Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939 – May 24, 2023) was a singer, songwriter, actress and author. Dubbed the "Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", she broke both racial and gender barriers in rock music with her vocal prowess and stage presence. She is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with estimated sales of over 100 million records worldwide.
Turner rose to prominence in the 1960s as the lead vocalist of the R&B husband-wife duo Ike & Tina Turner, known for their explosive live performances with the Ikettes and Kings of Rhythm. The duo achieved chart success with songs including "A Fool In Love", "River Deep – Mountain High", "Proud Mary", and "Nutbush City Limits". After separating from Ike Turner in 1976, she launched a solo career. Following the 1983 hit "Let's Stay Together", she made a comeback with her multi-platinum fifth solo album, Private Dancer (1984). The single "What's Love Got to Do with It" won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 1985 and became her only number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100. She continued her success with the top-ten singles "Better Be Good to Me", "Private Dancer", "We Don't Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)", "Typical Male", and "I Don't Wanna Fight". Later in her career, she sang the theme song for the 1995 James Bond film GoldenEye.
Turner's Break Every Rule World Tour became the highest-grossing tour by a female artist in the 1980s, and her 1988 concert in Rio de Janeiro set a Guinness World Record for the then-largest paying audience in a concert by a solo artist. She continued touring successfully in the 1990s and her Twenty Four Seven Tour was the highest-grossing tour of 2000. In 2009, she retired from performing after completing the Tina!: 50th Anniversary Tour. As an actress, Turner appeared in the films Tommy (1975), Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985), and Last Action Hero (1993). Her life was portrayed in the biopic What's Love Got to Do with It (1993), based on her autobiography I, Tina (1986), and later in the musical Tina (2018) and documentary Tina (2021).
Turner received 12 Grammy Awards, including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and three Grammy Hall of Fame inductions. In 1967, she became the first black artist and the first woman to appear on the cover of Rolling Stone, which later ranked her among the greatest artists and greatest singers of all time. She was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1986 and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice—first with Ike Turner in 1991 and again as a solo artist in 2021. Turner received the Kennedy Center Honors in 2005. In 2013, Turner relinquished her US citizenship and became a Swiss citizen, residing in Switzerland until her death in Küsnacht in 2023.
Early life
Tina Turner was born Anna Mae Bullock on November 26, 1939 in Brownsville, Tennessee. Her parents were Floyd Bullock and Zelma Currie. Bullock was African American. Bullock's family lived in the rural unincorporated community of Nutbush, Tennessee, where her father worked as an overseer of the sharecroppers at Poindexter Farm on Highway 180. She later recalled picking cotton with her family at an early age.
Bullock had an older half-sister, Evelyn Juanita Currie, and an older sister, Alline Bullock. She was the first cousin once removed of bluesman Eugene Bridges. As young children, the three sisters were separated when their parents relocated to Knoxville, Tennessee, to work at a defense facility during World War II. Bullock went to stay with her strict, religious paternal grandparents, Alex and Roxanna Bullock, who were deacon and deaconess at the Woodlawn Missionary Baptist Church.
After the war, the sisters reunited with their parents and moved with them to Knoxville. Two years later, the family returned to Nutbush to live in the Flagg Grove community, where Bullock attended Flagg Grove School from first through eighth grade. As a young girl, Bullock enjoyed singing and acting. She often performed in the streets for change so she could go to the movies. She sang in the church choir at Nutbush's Spring Hill Baptist Church.
In 1950, when Bullock was 11, her mother Zelma left the family without warning, seeking freedom from her abusive relationship with Floyd by relocating to St. Louis. Two years after her mother left the family, her father married another woman and moved to Detroit. Bullock and her sisters were sent to live with their maternal grandmother, Georgeanna Currie, in Brownsville, Tennessee. She stated in her autobiography I, Tina that she felt her parents did not love her and that she was not wanted. Zelma had planned to leave Floyd, but stayed with him once she became pregnant with Bullock. Bullock recalled, "She was a very young woman who didn't want another kid."
As a teenager, Bullock worked as a domestic worker for the Henderson family in Ripley, Tennessee. She was at the Henderson house when she was notified that her half-sister Evelyn had died in a car crash alongside her cousin Margaret Currie; another cousin, Vela Evans, survived the car crash with injuries. A self-professed tomboy, Bullock joined both the cheerleading squad and the female basketball team at Carver High School in Brownsville, and "socialized every chance she got".
In 1956, following the death of her grandmother, Bullock moved to St. Louis to live with her mother. She graduated from Sumner High School in 1958. After completing her studies, Bullock worked as a nurse's aide at Barnes-Jewish Hospital.
Ike & Tina Turner
Origins: 1956–1959
Bullock's older sister, Alline, frequently attended performances by Ike Turner and his band the Kings of Rhythm in St. Louis and East St. Louis. One Saturday night, Bullock's mother allowed her to accompany Alline to see the group perform at the Club Manhattan in East St. Louis. Bullock was deeply impressed by Turner's talent, later recalling that she "almost went into a trance" watching him play. By the age of 17, she was regularly attending performances by the Kings of Rhythm at Club D'Lisa and Club Manhattan, and her sister Alline began dating drummer Eugene "Gene" Washington. Determined to join the band, Bullock asked Alline to tell Washington to speak to Turner about letting her sing; Turner agreed but never followed through. She later recalled feeling overlooked due to her skinny frame, as Turner was generally attracted to curvier women.
One night, Bullock took the initiative during an intermission, grabbed a microphone, and sang the B.B. King blues ballad "You Know I Love You." Her performance impressed Turner, who invited her to continue singing that night and soon made her a featured vocalist with the group. He also began mentoring her in vocal control and stage performance. In 1958, she made her recording debut under the name Little Ann on the single "Boxtop," alongside Ike Turner and vocalist Carlson Oliver.
Early success: 1960–1965
In 1960, Ike Turner wrote "A Fool in Love" for singer Art Lassiter. Bullock was to sing background with Lassiter's backing vocalists, the Artettes. Lassiter failed to show up for the recording session at Technisonic Studios. Since Turner had already paid for the studio time, Bullock suggested that she sing the lead. He decided to use Bullock to record a demo with the intention of erasing her vocals and adding Lassiter's at a later date. Local St. Louis disc jockey Dave Dixon convinced Turner to send the tape to Juggy Murray, president of R&B label Sue Records. Upon hearing the song, Murray was impressed with Bullock's vocals, later stating that "Tina sounded like screaming dirt. It was a funky sound". Murray bought the track and paid Turner a $25,000 advance for the recording and publishing rights.
Murray also convinced Turner to make Bullock "the star of the show". Turner responded by renaming Bullock "Tina" because it rhymed with Sheena. He was inspired by Sheena, Queen of the Jungle and Nyoka the Jungle Girl to create her stage persona. Turner added his last name and trademarked the name "Tina Turner" as a form of protection; his idea was that if Bullock left him as his previous singers had, he could replace her with another "Tina Turner". However, family and friends still called her Ann.
Bullock was introduced to the public as Tina Turner with the single "A Fool in Love" in July 1960. It reached number 2 on the Hot R&B Sides chart and number 27 on the Billboard Hot 100. Journalist Kurt Loder described the track as "the blackest record to ever creep into the white pop charts since Ray Charles's gospel-styled 'What'd I Say' that previous summer". Another single from the duo, "It's Gonna Work Out Fine", reached number 14 on the Hot 100 and number 2 on the R&B chart in 1961, earning them a Grammy nomination for Best Rock and Roll Performance. Other singles Ike & Tina Turner released between 1960 and 1962 included the R&B hits "I Idolize You", "Poor Fool", and "Tra La La La La".
After the release of "A Fool in Love" the Ike & Tina Turner Revue was formed. Tina Turner became the lead vocalist, the Ikettes served as backing vocalists and dancers, and Ike Turner remained in the background as the bandleader of the Kings of Rhythm. He put the entire revue through a rigorous touring schedule across the United States, performing 90 days straight in venues around the country. Tina Turner became the lead vocalist. During the days of the Chitlin' Circuit, the Ike & Tina Turner Revue built a reputation as "one of the hottest, most durable, and potentially most explosive of all R&B ensembles", rivaling the James Brown Revue in terms of musical spectacle. Due to their profitable performances, they were able to perform in front of desegregated audiences in Southern clubs and hotels.
Between 1963 and 1965, the band toured constantly and produced moderately successful R&B singles. Tina Turner's first credited single as a solo artist, "Too Many Ties That Bind"/"We Need an Understanding", was released from Ike Turner's label Sonja Records in 1964. Another single by the duo, "You Can't Miss Nothing That You Never Had", reached number 29 on the Billboard R&B chart. After their tenure at Sue Records, the duo signed with more than ten labels during the remainder of the decade, including Kent, Cenco, Tangerine, Pompeii, A&M, and Minit. In 1964, they signed to Warner Bros. Records and Bob Krasnow became their manager. On the Warner Bros. label, they achieved their first charting album with Live! The Ike & Tina Turner Show, peaking at number 8 on the Billboard Hot R&B LP chart in February 1965. Their singles "Tell Her I'm Not Home", released on Loma Records, and "Good Bye, So Long", released on Modern Records, were Top 40 R&B hits in 1965.
Tina Turner's profile was raised after several solo appearances on shows such as American Bandstand and Shindig! while the entire revue appeared on Hollywood a Go-Go. In 1965, music producer Phil Spector attended an Ike & Tina Turner show at a club on the Sunset Strip, and he invited them to appear in the concert film The Big T.N.T. Show.
Mainstream success: 1966–1976
Impressed by the duo's performance on The Big T.N.T. Show, Spector was eager to produce Tina Turner. Working out a deal with Krasnow, who was her manager and head of Loma, Spector offered $20,000 for creative control over the sessions to produce Turner and have Ike & Tina Turner released from their recording contract. They signed to Spector's Philles label in April 1966 after Tina Turner had already recorded with him. Their first single on his label, "River Deep – Mountain High", was released in May 1966. Spector considered that record, with Turner's maximum energy over the "Wall of Sound", to be his best work. It was successful overseas, reaching number 3 on the UK Singles Chart and number 1 on Los 40 Principales in Spain, but it failed to go any higher than number 88 on the Billboard Hot 100. The impact of the record gave Ike & Tina Turner an opening spot on the Rolling Stones UK tour in the fall of 1966. In November 1967, Tina Turner became the first female artist and the first black artist to appear on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine.
The duo signed with Blue Thumb Records in 1968, releasing the album Outta Season in 1969. The album produced their charted cover of Otis Redding's "I've Been Loving You Too Long". Later that year they released The Hunter album. The title track, Albert King's "The Hunter", earned Turner a Grammy nomination for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. The success of the albums led to the revue headlining in Las Vegas, where their shows were attended by a variety of celebrities including Sly Stone, Janis Joplin, Cher, James Brown, Ray Charles, Elton John, and Elvis Presley. Sammy Davis Jr. was particularly fond of Turner, and after she filmed an episode of The Name of the Game with him in Las Vegas he surprised her with a Jaguar XJ6.
As the decade came to an end, Ike & Tina Turner began performing at music festivals. Tina Turner's fashion evolved from formal dresses to minidresses and revealing outfits. She emerged as a sex symbol and was praised for her sensual performances.
In the fall of 1969, Ike & Tina Turner's profile in their home country was raised after opening for the Rolling Stones on their US tour. They gained more exposure from performances on The Ed Sullivan Show, Playboy After Dark, and The Andy Williams Show. The duo released two albums in 1970, Come Together and Workin' Together. Their cover of "I Want to Take You Higher" peaked at number 34 on the Hot 100, whereas the original by Sly and the Family Stone had peaked at number 38. The Come Together and Workin' Together albums marked a turning point in their careers in which they switched from their usual R&B repertoire to incorporate more rock tunes such as "Come Together", "Honky Tonk Woman", and "Get Back".
In early 1971, their cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Proud Mary" became their biggest hit. The single reached number 4 on the Hot 100 and sold more than a million copies, winning them a Grammy for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group. In July 1971, their live album, What You Hear Is What You Get, was released. It was recorded at Carnegie Hall and became their first certified Gold album. Later that year they had a Top 40 R&B hit with "Ooh Poo Pah Doo". Their next three singles to chart, "I'm Yours (Use Me Anyway You Wanna)", "Up in Heah", and "Early One Morning" (a Little Richard cover) all peaked at number 47 on the R&B chart.
In 1972, the Turners opened Bolic Sound recording studio near their home in Inglewood. After Liberty was absorbed into United Artists Records, they were assigned to that label. Around this time, Tina Turner began writing more songs. She wrote nine out of the ten tracks on their 1972 album Feel Good. In October 1972, Turner and the Ikettes performed at Star-Spangled Women, a political fundraiser for the 1972 presidential campaign of George McGovern, at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
The duo's 1973 hit single "Nutbush City Limits" (number 22 Pop, number 11 R&B), penned by Tina Turner, reached number 1 in Austria, number 4 in the UK, and number 5 in several other countries. It was certified Silver by the BPI for selling a quarter of a million in the UK. As a result of their success, they received the Golden European Record Award, the first ever given, for selling more than one million records of "Nutbush City Limits" in Europe. Their follow-up hits included "Sweet Rhode Island Red", and "Sexy Ida" in 1974. That year, the duo released the Grammy-nominated album The Gospel According to Ike & Tina, which was nominated for Best Soul Gospel Performance. Ike also received a solo nomination for his single "Father Alone" from the album.
Tina Turner's first solo album, Tina Turns the Country On!, was released in September 1974, and earned her a nomination for Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female. That year, she filmed the rock opera Tommy in which she played the Acid Queen, a drug-addicted prostitute; her performance was critically acclaimed. Filming alone in London gave Turner a sense of independence. In 1975 she told People that she didn't want Ike to think she was abandoning him: "I've always been in there helping him and now, in Tommy, I've learned I can do things without him. Ike'll be proud, but he's gonna miss me."
Shortly after filming wrapped, Turner appeared on Ann-Margret's TV special. Following the release of Tommy in 1975, Tina Turner released another solo album: Acid Queen. The album reached number 39 on the Billboard R&B chart. It produced the charting singles "Baby, Get It On" and a cover of Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love".
In 1976, Ike & Tina Turner headlined at the Waldorf Astoria New York and signed a television deal with CBS-TV. Ike made plans for them to leave United Artists Records for a five-year deal with Cream Records for $150,000 per year; the deal was to be signed on July 5. On July 1, 1976, following an altercation, Tina Turner fled from Ike Turner in Dallas, Texas. After their separation, United Artists released two more albums that were credited to the duo: Delilah's Power (1977) and Airwaves (1978).
Solo career
Early solo career: 1976–1982
Following the Turners' separation, lawsuits mounted for canceled Ike & Tina Turner gigs. Tina Turner earned income by appearing on TV shows such as Hollywood Squares, Donny & Marie, The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, and The Brady Bunch Hour. After receiving funding from Mike Stewart, an executive at United Artists Records, Turner returned to performing in order to pay off her debts. In 1977, she formed a new band and re-emerged with new costumes designed by Bob Mackie. She took her act to smaller venues and headlined a series of cabaret shows at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Later that year, she embarked on her first solo concert tour in Australia.
Tina Turner and Tom Jones starred in an HBO TV special that was shot at the Warner Theatre in Washington, DC, in September 1978. Around that time, her third solo album, Rough, was released on United Artists with distribution in North America and Europe on EMI Records. That album, along with its 1979 follow-up, Love Explosion, which included a brief diversion to disco music, failed to chart, so United Artists and Turner parted ways. Without the premise of a hit record, she continued performing and headlined her second tour.
In 1979, Australian manager Roger Davies agreed to manage Turner after seeing her perform at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco. In early 1979, Turner worked in Italy as a regular performer on the Rete 1 TV series Luna Park, hosted by Pippo Baudo and Heather Parisi. Later that year, she embarked on a controversial five-week tour of South Africa during the apartheid regime. She later admitted that she was "naive about the politics in South Africa" at the time.
In October 1981, Rod Stewart attended Turner's show at the Ritz in New York City and invited her to perform "Hot Legs" with him on Saturday Night Live. In November, Turner opened three shows for the Rolling Stones during their 1981 American Tour. Turner performed in March 1982 in the Willem Ruis show (Netherlands), which resulted in the hit "Shame, Shame, Shame" reaching number 47 in the Netherlands. In 1982, Turner recorded the Temptations' "Ball of Confusion" with the UK production team B.E.F. (a side project of the band Heaven 17) which featured on their album Music of Quality and Distinction - Volume 1 and became a hit in European dance clubs. She filmed a music video for "Ball of Confusion" that aired on the fledgling music video channel MTV, becoming one of the first black American artists to gain airtime on the channel. Also in 1982, Turner appeared as a special guest on Chuck Berry's television special performed at The Roxy in West Hollywood.
Career resurgence and superstardom: 1983–2000
Until 1983, Turner was considered a nostalgia act, performing mostly at hotel ballrooms and clubs in the United States. During her second stint at the Ritz, she signed with Capitol Records in 1983. In November 1983, she released her cover of Al Green's "Let's Stay Together", which was co-produced by Martyn Ware (of Heaven 17/B.E.F) and featured Glenn Gregory of Heaven 17 on backing vocals. It entered several European charts, and reached number 6 in the UK. In the US, the song peaked at number 26 on the Billboard Hot 100, number 1 on Hot Dance Club Songs, and number 3 on Hot Black Singles.
Following the single's surprise success, and a further minor hit with her version of the Beatles' classic "Help", which also reached the UK Top 40 in March 1984, Capitol Records approved a studio album. Turner had two weeks to record her Private Dancer album, which was released in May 1984. It reached number 3 on the Billboard 200 and number 2 in the United Kingdom. Private Dancer was certified 5× Platinum in the United States, and sold 10 million copies worldwide, becoming her most successful album. Also in May 1984, Capitol issued the single "What's Love Got to Do with It", which had previously been recorded by the British pop group Bucks Fizz. Following the album's release, Turner joined Lionel Richie as the opening act on his tour.
"Turner was in her mid-40s — 'an age some in the music industry considered past an artist’s prime' when her 1984 comeback hit". On September 1, 1984, Turner achieved her first and only number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with "What's Love Got to Do with It". The follow-up singles "Better Be Good to Me" and "Private Dancer" were also both US Top 10 hits. The same year, she duetted with David Bowie on a cover of Iggy Pop's "Tonight". Released as a single in November, it peaked at number 53 in both the UK and the US. At his spring 1985 ready-to-wear runway show presented in fall of '84, Paris designer Karl Lagerfeld put his models in Tina Turner wigs and said he was "mad for her."
Turner won three Grammys at the 27th Annual Grammy Awards, including the Grammy Award for Record of the Year for "What's Love Got to Do with It". In February 1985, she embarked on her second world tour to support the Private Dancer album. Two nights were filmed at Birmingham, England's NEC Arena and later released as a concert on home video. She was often dressed in clothes by designer Azzedine Alaïa for this tour and sometimes dedicated songs to him. During this time, she also contributed vocals to the USA for Africa benefit song "We Are the World".
Turner's success continued when she traveled to Australia to star opposite Mel Gibson in the 1985 post-apocalyptic film sequel Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. The movie provided her with her first acting role in ten years; she portrayed the glamorous Aunty Entity, the ruler of Bartertown. Upon release, critical response to her performance was generally positive. The film was a global success, grossing more than $36 million in the United States. Turner later received the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress for her role in the film. She recorded two songs for the film, "We Don't Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)" and "One of the Living". Both songs became successes, with the first becoming a transatlantic Top 3 hit, and the latter winning her a Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. In July 1985, Turner performed at Live Aid alongside Mick Jagger. Their performance included an infamous moment when Jagger ripped her skirt off to reveal black swimsuit-type bottoms underneath. Turner released a duet, "It's Only Love", with Bryan Adams. It was nominated for a Grammy Award, and the music video won an MTV Video Music Award for Best Stage Performance.
In 1986, Turner released her sixth solo album, Break Every Rule, which reached number 1 in four countries and sold over five million copies worldwide within its first year of release. The album sold more than a million copies in the United States and Germany alone. The album featured the singles "Typical Male", "Two People", "What You Get Is What You See", and the Grammy-winning "Back Where You Started". Prior to the album's release, Turner published her autobiography I, Tina, which became a bestseller. That year, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Her Break Every Rule World Tour, which began in March 1987, was the highest-grossing tour by a female artist in the 1980s. In January 1988, Turner performed in front of approximately 180,000 at Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, setting a Guinness World Record at the time for the largest paying concert attendance for a solo artist. In April 1988, Turner released the Tina Live in Europe album, which won a Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. After taking time off following the end of the tour, she emerged with the Foreign Affair album in 1989. It reached number 1 in eight countries, including in the UK (5× Platinum), her first number-one album there. The album sold over six million copies worldwide and included the international hit single "The Best".
In 1990, Turner embarked on her Foreign Affair European Tour, which drew in nearly four million spectators—breaking the record for a European tour that was previously set by the Rolling Stones. In October 1991 Turner released her first greatest hits compilation Simply the Best, which sold seven million copies worldwide. The album is her biggest seller in the UK, where it is certified 8× Platinum with more than two million copies sold.
In 1991, Ike & Tina Turner were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Ike Turner was incarcerated at the time and Tina Turner did not attend. Turner stated through her publicist that she was taking a leave of absence following her tour and she felt "emotionally unequipped to return to the US and respond to the night of celebration in the manner she would want". Phil Spector accepted the award on their behalf.
In 1993, the semi-autobiographical film What's Love Got to Do with It was released. The film starred Angela Bassett as Tina Turner and Laurence Fishburne as Ike Turner; they received Best Actress and Best Actor Oscar nominations for their roles. While she was not heavily involved in the film, Turner contributed to the soundtrack for What's Love Got to Do with It, re-recording old songs and several new songs. The single "I Don't Wanna Fight" from the soundtrack was a Top 10 hit in the US and UK, while the album itself became her second UK number one. In 1993 Turner embarked on her What's Love? Tour.
In 1995, Turner returned to the studio, releasing "GoldenEye", which was written by Bono and the Edge of U2 for the James Bond film GoldenEye. In 1996 Turner released the Wildest Dreams album, accompanied by her "Wildest Dreams Tour". In September 1999, before celebrating her 60th birthday, Turner released the dance-infused song "When the Heartache Is Over" as the leading single from her tenth and final solo album, Twenty Four Seven. The success of the single and the following tour helped the album become certified Gold by the RIAA. The Twenty Four Seven Tour was the highest-grossing tour of 2000, grossing over $120 million. Her two concerts at Wembley Stadium were recorded by the director David Mallet and released in the DVD One Last Time Live in Concert. At a concert in Zurich, Switzerland in July 2000, Turner announced that she would retire at the end of the tour.
Later career: 2001–2021
In November 2004, Turner released All the Best, which debuted at number 2 on the Billboard 200 in 2005, her highest-charting album in the United States. The album went Platinum in the US three months after its release and reached Platinum status in seven other countries, including the UK.
In December 2005, Turner was awarded the Kennedy Center Honors at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC.
In February 2006, Turner released "Teach Me Again", a duet single with Italian singer-songwriter Elisa that was recorded for the anthology film All the Invisible Children. The whole revenue from the single's sales was donated to charity projects for children led by the World Food Programme and UNICEF.
Turner made a public comeback in February 2008 at the Grammy Awards, where she performed alongside Beyoncé. In addition, she won a Grammy as a featured artist on River: The Joni Letters.
In October 2008, Turner embarked on her first tour in nearly ten years with the Tina!: 50th Anniversary Tour. In support of the tour, Turner released a greatest hits compilation. The tour was a huge success and became one of the bestselling tours in history. In 2009, Turner retired from live performances.
In 2009, Turner co-founded a global music foundation, Beyond Foundation, with Swiss Christian musician Regula Curti and Swiss Tibetan Buddhist Dechen Shak-Dagsay. Turner co-released four albums of spiritual or uplifting music released through projects with Beyond: Buddhist and Christian Prayers (2009), Children (2011), Love Within (2014), and Awakening (2017). As of 2023, the Swiss Beyond Foundation remains active and enables the collaboration of musical artists from different parts of the world.
In April 2010, mainly due to an online campaign by fans of Rangers Football Club, Turner's 1989 hit, "The Best", returned to the UK singles chart, peaking at number 9. This made Turner the first female recording artist in UK chart history to score Top 40 hits in six consecutive decades (1960s–2010s). In 2011, Beyond's second album Children – With Children United in Prayer followed and charted again in Switzerland. Turner promoted the album by performing on TV shows in Germany and Switzerland. In April 2013, Turner appeared on the cover of the German issue of Vogue magazine at the age of 73, becoming the oldest person to be featured on the cover of Vogue. In February 2014, Parlophone Records released a new compilation titled Love Songs.
In December 2016 Turner announced that she had been working on Tina, a musical based on her life story, in collaboration with Phyllida Lloyd and Stage Entertainment. The show opened at the Aldwych Theatre in London in April 2018 with Adrienne Warren in the lead role. Warren reprised her role on Broadway in the fall of 2019.
Turner received the 2018 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and her second memoir, My Love Story, was released in October 2018. In 2020, she came out of retirement to collaborate with Norwegian producer Kygo on a remix of "What's Love Got to Do with It". With this release, she became the first artist to have a Top 40 hit in seven consecutive decades in the UK.