Tina Turner, whose gritty vocals and fierce, sizzling performances powered two iconic music careers — first as one-half of husband-and-wife duo Ike & Tina Turner and, later, an internationally revered solo star — died Wednesday (May 24) at age 83.
Turner, who has born Anna Mae Bullock on Nov. 26, 1939, made her Billboard chart debut as the lead singer of the group Ike & Tina Turner with “A Fool in Love” in August 1960. The track launched at No. 10 on the Hot R&B Sides chart (today’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs) and zoomed to No. 2 in just two weeks. It likewise became a hit on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 songs chart, debuting at No. 87 and reaching a No. 27 that October.
“A Fool in Love” was the first of 20 Hot 100 hits for Ike & Tina Turner, including their biggest success, a cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Proud Mary.” The Turners’ take reached No. 4 on the Hot 100 and won a Grammy Award for best R&B vocal performance by a group. A year after their last Hot 100 entry, 1975’s “Baby-Get It On,” a fight en route to a show in Dallas prompted Tina to leave Ike and file for divorce.
While Tina struggled to find commercial success over the next few years, she launched one of music’s most successful comebacks with 1984’s Private Dancer. The album sparked her first five solo Hot 100 hits, including her first No. 1, “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” which ruled the chart for three weeks. The hits continued for the next decade, with a pair of No. 2 hits, 1985’s “We Don’t Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)” and 1986’s “Typical Male,” and the No. 9-peaking “I Don’t Wanna Fight” among the highlights. She last visited the chart with “Missing You” in 1996.
As the world remembers the iconic double Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, Billboard recaps the legend’s 20 biggest hits on the Billboard Hot 100, spanning both her solo career and time in Ike & Tina Turner.
