The world lost a music icon on Tuesday, as the Queen of Rock and Roll Tina Turner passed away in her home in Küsnacht near Zurich, Switzerland after a long battle with illness.
She left an indelible mark on the world, and from very humble beginnings in Brownsville, Tennessee became an international superstar with 12 Grammy Awards to her name.
Turner is also one of the best-selling recording artists of all time, having sold over 100 million records worldwide.
To call her a legend and giant in music doesn’t really feel like enough, and she overcame much struggle and strife in her life to achieve incredible amount of success, including a famously violent and tumultuous marriage to Ike Turner, a fellow musician and producer.
And she actually dabbled a little bit in country music, and her debut solo studio album was a country record called Tina Turns the Country On!.
She also inspired Waylon and Willie’s iconic country standard “Good Hearted Woman,” which you can read about HERE.
Tina Turns the Country On! was released in 1974 while she was still a member of the Ike & Tina Turner Revue, as an attempt by her husband to expose her to a wider audience.
Produced by Nashville producer Tom Thacker and recorded at her studio Bolic Sound in Inglewood, California, the tracklist consists of mostly covers of songs from some of country music’s best, including Kris Kristofferson, Hank Snow and Dolly Parton.
Dolly’s song was a solo write, and initially a duet with Porter Wagoner they released in 1973 called “There’ll Always Be Music,” which is one of my favorites on Tina’s country album, and of course, her soulful voice sounds absolutely incredible on her cover.
Dolly shared this sweet tribute to the great Tina Turner yesterday too:
“Now she’s rollin’ rollin’ rollin’ on to glory. Roll on Tina. We will always love you!”
And though they never released a single from the project, Tina was nominated for Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female at the 17th Annual Grammy Awards for that record.
RIP Tina Turner.
“There’ll Always Be Music”
She also recorded a stunning cover of Kris Kristofferson’s iconic song “Help Make Me Make It Through the Night,” which I’ve had on repeat since yesterday:
