Simply the Best

Wow! That diva of ballsy rock and soul Tina Turner is 68 today.

Tina (born Anna Mae Bullock) is one of music's truly great survivors. She went from her bluesy roots with abusive husband Ike - with whom she created such classics as Nutbush City Limits and River Deep, Mountain High - through a very lean period in the 1970s, to become the legend she is today.

One of the biggest-selling female artists of all time, Tina recovered her musical credibility in the 80s with the help of those supremely talented British producers Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh, founders of the Human League and later Heaven 17, who on their British Electric Foundation (BEF) album Music of Quality and Distinction gave Tina the break she deserved with her brilliant rendition of Ball Of Confusion. From that came massive international success with her cover of Let's Stay Together (also with the BEF boys), and the subsequent album Private Dancer.

And the rest is history - biggest ever audience for a single performer (over 184,000 fans at the Maracanã Stadium, Rio de Janeiro), record sales in excess of 180 million, and numerous awards including Grammys (mainly for What's Love Got to Do With It), the French Lègion d'Honneur, and MTV, Rolling Stone,VH1 and Billboard Lifetime awards. What a trouper!

Tina Turner - The Best

Tina Turner official website