Tina Turner, the soulful diva who had a string of R&B successes in the '60s and '70s and hit it big as a pop singer in the '80s, passed away on Wednesday in Switzerland. She was 83 years old.

According to reports, "Tina Turner, the 'Queen of Rock'n Roll,' passed away quietly at her home in Kusnacht, near Zurich, Switzerland, at the age of 83, following a protracted illness. According to a statement released to Variety by her representative, the world has lost a musical icon and an inspiration with her passing.


More than a decade after her worldwide smash "Proud Mary" with husband Ike, Tina Turner reached the peak of musical popularity with the 1984 Capitol Records album "Private Dancer." Five million copies were sold, and four Grammys were given out for the album, which featured three top-ten pop hits. She never repeated her breakout solo success, but she had a successful recording and touring career until she retired in the year 2000.Turner, who was raw-voiced, leggy, peripatetic, and provocative onstage, slid into film roles with ease, playing the Acid Queen in Ken Russell's 1975 adaptation of the Who's rock opera "Tommy" and the villainous Aunty Entity in George Miller's action sequel "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome." She sang the film's theme song, "GoldenEye," written by Bono and The Edge of U2.

Turner, a winner of eight Grammys who was also honored at the 2005 Kennedy Center Honors, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991.

Turner started recording with future husband Ike when she was still in her teens; their stormy union yielded popular hits for 15 years, culminating in 1971's crossover hit "Proud Mary." The singer left her violent husband in 1976, and her account of their tumultuous relationship, "I, Tina," became a New York Times bestseller and the inspiration for the 1993 film, "What's Love Got to Do with It."

Anna Mae Bullock was born in the little town of Nutbush, Tennessee (a place she would later sing about in her own 1973 song, "Nutbush City Limits"). Her mother left her abusive father when she was 11 years old, and she and her older sister, Ruby, were passed around to various relatives. The girls' mother picked them up in St. Louis when they were 16 years old.

After finishing high school, she started working as a nurse's aide and going out to the Black clubs in St. Louis. She only sang in the church choir growing up, but in 1958 she sat in with Ike Turner's Kings of Rhythm at Club Manhattan.