Tina Turner Was a Great Example of What it Means to Persevere

I have my mother to thank for my undying devotion to the Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll. Talk about an icon…

Music has always been a passion of mine, and I like to think I’m pretty fluent in the “classics.” I don’t think of them as classics in the sense that they’re old, of course… I’m a historian. Only in the sense that they’re better than anything else. When I think of 80s female greatness, I never go with Madonna. I always think of Tina.

I’m going to include some excerpts about her and the outpouring of messages in the wake of her death, but then I want to get down to what, in my opinion, made her such a bada$$.

From the Daily Wire:

Legendary singer Tina Turner is dead at the age of 83, multiple outlets reported Wednesday.

The rock ‘n roll star experienced multiple health issues in recent years. She was diagnosed with intestinal cancer in 2016 and had a kidney transplant in 2017, per The Guardian. 

Turner was born Anna Mae Bullock in November 1939. She was raised in Nutbush, Tennessee and said she recalled picking cotton with her family during childhood. As a child, she sang in the her town’s church choir before joining Ike Turner’s band in St. Louis after begging him for the opportunity.

She spent almost two decades working for and married to Ike, who was notoriously abusive, before launching her solo career. Her multi-platinum album “Private Dancer” was released in 1984 and helped solidify her solo career. The album included her hit single “What’s Love Got To Do With It?” The song was later inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Turner had a career spanning six decades and frequently sold out stadiums while on tour. She also famously insured her legs for $3.2 million. “Sometimes I think I’m as famous for my legs as much as my voice,” she said once.

Turner is one of the best-selling recording artists of all time, with more than 100 million albums sold worldwide. She won 12 Grammy Awards in addition to a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. She was also an actress featured in several films, including an autobiographical project about her life based on her memoir, “I, Tina.” 

This is what “stunning and brave” actually looks like, people. Take a good long look because it seems to be a real scarcity now.

Did she let the abuse she suffered define her, break her, or stop her from pursuing what she loved?

In great contrast to the normalization of victimhood that has become so prevalent, she didn’t look for someone to blame and, instead, worked to make the life and career that she wanted in the aftermath of her life’s greatest trial. Instead of taking the easy road, accepting her fate, and becoming a casualty of circumstance, she worked to make her second act the one for which she would be known. Queen is as Queen does…

It makes me sad to have lost such an influential icon when no one comes to mind when considering what the current generation has to offer in the realm of “greatness.” Who does this generation have, really?

When hard work, courage, and true kindness (not the politically convenient kind) are no longer seen as admirable virtues, what does one have left?

So, I see it as the mark of someone truly inspiring to have enlightened me more with her character than with her art. While “What’s Love Got to Do with It?” and “We Don’t Need Another Hero” will forever be some of my favorite songs, it’s the lessons of hard work and perseverance that Tina conveyed that should be remembered above all.

Simply the best.