The Queen of Rock 'n' Roll, Tina Turner has died, The Guardian reports. The pioneering musical icon was 83.
On Wednesday (May 24), a spokesperson for Turner said the music legend died following a long illness at her home in Küsnacht near Zurich, Switzerland.
“With her, the world loses a music legend and a role model,” spokesperson Bernard Doherty said in a statement.
In recent years, Turner was diagnosed with intestinal cancer in 2016 and had a kidney transplant in 2017. The exact nature of her death remains unclear.
Turner, whose real name was Annie Mae Bullock, was born in Nutbush, Tennessee on November 23, 1939. The powerhouse singer began her career in 1957 with Ike Turner's Kings of Rhythm band and appeared on her first record in 1958. Two years later she would be introduced to the world as Tina Turner on the duet single "A Fool in Love."
The duo would go on to produce and release legendary music including "Proud Mary" and "Nutbush City Limits" before disbanding in 1976.
In the 1980s, Turner forged a legendary solo career, paving her own path in rock with the 1984 album Private Dancer which included the multi-platinum song "What's Love Got To Do With It" that went on to win the Grammy Award for Record of the Year.
At age 44, Turner made history as the oldest female solo artist to top the Billboard Top 100 Chart with "What's Love Got to Do With It." A biopic by the same name adapted from her memoir I, Tina: My Life Story, was released in 1993.
The 12-time Grammy Award-winning singer was ranked among Rolling Stones' 100 Greatest Singers of All Time and is a two-time inductee of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. In 2005, Turner won a Kennedy Center Honors and Woman of the Year Award.
Four years later, in 2009, Turner officially retired after completing her 50th Anniversary Tour.
The singer obtained Swiss nationality and lived there for many years with her husband Erwin Bach.
Rest in Peace, Tina Turner.
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