Was she simply the best? Can someone survive abuse and rise against racism in a music industry that would not exist without black artists? Do we need another hero? In regard to Tina Turner, the answer to all these questions is yes.
Miami Vice And Tina Turner
In the 80’s Miami Vice was my favorite show. Director Michael Mann reinvented how television shows were to be done. Every episode was both colorful and dark. He pushed us into the modern world while also borrowing symbolism from film noir in full pastel colors and the art deco backdrop of Miami. He is the master of working music into his art as more than just a score. NBC did not always trust him but he pushed forward. I, and millions of others, was hooked. Culture and story telling changed.
What’s Love Got to do With It Discovered
The fifth episode was called Calderone’s Return, Part II. In this two hour story Tubb’s mortal enemy, Calderone, sends an assassin to exact revenge. In his quest for revenge, Rodriguez (the Lt of the Miami Dade Vice Division) would be killed saving Crockett from a bullet meant for him.
Crockett and Tubbs know the only way this ends is to go to the Bahamas and get Calderone. While on the island Tubbs meets a woman and falls in love. His loyalties are tested when he realizes that she is Calderone’s daughter. The man who killed his brother, tried to kill his partner, and killed the beloved boss of everyone in the Vice Division. The bloody, intense, and emotional final act ended with a mix of justice, lines crossed, and hearts broken.
In the epilogue as love tears apart and more grief tears hearts down, Crockett and Tubbs leave the Bahamas on a speedboat. The camera masterfully pans to a close up of Tubbs looking dead inside as Tina Turner’s “What’s Love Got to do With It” plays in the background and the credits roll. In that moment I became a Tina Turner fan.
A week later I would be in Crow’s Nest record store buying the album “Private Dancer” by Tina Turner along with 12 million other people.
Reading the liner notes I saw Jeff fucking Beck lended his guitar and composition skills to the album and I was transfixed by the blend of Pop and Motown like I had never heard before.
Parallels
Michael Mann went where MTV wasn’t ready to go. Even though black artists were making great music videos and music, they were not giving black artists prime time play. Mann was tapped into Miami and it’s multi racial vibrance. In every episode a key song would play in the third act and it would be a music video in it’s right interwoven into the episode. Without smart phones and a robust internet, if you heard something you had to ask a record store clerk about the song. And they knew. They were watching too.
1984 was my breakout year as it was Tina’s. I was in my first year of high school and had been living with my grandparents for a year now. I was safe from the abuse of my former home. Tina Turner was safe from her abuse at the hands of her former husband, Ike Turner.
I would not know about her freedom from abuse until 1986. By that point I was a fan and the impact of her survival story meant more at that point.
The Accomplishments
Tina Turner’s career spanned five decades. In that time she won over 100 awards which includes 8 Grammys from 25 nominations, 3 Grammy Hall of Fame awards and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement award. Though she only had one number 1 hit in the US, she sold over 100 million records worldwide.
In some countries she was as big (or bigger) than Madonna and The Rolling Stones during the 80’s. In the US she was still a powerhouse, but her freedom from abuse and being a black woman in America held her back from the level of fame she found in the rest of the world.
Amazing music, fashion icon, silver screen star, and someone who changed lives.
Escaping Ike
Tina Turner met her husband Ike Turner when she was 17 and Ike was 25. She was enamored with the band and within a year they were dating.
He recognized her talent and took control of it, and her. Born Anna Mae Bullock, Ike changed her name to Tina Turner in 1960 2 years before they married. He copyrighted her name. Ike literally owned her name.
After the marriage the abuse started. Currently 1 in 3 women are abused by an intimate partner and 1 in 7 are injured by a partner. Tina was in both clubs. According to a New York Times article she endured vicious beatings, broken bones, financial tyranny and sexual assault at the hands of Ike during their marriage. In the limelight she had to put on a smile as the duo topped the charts in Motown and Billboard between 1960 and 1976. But in the background she was scared for her life.
In 1976 an altercation became bloody and she left a hotel they were staying at in the dead of night and went into hiding from him. Living with friends she filed for divorce. 2 years later the divorce would be finalized. She did not get the money, the royalties, the houses or any part of the legacy they built. Ike got it all. She got to keep the name he gave her. Later, she would use that name to build a new life.
The Dark Side of 80’s US Music
If you were a black artist, you would not even be considered by white records and radio unless you hit top 10 in Motown. But if you were a black woman who “ruined poor Ike”, not even Motown was going to touch you. She could not get studio attention in the US while Ike continued to make large sums of money off of the royalties of the music they made together.
“A Capitol executive there called her an N-word douchebag and did not want to put her work out, this phenomenal voice that is a voice of a generation,” she said.
That was America. She knew what she had to do. She left America.
Rebirth Across the Pond
Europe welcomed her with open arms and gave her the studio space and support she needed to make her album on her terms with her vision. In 1984 the world would see Tina Turner again for the first time in 7 years.
A black woman in her 40’s would become a music sensation with her album, “Private Dancer.” She was just music, she appeared on the small and big screen and became a fashion icon and a sex symbol. Her name became known through the world and not only could Ike never touch her again, he could no longer touch her money under her name.
Silent No More
Her voice would not be silenced in the entertainment world. Her voice would also not be silenced about abuse. In 1986 she became vocal about what Ike did to her. Her voice that would not be silenced gave other victims a voice.
Tirelessly collaborating with the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence and other groups, Tina would raise awareness, funds, and provide education about domestic violence. Most importantly, she would personally engaged with victims of domestic violence and support them.
Her work has inspired and helped countless victims of domestic violence. The legacy of her efforts and her voice has impacted, for the better, victims of 5 generations!
And she did this all while entertaining us with hit after hit and album after album.
Personal Meaning
1 in 4 men are also victims of abuse from a partner. 1 in 25 men are physically injured by a partner. I am one of those men. It used to feel emasculating to say that, but I realize that I am not less of a man for having survived domestic abuse. It took awhile and I was a male client in a center in Joliet, Illinois learning how to heal from what I endured and calling it what it was. Abuse.
My adult child works for an organization on the front lines of offering support, resources, and even emergency housing to victims of domestic violence. My child used to be on the front lines in their centers. Now they travel to schools and other organizations raising awareness and giving voice to those who need it.
The big wheels keep on turning and offering help and hope to survivors.
The Difference You Can Make
Memes make us feel good but do little to help those in need. But every one of us can help end domestic violence.
Little things like learning the signs of DV. Once you know the signs you can help those in hell like Tina did. Believe them, document what you see and what they tell you, check in on them, learn the number of a local shelter. Posting it online will make you feel good, but knowing the number and giving it to someone in need will carry more weight. A post on your Facebook feed will be forgotten in an hour, and is being inaction as opposed to in action. A number given to someone you love personally can save lives.
You can also be a resource. Many abusers monitor phone activity, computer activity, and even gps their victims. Helping them get out sometimes means being their google researcher and making a few phone phone calls.
Finally, put your money where your mouth is if you can afford it.
Don’t think you know someone who is a victim?
Lets cover the stats I posted again.
1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men have experienced some form of physical violence by an intimate partner. 1 in 7 women and 1 in 25 men have been injured by an intimate partner.
You know victims. You see them everyday and likely everywhere you go.
If you are a victim, I know what it feels like. You do not deserve this and it seems impossible, but you can get out. If you do not feel safe making the calls or going to the websites, find someone who make the calls for you.
Want to be more like Tina? Put this in your phone and be ready to help the 1 in 2 or 4 or 7 or 25 you encounter.
National Domestic Violence Hotline
24/7. English, Spanish and 200+ other languages through interpretation service
SMS: Text START to 88788
800-799-7233
You can also go to their Chat and Official Website!
Put it in your phone! Write it on a notepad! Be ready to be another hero!
Feel free to comment and let me know you put it in your phone. It is in my phone!
Is it in your phone yet? I’ll wait.
A Small Difference You Can Make Right Now That Will Change Lives
I started this celebration of women from my nostalgic era to honor my friend Erika. Erika died on Christmas leaving behind a family that has immediate needs.
Click here to read the story of how Erika saved my life when we were teenagers.
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