Tina Turner Remembered by Angela Bassett, Viola Davis, Mick Jagger: ‘We Will Bask in Your Legacy’

Tina Turner (Courtesy HBO and Capitol Records).

Tina Turner, the legendary rock and soul singer who rose from humble beginnings to the heights of the music world, died in Switzerland after a long illness. She was 83.

“With her, the world loses a music legend and a role model,” her reps said in a statement Wednesday.

Born Anna Mae Bullock in rural Tennessee in 1939, she picked cotton as a little girl to help support her family, the music legend said in a 2021 HBO documentary about her life.

After adopting the name Tina Turner and building a music career, she was twice inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, won eight Grammy Awards, and sold over 100 million records, making her one of the best-selling female artists in music history.

Related Story: Tina Turner Dies: Trailblazing Singer From Tennessee Was 83

As news of the “Proud Mary” singer’s death spread, Hollywood stars and fellow musicians paid tribute to her on social media.

Angela Bassett, who earned an Oscar nomination for portraying Turner in the film What’s Love Got to Do with It, said Turner “owned her pain and trauma and used it as a means to help change the world.”

“Through her courage in telling her story, her commitment to stay the course in her life, no matter the sacrifice, and her determination to carve out a space in rock and roll for herself and for others who look like her, Tina Turner showed others who lived in fear what a beautiful future filled with love, compassion, and freedom should look like,” Bassett wrote on Instagram. “Her final words to me — for me — were ‘You never mimicked me. Instead you reached deep into your soul, found your inner Tina, and showed her to the world.'”

Oprah Winfrey, Viola Davis, Dionne Warwick, Diana Ross, and Mick Jagger also shared tributes to Turner.

“Another longtime friend has made her transition. Not only will I miss that eternal ball of energy named Tina Turner but the entire world will also find this void in their lives. My condolences to her husband and other members of her family. Rest in Peace my friend!” Warwick tweeted.

“Iconic. Beautiful. A survivor. Brilliance. Our first symbol of excellence and unbridled ownership of sexuality!! You were my childhood. Oh man!!! God is getting an angel today!!! Rest well Ms. Tina Turner. We will bask in your legacy!!!” Davis wrote on Instagram.

“Shocked. Saddened. Sending condolences to Tina Turner’s family and loved ones,” Ross added on Instagram.

Winfrey shared a carousel of photos of Turner on Instagram and included the caption, “I started out as a fan of Tina Turner, then a full-on groupie, following her from show to show around the country, and then, eventually, we became real friends. She is our forever goddess of rock ‘n’ roll who contained a magnitude of inner strength that grew throughout her life. She was a role model not only for me but for the world. She encouraged a part of me I didn’t know existed.”

Jagger, who was inspired early in his career by Turner’s energetic stage presence, described her as a friend and mentor.

“I’m so saddened by the passing of my wonderful friend Tina Turner,” the Rolling Stones frontman tweeted. “She was truly an enormously talented performer and singer. She was inspiring, warm, funny and generous. She helped me so much when I was young and I will never forget her.”

The Rock & Roll Hall of fame remembered Turner for her talent and bravery.

“Two-time inductee Tina Turner worked hard to reimagine the role of a Black woman in rock & roll — one that was firmly placed front and center,” the organization said in a statement. “During her time in the duo Ike and Tina Turner (inducted in 1991), her electric onstage presence forever raised the bar for live performance. Their hits ‘River Deep–Mountain High’ and ‘Proud Mary’ endure to this day. But this Queen of Rock & Roll went on to make music history again with her solo career (for which she was inducted again in 2021) and with her bravery in sharing her life story as a book, film, and Broadway musical.”

Turner received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1986 in front of the Capitol Records building in Los Angeles. Flowers were placed on her star Wednesday afternoon.


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About Anita Bennett

Anita Bennett is the editor and founder of Urban Hollywood 411. She can be reached on Twitter @tvanita.