Tina Turner (w/ Kurt Loder): I, Tina: My Life Story (1986)
As we move through Women's History Month 2026, I thought we'd do well to remember the harrowing but inspiring story of the inimitable and indomitable Queen of Rock 'n' Roll …
Tina Turner passed away in 2023 at the age of 83, but she already had an epic tale to tell 40 years ago, when she co-authored I, Tina with then-Rolling Stone editor and future MTV news anchor Kurt 'The Week in Rock' Loder.
The artist and writer (who'd also contributed to Circus, Esquire, and Time, among other publications) actually make a great tag-team as they switch back-and-forth between her personal recollections and his fluid, well-rounded reportage.
It all begins with vivid recollections of Anna Mae Bullock‘s impoverished West Tennessee upbringing (where else but the Nutbush City Limits?), at times abandoned by both parents, and how her initial forays into performing in St. Louis introduced her to bandleader Ike Turner.
It proceeds with a grueling account of her virtual indentured servitude to her abusive husband of 16 years, as the Ike and Tina Turner Revue criss-crossed America's highways and byways, with Tina subjected to constant physical and psychological abuse.
It describes their occasional breakthroughs to white audiences, especially in the UK, and Tina's growing legion of admirers, from Phil Spector to The Rolling Stones, that, along with a spiritual grounding in Buddhism, gradually gave her the courage and strength to escape.
That escape from a Dallas hotel in 1976, with nothing but the clothes on her back, 36 cents, and a gas card, has of course gone down in musical lore, and so did Tina's subsequent, unlikely comeback, all the way to the top of the charts with Private Dancer at age 45.
And when I, Tina was published a couple of years later, it taught millions of new fans and readers that this was no mere professional comeback, but an inspirational survival story -- a true American epic later brought to the silver screen via 1993's What's Love Got to Do With It, starring Angela Bassett.
Finally, though I'm sure there are more recent and complete Tina Turner biographies I might have chosen, I don't need reminding of her ensuing triumphs, the laundry list of awards, etc., when I, Tina provides such a raw, emotional, in-the-moment glimpse of Tina's hard-won victory over so much adversity.
Tina Turner: Private Dancer (1984)
Ike & Tina Turner: Workin’ Together (1970)