to Germany to be with Bach, Tina recently moved to Switzerland for the same reason. "I left Germany because my boyfriend's company moved him to Zurich," she reveals. They, live in a five bedroom, five-story house with a small swimming pool and a lot of acreage. When she's not working, she stays busy decorating, which is a passion and hobby. "It has five floors, but the rooms are very small," she says, "and I couldn't get any of my furniture to work. I had to switch everything around and buy a few more things. The house looks big, but its small. Its a beautiful house, a wonderful house. I'm enjoying it very much."

And she's also enjoying her relationship with Bach, who, she readily admits, is 16 years younger than she. "He's very mature at 40 years old," she says. "When we got together, he was 30, and I was going on in years. But he was always a little bit slower than I, you know, conservative, stuck in certain ways. And, of course, I'm American. It wasn't easy I wasn't sure about our relationship when we were that far apart. But if something happens and two people get along, the separation is nothing because it gives you that space, and you look forward to being together to make the thing new all over again.

Turner goes on to say that Bach is a "good companion," that their relationship is stress-free, and that it doesn't matter that he makes considerably less money than she. "There is no stress because we are both independent," she says. "He works, he has his money. I work, and I have my money. He makes contributions to help me as much as he can with the expenses and how I live. Its impossible for him to, per se, pay the way. He's an executive with a company; I've been working for years, and I make far more money than he makes. But his contribution is in areas that he's comfortable with, and I live my life as I live it."

The international diva says she is comfortable with Bach because he's part of her happiness. "So I don't worry that he's not a man with money, so to speak. We laugh a lot. He's typical German who doesn't have a real good sense of humor. I've changed him a lot, and he often thanks me for changing him and making him a better person. So it's a good, healthy relationship. There's no stress."

Is marriage on the horizon for Tina and her beau? "I might many again, but I don't need to," she says. "Marriage would not make it any different. I'm safe. If I leave, I take what I've got, and he takes what he's got. It's healthy."

In addition to touring Europe until the end of the year and the release of her Wildest Dreams album in the U.S., she and her famous legs also are starring in a Hanes Hosiery advertising campaign that kicks off in September. Cathy Volker, president of Sara Lee Hosiery U.S., says that in a Hanes survey, Tina Turner's legs surfaced as No. 1. "When you think of a woman's legs, you think of Tina Turner," says Volker. "We wanted to introduce a new product, which is about strength and beauty. Tina Turner is strength and beauty. She is everything we wanted to be about - she is a woman we admire, a woman who appeals not only to me, but also to ms mother in her 70s and my niece, who is 18. She is a lovely, charming and gracious woman as well."

Tina says she was excited about doing the Hanes ad campaign because it was an opportunity, to promote a product that she actually uses. When asked if she has "great legs," Tina tells how it took many years to overcome her ingrained view of what constituted pretty legs. "I was in my 40s before I really stalled to feel good about wearing a short dress because I had good legs," she says. "I still wear more trousers than dresses."

She says when she was growing up in Nutbush, Tenn., she envied girls with "big, pretty legs," the girls, she admits, who got all the attention from the guys. Ironically, she says that it was "White people" who first praised her legs "because they like thin, long legs and all that stuff they talk about." She says that during her years of performing in the Ike and Tina Turner Revue, "No Black person ever said anything to me about having great legs. You know how Black people are about legs. Mine were long, skinny legs. I didn't have those hammer legs like some of our Black women have. Those pretty legs."

Now, after personally gaining appreciation for the legs that are known around the world, she says she realizes that they are an important part of her show-biz appeal, her stage persona, and her success. "Yes, my legs are important," she says, "because it's the first visual attribute, because it's a leg thing and everything today is about sex." But, she adds, her legs are "not something I would insure. If I'm going to insure something, it would definitely be my voice."

Tina Turner's husky-honey voice, like her legs, is legendary. She says she takes care of her voice and her body by watching what she eats and living a healthy lifestyle. Other than the exercise she gets while traveling and performing, she has no particular fitness routine. There is "walking machine" in her home, but she seldom uses it.

Tina says people often think, mistakenly, that she's had cosmetic surgery and liposuction. "I started holding in my stomach in the 10th grade, and I've held it in," she says. When asked if she's ever had plastic surgery, she says: "I have not. There's not a piece of plastic in me." She acknowledges that after the birth of her second son more than 30 years ago, "I had my breasts done, but believe me, it was just to put them back like they were."

When asked if she thinks she is beautiful, she simply says. "No." Does she look good for her age? "Yes. I acknowledge that," she says. "I'm a healthy person I've got a great personality. That would make any person pretty or whatever you want to call it....Sometimes people think I'm more attractive than I am because they put the age thing on you first. At my age, I'm in great shape, and I look really good for my age."

In the past, she says, she's been chided for wearing minidresses. "I think your mother doesn't wear minidresses because your mother isn't me," Tina says she told one person who said, during the early days of the minidress, that she was too old to wear such short dresses. "I said, `This is how I am. This is the type of work I'm into. I can do this well. There is nothing wrong with how I look.' There is no strict regimen that says when you are in your late 40s you cannot wear a minidress."

It was her unique voice, not her legs, that got the attention of Ike Turner when she was a naive, 16-year-old Anna Mae Bullock. And it was that voice, and Tina's romping stage persona, that made the group famous in the '60s and '70s with hits such as "A Fool In Love," "River Deep, Mountain High" and "Nutbush City Limits." According to her autobiography, I, Tina, the basis for the 1993 movie starring Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne, Tina married Ike Turner in 1960 and literally ran away from him in 1976 after years of what she calls physical and emotional abuse.

She steadily rebuilt her career and at first eked out a living by performing in small clubs. With children to support, at times she lived on food stamps, and at other times she kept house for Hollywood celebrities. Eventually she went to Europe, where she discovered at she was still enormously popular. In 1982, she recorded the single, "Let's Stay Together," which became a big hit in Europe, and then the album, Private Dancer (1984), which has sold more than 11 million copies.

From that point, Tina Turner has not looked back, and she is grateful that her fans did not forget her. She says fans in South Africa remembered that she performed there 16 years ago. "They were all very happy that I came back," she says of the reception she received last spring. "It's changed a lot. It's very much like America was...when I was born....There is not that depressed look like there was 16 years ago. Before, there were signs, `No dogs or Blacks allowed here.'"

In South Africa, she says she performed with "wonderful Black male dancers," and she was happy to give one of them a scholarship to the Alvin Ailey Dance School in New York. "I said to him, `What do you want?' she recalls. And he said, `I'd like to go to the Alvin Ailey School.' He didn't think I was going to do it, but I said, `You got it!' He was so excited."

When she's not working, Tina enjoys decorating her homes and reading books on spirituality, fitness and health. She says she still wants to do movies, and she definitely wants to write another book. However, this time the subject matter will cover "what I've learned about living" and her holistic lifestyle. She wants to reach those people who are "inspired by the fact that I've gotten this far," those who are seeking to better their lives, those who want to move on to the next plateau.

"They can't do it like I did it," she says. "You have to do it your way. Find the thought and make it happen. Whatever I did wouldn't be your way. Maybe you don't need a Roger Davies [her manager] in your life to help you get where you want to be. It could be your husband, your son. The Bible says once you ask, you receive, and its true. You've got to be taught to be spiritually aware. God is within you. I'm at a good place in my life spiritually."

And she's at a great place in her life in regards to her career, and she has no plans to retire anytime soon. "I've lived my wildest dream," she says, reflectively, a peaceful ambience settling over her smooth, golden-caramel complexion. "The next part of my life is just keeping it in that perspective. To retire on the top would be beautiful."

Tina Turner by Michel Comte 1993

1993-05-27T14:50:00.000-07:00

Photography by Michel Comte

Interview: HER MAN, MUSIC AND POLITICS 1989

1989-02-02T01:53:00.000-08:00

HER MAN, MUSIC AND POLITICS.

Network December 1989

Tina Turner is the most celebrated female artist ever to make a rock comeback. Her 1984 album, Private Dancer, sold I1 million copies worldwide, reintroducing us to the steamy, high-powered dynamo of 'Proud Mary" fame. As Aunty Entity in Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome she also picked up her film career where she had left it with The Acid Queen.

She may appear as a raunchy, sex-soaked star without a care in the world, but inside she knows what it is to suffer. The candid disclosure of her embittered marriage to Ike in the 1986 autobiography I, Tina left most readers angry and shocked. After living out a lonely, painful childhood and a 16-year marriage filled with Ike's beatings and humiliations, Tina has come out on top. Gone are the bad memories, the black eyes and the second rate lounge gig. Since hooking up with her energetic Australian manager Roger Davies in 1979, Tina has not looked back. She released the multiplatinum selling album Break Every Rule in 1986 and for the next two years she toured solidly, playing 220 concerts in 25 countries to more than 3.5 million people. Tina is a fighter and a winner; a gorgeous, 50-year-old woman who values her health, her soul and her relationships. Dressed in an elegant black pantsuit, red nail polish and low pumps, she is sitting by the window in a plush Toronto hotel room, checking over her interview schedule with the record company publicist. There's a small, simple gold chain around her throat and her hair is gently waved. She's come over from England to promote her first album in three years.

Your new album, Foreign Affair, is co produced by you and Dan Hartman. Is this your first experience producing?

I've always produced my songs on stage; taken them from the record and made them live with tempo and arrangements. I didn't plan to produce anything in the studio, but when I went in I didn't care for the arrangements Dan Hartman had made, so I came up with my own. This is the first time I've been in on a record from beginning to end, from the first rehearsals to the end mixing.

Do you ever write any of your own songs?

No. I know how to, but sometimes the flow of words just doesn't happen. I wouldn't do it just for the money, just for the publishing; I want it to be good. I'm not that crazy that I have to produce my own and write my own material.

Did any of the writers on this album write specifically for you?

One song by Tony Joe White was for me. The title track, 'Foreign Affair." Also Graham Lyle and Albert Hammond did 'Don't Want to Lose You.' They wrote it for an older woman singing about ideas they felt older women have in terms of men.

Speaking of men, you came out publicly and announced you had a boyfriend. Who is he?

Erwin is one that doesn't like to be discussed too much. He's an executive with my record company in Cologne and we've been together three years. I live in London so he visits me, or I visit him. I like Cologne ; it's very quiet; full of churches. It's a well balanced relationship because he has his career in the business. He's an important executive for his age.

How old is he?

Coming up on 34, I met him when he was 31. 1 was shocked when I finally got around to asking him how old he was; I assumed he was older. He's very mature. Most Germans are very serious. We're doing fine. It's a really good balance in my life to have a boyfriend. 'We're not talking about marriage. We didn't get together looking for that. He's a career person and so am I still.

At age 50 you are an inspiration to women of all ages. Where do you get your energy?

I'm very conscious about my health. I'm into homeopathic remedies. I had an illness that I couldn't get rid of so I went to a homeopathic doctor in London and he explained to me that medicine was holding it (die illness) in the body, tearing it down so that it couldn't heal. Since then I haven't even taken an aspirin over the last 10 years.

I started to practice Buddhism 13 years ago. And that's a whole way of thinking. I'm a less stressful person than I was. I don't hold anger, I don't hold envy, very little jealousy (laughs). It's hard to get rid of that in one lifetime. My work, the exercise that I've done for 28 years, you've gotta see that it's paid off. I've never done drugs, alcohol or smoked. Some say it's hard to believe because I was back in that time, but if you ever saw what it does, you'd know it's not attractive. With all my stage exercise - the dancing, the singing, and the sweating - it keeps the heart strong. It's all a contribution to fairly good health.

You are an extremely successful role model, especially as you were once a battered wife with very little control over your life. Do you feel you've helped raise consciousness in society for women, black women, in particular?

This whole role model bit started when I, Tina was published and people found out that I'd gone through all that. They respected me because I came out back on top, I survived and am a happy person. After the book they wanted to touch me and find out what I've done. But before that I was treated just like anybody else.

The world of rock 'n' roll is very male and very white. Does this ever make you uncomfortable?

When I started my career, Ike and Tina always played white people's music: we played teenage clubs in St. Louis full of young white kids. They loved the music we played, the chart hits we covered. We seldom played our own music, mostly just covers of people like the Stones. Then when 'Proud Mary" came out, we finally got our hit. I was that black person who said, 'I like rock music, I don't want to sing R&B, I don't like it'.

How do you feel about musicians like Vernon Reid and Filmmakers like Spike Lee who speak out on black issues? Especially when they criticize other performers for not doing more for the black community?

I've been out of the country and I haven't kept up, but when you become successful, people want you to come back and drag everybody else along with you. It's not your responsibility if you don't want to. Who says when you become successful you have to come back and pull your people? I think President Kennedy decided he wanted to be president. Everybody isn't politically minded. You do your part by making a representation of the race, but I don't agree that it's wrong not to speak out.

You can't force us to be something that we're not. Critics say you don't need to be a politician, but it means I have to stop what I'm doing to go and try to get someone else's life going. And what's going to happen with my success? Am I going to fall down? You take all kinds of chances if you become something that someone is forcing you to become.

Would you have wanted to live your life any differently if given a chance?

You don't think in the past the you think now. Yeah, I had some ugliness in my life, but I grew from it. Each step, the problems I had with my mother, the problems I had with my father, my upbringing, my schooling and my relationship with my ex-husband, from all of that there was something I learned. I would have said 'no thanks' if you'd have shown me a picture of it, but now that I did experience it, I know I grew strong from it. It showed me what I didn't want to do and what I did want to do.

When is the film version of I, Tina coming out?

The casting should be done next year. They plan to use an unknown for Tina's part.

You're not going to be in the movie?

No. I've played my part in real already. It's enough that I have involvement with the script.

You've also said you don't want to sing songs about your life.

Would you want to sing about it? There's enough depression in this world. I think music should get you going. Sure there should be music for moods, but ... Yaahoooo...I like it up.

Network December 1989