Tina Turner, Forever Hot

BY: Rudie Obias

Iconic American singer/songwriter Tina Turner will be presented a Lifetime Achievement Award (along with Queen, Neil Diamond, and Emmylou Harris) during this year’s Grammy Awards ceremony at the end of January. Her impressive career spans over six decades of success, heart and soul, reinvention, and longevity.

As a duo act, Ike & Tina Turner had a few hit songs that still resonate today like “Proud Mary” and “A Fool For Love,” while her solo work is most notable for hits like “Simply The Best,” “Private Dancer,” and “What’s Love Got To Do with It.” Turner’s appeal comes from her ease into various music genres like R&B, Soul, and Rock and Roll, while also injecting a certain sex appeal throughout her entire career.

Tina Turner has an honesty and vulnerability that makes her so iconic, as a woman who survived domestic abuse and an artist who re-built her career and image from decade-to-decade. In addition, she even made the transition into acting with a breakthrough role in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. In 1993, a biopic was made about Turner’s early career and marriage to Ike Turner called What’s Love Got To Do with It starring Angela Bassett as Tina and Laurence Fishburne as Ike. She even provided the James Bond main song for Goldeneye in 1995.

In 2005, Tina Turner received the Kennedy Center Honors for her decades of work in the music industry, along with years of amazing collaborations with other iconic recording artists, such as David Bowie, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Barnes, and Phil Collins. She’s also won an impressive eleven Grammy Awards for various categories, such as Record of the Year, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, and Album of the Year. The Lifetime Achievement Award will be a nice addition to her already crowded mantel. 

“This year’s Special Merit Awards recipients are a prestigious group of diverse and influential creators who have crafted or contributed to some of the most distinctive recordings in music history,” said Recording Academy President/CEO Neil Portnow. “These exceptionally inspiring figures are being honored as legendary performers, creative architects, and technical visionaries. Their outstanding accomplishments and passion for their craft have created a timeless legacy.”  

The 60th Annual Grammy Awards takes place on January 28 at Madison Square Garden in New York City and airs on CBS.