Tina Turner: Queen Of Rock 'N' Roll, Force Of Nature, Feminist Icon, Say Obama, Biden, Angela Bassett, Clinton

Tina Turner's death, though she’d been ill for several years, felt like a gut punch for many. Whether you'd seen her perform live, on TV or grew up listening to her raspy voice belt out gutsy songs, there was something magnificent about being in the world at the same time as she was.

Born into poverty in Tennessee and abandoned by her parents at 11, she endured years of domestic abuse until she'd had enough.  “Do you realize you’re a feminist hero?” Larry King asked her in 1997.

“I’m beginning to,” Tina replied. And she took on that role with the same passion as she did her musical career.

Remembering Tina

Tributes are pouring in from celebs to the White House to Cleveland, Ohio where the Rock 'N' Roll Hall of Fame, into which Tina was twice inducted and supported the decision to build it on the shores of Lake Erie because, she wrote in 1985, “The roots of Rock 'N' Roll run deep in Cleveland.”

Known for her seemingly endless energy while on stage, Turner told Oprah that she had no special exercise routine other than staying active, eating well and “never smoking, never drinking and never doing drugs.”

Mick Jagger who often toured with her tweeted, "I'm so saddened by the passing of my wonderful friend Tina Turner. She was truly an enormously talented performer and singer. She was inspiring, warm, funny and generous. She helped me so much when I was young and I will never forget her." 

One current and two past residents of the White House told the world how they felt. "Jill and I send our love and prayers to her husband Erwin, the rest of the Turner family, and fans around the world who are mourning today for the woman they agree was 'simply the best,'" wrote President Biden.

President Obama 

Tina Turner was raw. She was powerful. She was unstoppable. And she was unapologetically herself—speaking and singing her truth through joy and pain; triumph and tragedy. Today we join fans around the world in honoring the Queen of Rock and Roll, and a star whose light will never… pic.twitter.com/qXl2quZz1c

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) May 24, 2023

Bill Clinton remembered Tina the way many of us do, having been lucky enough to see her in concert when she came to town. "I loved Tina Turner and will never forget meeting her when she came to Little Rock for a concert after releasing Private Dancer in 1984. We met again on her 67th birthday in St. Petersburg, where she and Elton John sang for a charity event. She still had it — talent, style, energy, and authenticity — a priceless gift to music lovers everywhere. May she rest in peace."

Angela Bassett, who was nominated for an Oscar for her role as Tina Turner in the biopic 'What's Love Got to Do With It?' may have said it best.

"How do we say farewell to a woman who owned her pain and trauma and used it as a means to help change the world? Through her courage in telling her story, her commitment to stay the course in her life, no matter the sacrifice, and her determination to carve out a space in rock and roll for herself and for others who look like her, Tina Turner showed others who lived in fear what a beautiful future filled with love, compassion, and freedom should look like."

Photo: Mick Jagger Tina Turner Courtesy Mick Jagger on Twitter