Tina Turner Read online

  Tina Turner

  Tina Turner

  BREAK EVERY RULE

  MARK BEGO

  Copyright © 2003 by Mark Bego

  First Taylor Trade Publishing edition 2003

  This Taylor Trade Publishing hardcover edition of Tina Turner is an original publication. It is published by arrangement with the author.

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.

  Published by Taylor Trade Publishing

  An imprint of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.

  4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200

  Lanham, Maryland 20706

  Distributed by National Book Network

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Bego, Mark.

  Tina Turner : break every rule / Mark Bego.— 1st Taylor Trade Pub.ed.

  p. cm.

  Includes bibliographical references (p. 254) and index.

  ISBN 1-58979-020-0 (alk. paper) ISBN 978-1-5897-9020-9

  1. Turner, Tina. 2. Rock musicians—United States—Biography.

  I.Title.

  ML420.T95 B44 2003

  782.42166'092—dc21

  2003012643

  The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48–1992.

  Manufactured in the United States of America.

  Books by Mark Bego

  The Captain & Tennille (1977)

  Barry Manilow (1977)

  The Doobie Brothers (1980)

  Michael! [Jackson] (1984)

  On The Road with Michael! [Jackson] (1984)

  Madonna! (1985)

  Rock Hudson Public & Private (1986)

  Sade! (1986)

  Julian Lennon! (1986)

  The Best of “Modern Screen” (1986)

  Whitney! [Houston] (1986)

  Cher! (1986)

  Bette Midler: Outrageously Divine (1987)

  The Linda Gray Story (1988)

  TV Rock (1988)

  Between the Lines [with Debbie Gibson] (1990)

  Linda Ronstadt: It’s So Easy (1990)

  Ice Ice Ice: The Extraordinary Vanilla Ice Story (1991)

  One Is the Loneliest Number [with Jimmy Greenspoon of Three Dog Night] (1991)

  Madonna: Blonde Ambition (1992)

  I’m a Believer: My Life of Music, Monkees and Madness [with Micky Dolenz of The Monkees] (1993)

  Country Hunks (1994)

  Country Gals (1994)

  Dancing in the Street: Confessions of a Motown Diva [with Martha Reeves of Martha and The Vandellas] (1994)

  I Fall to Pieces: The Music and the Life of Patsy Cline (1995)

  Rock & Roll Almanac (1996)

  Alan Jackson: Gone Country (1996)

  Raised on Rock: The Autobiography of Elvis Presley’s Step Brother [with David Stanley] (1996)

  George Strait: The Story of Country’s Living Legend (1997)

  Leonardo DiCaprio: Romantic Hero (1998)

  LeAnn Rimes (1998)

  Jewel (1998)

  Matt Damon: Chasing a Dream (1998)

  Will Smith: The Freshest Prince (1998)

  Vince Gill (2000)

  Madonna: Blonde Ambition (2000)

  Aretha Franklin: Queen of Soul (2001)

  The Marx Brothers (2001)

  Cher: If You Believe (2001)

  Bette Midler: Still Divine (2002)

  Bonnie Raitt: Still in the Nick of Time (2003)

  Julia Roberts: America’s Sweetheart (2003)

  Whitney Houston: Fall from Grace (2003)

  Tina Turner: Break Every Rule (2003)

  Contents

  Acknowledgments

  Prologue: The Queen of Rock & Roll

  Introduction: She’s Got Legs

  1 Nutbush City Limits

  2 Teenage Ann

  3 Enter Ike Turner

  4 Sexy Ann

  5 Just a Fool in Love

  6 River Deep-Mountain High

  7 Bold Soul Sister

  8 Proud Mary

  9 I’ve Been Loving You Too Long

  10 The Acid Queen

  11 The Last Straw

  12 Tina Reborn/Puttin’ on the Ritz

  13 Private Dancer

  14 Break Every Rule

  15 Foreign Affair

  16 What’s Love Got to Do With It?

  17 Wildest Dreams

  18 Twenty Four Seven and the Final Tour

  Quote Sources

  Bibliography

  Discography

  Filmography

  Index

  About the Author

  To Isiah James,

  Thank you for introducing me to the Buddhist way of

  focusing and finding mental serenity.

  “Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.”

  Acknowledgments

  The author would like to thank the following people for their help and encouragement with this book:

  Anne Bego

  Robert and Mary Bego

  Angela Bowie

  Rick Colarelli

  Hector DeJean

  Michael Dorr

  Jan Kalajian

  John Klinger

  Charles Moniz

  Ross Plotkin

  Tony Seidl

  Barbara Shelley

  Andy Skurow

  Beth Wernick

  Prologue

  THE QUEEN OF ROCK & ROLL

  Sometimes you just have to wonder about life: what’s luck got to do with it?

  Occasionally it plays a big part. During the 1980s, how lucky I was to have lived in an apartment on East 11th Street and Broadway in New York City. At that time, the nightclub known as The Ritz was just down the street, a block and a half from me. It was literally my neighborhood rock club! I even worked there once, as a publicist when The Who presented a huge satellite concert special, and threw a viewing party from the club.

  I remember how thrilled I was to find that the incomparable Tina Turner was to headline The Ritz in 1983. She had just scored a huge hit in England with the song “Let’s Stay Together,” and New York radio station WBLS was playing it constantly. I loved the song so much that I specifically went on a quest to buy the twelve-inch vinyl import single of the British hit. It was a great song, and I especially loved the photo of Tina and her sexy dancers on it. I had been in love with her 1975 Acid Queen album, and her hot versions of songs by The Rolling Stones, The Who, and Led Zeppelin. I remember thinking even then, “Tina Turner was born to sing rock & roll.”

  I immediately made plans to catch Tina’s new club act at The Ritz. That night, there was such anticipation in the crowd. How would Tina look? Would she sound fabulous—like she did on this new import single? At The Ritz, there was no reserved seating, so once the lights dimmed for the show to start, everyone was sure to jam their way up to the stage. Knowing this, I got myself a cocktail and immediately went to a place about six feet from the edge of the stage, unwilling to relinquish my ideal spot on the floor.

  I remember distinctly—as the sound of the music started and a gasp of delight came from the crowd—the moment Tina made her entrance. She was energetically breathtaking in her black leather miniskirt, and she looked genuinely thrilled by the crowd that had assembled for her big New York City return. I will never forget seeing Tina and her dancers moving to the song “Let’s Stay Together” that night, and the thrill I got from her high-wattage performance.

  Then, in 2000, I found myself living in Los Angeles and working for a publishin
g company. It was again sheer luck that a day before Tina’s December 6 appearance at Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim, California, I ended up with a ticket for the show. I had attended one of Tina Turner’s comeback shows at The Ritz in the 1980s, and now I was going to be present for the final show of her sold-out “farewell” Twenty Four Seven concert. It was another unforgettable night!

  When the opportunity came along for me to write this book, I immediately agreed. So much more had happened to Tina since her own book and since the release of her subsequent biographical film. Again I felt lucky to have the chance to tell her entire seven-decade story.

  Tina not only is a fabulous singer, dancer, actress, and performer—she is also an incredible inspiration. I am fortunate to have been present for two of the most important concert appearances in her career, and I have been happy, lucky, and excited to have had the opportunity to tell her story—all of it—in this book. Tina Turner is someone who has never given up on her dreams. She truly is the Queen of Rock & Roll!

  Introduction

  SHE’S GOT LEGS

  It is Wednesday, December 6, 2000, in Anaheim, California. Tonight, the massive indoor arena, Arrowhead Pond, is filled to capacity with 18,000 cheering fans of all ages. It is the last night of what is being billed as the final stadium tour of the legendary Tina Turner. The worldwide concert tour, like her latest album, is named Twenty Four Seven. It is aptly entitled, as Tina Turner is someone who succeeds at being one of the sexiest women on the planet—twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

  Another rock & roll legend, Joe Cocker, has just finished his own blistering warm-up set of rock & roll hits. However, the crowd has come here tonight to witness, experience, and pay homage to the one person who is acknowledged as “the hardest working woman in rock & roll”—the one and only Tina Turner!

  David Bowie once stated that whenever Tina is on stage it is “the hottest place in the universe.” And tonight she is about to prove that 100 percent accurate.

  Finally the intermission between acts comes to a close and the stadium lights begin to dim. Resounding screams of delight and anticipation emit from the crowd as the houselights fade to black and the music begins to play. As the stadium plunges into darkness, the resonant and distinctive voice of James Earl Jones is heard over the loudspeakers announcing, “Work like you don’t need a thing. Love like you’ve never been hurt. Dance like no one is watching. Ladies and gentlemen: Tina Turner.”

  The curtains part to reveal a three-tiered stage setup of rampways and staircases. On the second level of the stage stands Tina Turner—looking larger than life—surrounded by her sleek troupe of five dancing girls. The red-hot touring band she has, led by rocker John Miles, explodes into the opening notes of the song “I Want to Take You Higher.” There is the diva herself—twenty feet above the stage floor, repeating the word “higher!” as though that is the stratosphere she is about to take all 18,000 awe-struck spectators that night.

  Dressed in skin-tight pantsuit of knickers and a bustier in black vinyl and steel chains, she is immaculate. Her shoulder-less top reveals her perfect café au lait skin and her trim and toned body. As she launches into the song, she looks like she has the body of a thirty-five-year-old—yet she has just turned sixty-one the week before. She is wearing her trademark black high heels, shoes in which she smoothly struts back and forth across the stage with skilled agility.

  As she launches into the verses of the party anthem of a song, which she recorded in the 1970s, she is in her element. A broad smile beams across her face as the crowd lets out an excited gasp in unison. Throughout the evening she makes the most of the multilevel labyrinth of platforms and staircases on stage. The action doesn’t cease for the next two hours. Dancing her way down to the main stage floor, she never misses a step of the intricate choreography that takes her five female dancers through their paces.

  From her first minutes on stage, there is no question that Tina Turner is the star of the night. All eyes are on her, and she radiates a genuine warmth and excitement every minute that she is in the spotlight. Tonight’s songbook is a time-warping cavalcade of Tina’s past and present—including “A Fool in Love” and “Proud Mary” from her days as half of Ike & Tina Turner. It features her hits from her movie career “Acid Queen” and “We Don’t Need Another Hero.” It salutes her phenomenal mid-1980s comeback with “Private Dancer” and “What’s Love Got to Do With It.” And it highlights songs from her latest album, including “Absolutely Nothing’s Changed” and “Twenty Four Seven.”

  More than just a concert, tonight’s show is a thrilling rock & roll circus of exciting staging, flashy lighting effects, stunning song performances, and several staged surprises. One of the most dramatic numbers comes on Tina’s interpretation of the Motown classic “I Heard It through the Grapevine.” The huge stage set of platforms splits apart to reveal a simulated wall of flames on huge projection screens. Out prances Tina and her dancers, all clad in studded black vinyl like a gang of tough biker chicks on the prowl. And it’s the feisty Ms. Turner who is the leader of the pack.

  At the end of “We Don’t Need Another Hero,” the platform she is standing on suddenly breaks loose from the second story of the set, and she descends to the stage floor on a contraption suspended in mid-air. As she reaches the stage floor, the pyrotechnics blaze in an explosively dramatic flourish of flames and light.

  While singing “Nutbush City Limits” in a sexy white fringe-covered pantsuit, Tina dances down a walkway to what looks like a little cage of waist-high railing. All of a sudden the entire fifty-foot walkway swings outward to extend over the heads of the first three-dozen rows of audience members. Now she isn’t just the life of the party, she is hovering twenty feet above it! The crowd roars with excitement. While continuing to sing the song, she dances her way down the neck of the gang-plank toward the stage, without a railing, in dangerously high-heeled pumps! This stunt isn’t for divas who are afraid of heights. But then, Tina Turner is someone who has lived much of her life at dangerous elevations. The woman is simply invincible! Rock stars a quarter of her age can’t compete with her.

  It isn’t just about singing sizzling rocking songs with passion, or the amount energy expelled on dance numbers, or all of the exhilarating lighting effects. There is something much more that comes from this rock & roll diva on stage. She exudes heart, spirit, and sincerity. Tina Turner never, ever does things nice and easy. She does them nice and rough, and that’s the way her fans love it—and they love her for it. For six decades she has been astounding audiences around the world. This is a night that no one present wants to see come to an end. Tonight isn’t just the end of a concert, it is the end of an era in rock spectaculars.

  There is no one in the world of show business quite like Tina Turner. Yes, there have been other women in the music world whose careers have had great longevity. But few have matched the wattage, the vitality, and sheer excitement that Tina creates.

  There have been other women with public careers who have overcome adversity and tragedy in their lives. Yet, somehow Tina has walked away from her oppressive and degrading life with Ike Turner with such dignity and spirituality that she has become an inspiration for others.

  In the 1960s and 1970s Tina Turner, along with her then-husband Ike, had become rhythm & blues and rock & roll legends. Their string of hits included “It’s Gonna Work Out Fine,” “River Deep-Mountain High,” and “I Idolize You.” They were famous in music circles because of their extensive club tours across the globe. They were also elevated to rock superstardom, largely due to their extensive touring as the opening act for The Rolling Stones. It was acknowledged that Tina was the dynamic star of the show, and that it was Ike who was the genius behind the act. It was also highly publicized that they were happily married and loved each other deeply.

  If you were to believe Tina’s 1970s song repertoire like Ike’s composition “Contact High,” or if you were to see Tina as the substance abuse guru “Acid Queen” in the film
Tommy, and take it at face value, you might think that she was a drug use proponent or that she was a wild party girl.

  If you were to hear her convincingly singing the songs “Fool for You,” “Poor Fool,” and “It’s Gonna Work Out Fine,” you would believe that these were odes of love from Tina to her devoted husband, Ike. If you were to catch Ike & Tina Turner’s act in the early 1970s, while they were performing the song “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long,” in which Tina mimicked fellatio on her phallic-shaped microphone, you might have the impression that she was some sort of uninhibited sex goddess.

  On stage every night she whirled, twirled, and performed fast-paced kinetic dance steps that made audience members’ heads spin. She expelled so much energy, she appeared to be the epitome of a woman who was totally liberated and in the throes of a joyful life of stardom and excitement.

  However, nothing could be further from the truth. None of these images were based in reality. According to her, “Tina Turner—that woman who went out on stage—she was somebody else. I was like a shadow” (1). By 1976, the real Tina was trapped in a marriage that made her life a living hell. Her life onstage was an act, and her life offstage had become torture.

  The drugs and the partying? That was Ike’s life. Tina never did recreational drugs of any sort, and wanted nothing to do with them.

  As far as her marriage was concerned, it was a sham. Ike was never faithful to her. On more than one occasion, she had walked into her own living room only to find a woman on her knees performing oral sex on him.

  Her happy and joyful life? Nothing could be further from the existence in which she found herself trapped. Not only did Ike treat her like his hired hand, expected to come whenever called, when she displeased him or complained, Ike would beat her mercilessly. As time went on, and Ike’s rampant drug use escalated, so did his physical tirades. No one—except those closest to them—knew that, in reality, Ike controlled Tina with intimidation and fear.

  Tina had become an expert at applying pancake makeup to her blackened eyes. She regularly performed to cheering crowds with split lips, bruises, and even broken bones. She felt so alone and trapped that even her desperate attempt at suicide failed her.