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Tuesday, February 19, 2013

February 19, 1940


It's Tuesday, February 19, and you know that it is time for another look back through time in the “Tuesday Timeline”. Now, this month, we're giving the Tuesday Timeline the “Black History Month” treatment, and while this featured subject may not have done much in the way of civil rights, he has had tons of success doing what he loves best, and he has recorded some of the most recognizable songs in the genre known as pop music, and is still going strong today.

Before we get on with today's subject, we need to take a look at what else was happening in the world on February 19. Let's look at some history, shall we?

356 – Emperor Constantius II issues a decree that effectively closes all pagan temples within the Roman Empire

1600 – South America records its most violent volcanic eruption when the Peruvian stratovolcano Huaymaputina explodes

1674 – The Treaty of Westminster is signed by England and The Netherlands, effectively ending the Third Anglo-Dutch War

1807 – Former Vice-President of the United States Aaron Burr is arrested on charges of treason in Alabama

1819 – British explorer William Smith discovers the South Shetland Islands, and claims them in the name of King George III

1846 – The newly formed Texas state government is officially installed in Austin, following the annexation of Texas by the United States

1852 – The Phi Kappa Psi fraternity is established at Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania

1859 – New York Congressman Daniel E. Sickles becomes the first person to be acquitted on charges on murder due to the defense of 'temporary insanity'

1876 – The National Amateur Press Association (NAPA) is founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

1878 – Thomas Edison patents the phonograph

1884 – A huge outbreak of tornadoes (sixty in total) bears down on the Southern United States

1942 – Franklin D. Roosevelt signs executive order 9066, allowing the United States to relocate Japanese-Americans to Japanese internment camps

1945 – 30,000 United States Marines land on the island of Iwo Jima, which begins the Battle of Iwo Jima during World War II

1949 – Ezra Pound becomes the first recipient of the Bollingen Prize in poetry

1953 – Censorship: Georgia approves the first literature censorship board in the United States

1959 – The United Kingdom grants independence to the island nation of Cyprus

1960 – China successfully launches the T-7, its first sounding rocket

1963 – Betty Friedan's “The Feminine Mystique” is published, which reawakens the feminist movement within the United States

1972 – The Asama-Sanso hostage standoff begins in Japan

1976 – Executive Order 9066, which was passed by President Roosevelt is rescinded by President Gerald Ford's Proclamation 4417

1978 – Egyptian forces raid Larnaca International Airport to intervene in a hijacking, without authorization from the Republic of Cyprus authorities

1980 – AC/DC lead singer Bon Scott is found dead of acute alcohol poisoning at just thirty-three years of age

1985 – Artificial heart recipient William J. Schroeder becomes the first person to leave the hospital after the procedure; would live for 680 days after the procedure

1986 – The Soviet Union launches Mir spacecraft, which would stay in orbit until 2001

1999 – President Bill Clinton issues a posthumous pardon for United States Army Lt. Henry Ossian Flipper

2001 – The Oklahoma City Bombing Museum is dedicated at the Oklahoma City National Memorial, nearly six years after the tragedy

2002 – Mars Odyssey space probe begins to map surface of Mars using its thermal emission imaging system

2006 – Sixty-five miners are killed after a methane explosion takes place in a Mexican coal mine

And, to the following celebrities, I wish a very happy birthday...Joseph P. Kerwin, Robert Walker Jr., Gwen Taylor, David Gross, Paul Krause, Lou Christie, Homer Hickam, Michael Nader, Paul Dean (Loverboy), Hiroshi Fujioka, Mark Andes (Heart), Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath), Stephen Nichols, Amy Tan, Bill Kirchenbauer, Francis Buchholz (Scorpions), Jeff Daniels, Kathleen Beller, Dave Wakeling (General Public), Lorianne Crook, Ray Winstone, Helen Fielding, Prince Andrew, Duke of York, Andy Wallace, Seal, Jessica Tuck, Doug Aldrich (Whitesnake), Justine Bateman, Benicio del Toro, Lisa McCune, Eric Lange, Daniel Adair (Nickelback), Jahidi White, Andrew Ross Sorkin, Andrew Buchan, Neleh Dennis, Mike Miller, Gil Reyes, Chris Richardson, Haylie Duff, and Victoria Justice.

Wow...looking back on this day, a lot of music stars have a February 19 birthday. And, as luck would have it, so does our featured blog topic.



He was born on February 19, 1940, making him seventy-three years old today!

Born in Detroit, Michigan, today's blog subject began getting into show business when he was just a teenager, and with his band, he not only signed on to one of the most successful record labels of all time, but he also had a hand in inspiring the very creation of that record label! He achieved great success with the band, and continued that success with a solo career that thrived. I would estimate that he has been in the music industry for almost sixty years total, and I don't see any sign of him slowing down any time soon.



This is the story of William Robinson Jr...otherwise known as Smokey.

Now, here's an interesting tale as to how he got the nickname of Smokey. No, he wasn't a chain smoker, or an heir to a cigar company...but it does have an interesting backstory that is related to the topic of “Black History Month”. When Smokey was a little boy, he had an uncle who called him “Smokey Joe”. As he told several reporters over the years, as a child, he had always believed that the nickname was due to the fact that he loved watching western films, but he later discovered that the name “Smokey” was actually a slang term for a dark-skinned black person. Although Smokey was born with light coloured skin, his uncle purposely gave him the name so that he would never forget the fact that he was black.



TRIVIA: Another interesting fact about Smokey Robinson was that he happened to be the next door neighbour of another future star of Motown Records, Diana Ross. Smokey has revealed that he has known Diana Ross since she was eight years old!

Smokey Robinson began to show interest in music in his childhood as he listened to groups such as Billy Ward and His Dominoes and Nolan Strong & The Diablos. In 1955, when Robinson was just fifteen, he formed a band with Ronald White and Pete Moore. Two years later, Bobby Rogers (who was ALSO born on February 19, 1940) had joined the group, which began calling themselves The Matadors, and a year later, Claudette Rogers and Marv Tarplin rounded out the group. Another name change would take place right around the time that Tarplin joined the group.

The new name? The Miracles.

August 1957 marked a key event in the future of the band when they happened to meet up with Berry Gordy. At the time, the Miracles were trying to bounce back after a failed audition at a rival record company, and Gordy was incredibly impressed by Smokey's vocal abilities, as well as his natural talent for songwriting.



And, with help from Gordy, the Miracles had their first single release through End Records. It was in 1958, and the song was an answer song to the Silhouettes' single “Get A Job”. The song title? “Got A Job”. Now, the single wasn't overly successful, but it did help Smokey and the Miracles get their feet wet.

Now, here's an interesting fact about Smokey Robinson and Berry Gordy. He was actually the one who gave Gordy the advice to open up his own record label. That label was Motown Records. And, naturally, Smokey's band was among the first acts to sign onto the new record label when it was formed in 1959.

Right off the bat, The Miracles began to have instant success with their new label, and their lengthy career began with the release of this single.



ARTIST: The Miracles
SONG: Shop Around
ALBUM: Hi...We're The Miracles
DATE RELEASED: September 27, 1960
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS: #2

Shop Around” was a very successful single, as it peaked at #2 on the Billboard 100, and became a #1 hit on the R & B charts, the first #1 hit ever for Motown Records. It was also the first single of Motown Records to sell more than a million copies.

Other hits soon followed, including “You've Really Got A Hold On Me”, “I Second That Emotion”, “The Tracks Of My Tears”, “More Love”, and “Tears of a Clown”. The band recorded and toured as “The Miracles” until 1965, when the name of the band changed to “Smokey Robinson & The Miracles”. This continued until July 1972, when Smokey left the band to embark on a solo career. Of course, by then, he had gotten married and had two children, and had been serving as Motown's Vice-President following the departure of Esther Gordy Edwards from the position.

It should also be noted that when Smokey Robinson & The Miracles were in their heyday, Robinson was using his songwriting skills to help other artists signed with Motown Records develop their careers as well. Some of the songs he wrote were performed by Mary Wells...



...The Temptations...



...Marvin Gaye...



...and Brenda Holloway, just to name a few.



Quite an impressive resume, wouldn't you say?

In 1973, Robinson began his solo career with the album “Smokey”, but the album didn't do so well, nor did his follow-up efforts. And, to add to the struggle came a slow-burning addiction to marijuana and cocaine, which intensified during the early 1980s following the death of his father, his marital problems, and the murder of Motown label mate Marvin Gaye in 1984.

TRIVIA: Smokey Robinson eventually kicked his drug habit in 1986 after taking the advice of a friend to visit a church. He has been clean and sober for almost twenty-seven years and counting since that church visit.

Smokey's solo career also improved, when his former Miracles bandmate Marv Tarplin gave him a hand by offering him a musical composition that he had written, which Robinson penned lyrics to.



In 1979, “Cruisin'” was released, and by the end of the year, it had become Smokey's first Top 5 solo hit, peaking at #4 (and becoming a #1 smash in New Zealand). Two years later, in 1981, Robinson had success with the single “Being With You”, which hit #1 in the United Kingdom, and #2 in the United States. And, following his decision to give up drugs for good, came out with what many regard a comeback album, 1987's “One Heartbeat”. And, the single below helped Smokey earn his very first Grammy Award in 1988.



ARTIST: Smokey Robinson
SONG: Just To See Her
ALBUM: One Heartbeat
DATE RELEASED: February 24, 1987
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS: #8

NOTE: The above song reached #1 on the Adult Contemporary Charts the week of May 16, 1987.

So, if you've been keeping track, this means that Smokey Robinson had single releases in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. And, in the 1990s, Robinson charted on the R & B charts with “Everything You Touch”, and “Double Good Everything”. Quite an achievement!

Smokey Robinson held the Vice-President role at Motown Records until the late 1980s, following Motown being sold off to RCA. Since then, he still records music, and in the mid-2000s began a record label of his own, Robso Records, of which his latest album, “Time Flies When You're Having Fun” was released.



Smokey Robinson's legacy will forever be imprinted in the world of music, particularly in the genre of rhythm and blues. In 1989, he was inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame, in 1991, he won the Heritage Award at the Soul Train Music Awards, and in 1993, he was awarded a medal at the National Medal of the Arts. In 2006, he was also honoured at the Kennedy Center Honors, alongside Steven Spielberg, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Zubin Metha, and Dolly Parton.

I should also mention that in 1987, Smokey Robinson was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Solo. WITHOUT The Miracles. And, this decision was considered to be incredibly controversial. Even Smokey Robinson was disgusted by the decision to induct him, but not the other band members who deserved the credit just as much as he did. But in April 2012, the rest of the Miracles were finally inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Controversy aside, Smokey Robinson's contributions to music were nothing short of extraordinary. Kim Carnes, Huey Lewis, and Gwyneth Paltrow have recorded cover versions of some of Smokey's hits, and in 1987, British based band ABC recorded their own tribute to Smokey Robinson entitled “When Smokey Sings”.



I'm not sure that I myself hear violins when Smokey sings...but I will state that as far as music legends go, he ranks right up there.



Happy 73rd birthday, Smokey!

Monday, February 18, 2013

The Help


I’ve got another Monday Matinee feature on deck for this week, and as you well know, this movie is going to have some connection to “Black History Month”.  However, this entry has also inspired me to talk about a subject that means a whole lot to me, and before we get into the film discussion, I’d like to share with some of you a few thoughts that have been running through my head as of recently.

You know, the two year anniversary of this blog is coming up in approximately three months from now, and if you had asked me back in May 2011 if I would have kept this blogging venture on for almost two years, I likely would have not believed it.  You see, I have this really nasty habit of starting big projects, and leaving them unfinished. 

When I was approximately seventeen or eighteen years of age, I sat down and wrote a couple of hundred pages of material that I suppose could have been the making of a novel.  And, when I say that I sat down and wrote it, I don’t mean typing it out on a desktop computer or a laptop.  I mean, I grabbed a stack of loose leaf paper, every pen that I could get my hands on, and wrote until I started feeling writer’s cramp.  You see, back in those days, I didn’t have my own computer.  I would finish schoolwork in the three computer labs scattered throughout my high school, and when I came home, I would go up to my room with a bag of chips, a bottle of pop, and just write, write, write.

I recently unearthed a binder filled with the writing that I did back when I was in the twelfth grade, and I was in complete awe over how hard I must have worked on it.  Sure, the pages are yellowed with age, and some of the pen marks have blurred or smudged from being kept in storage for nearly fifteen years, but it’s still legible.  Of course, as all writers know, we are our own worst critics, and re-reading that binder, I actually cringed at how terrible it was!  Of course, back when I was seventeen, I thought it was going to be something big, and I was really proud of it.  Funny how time changes perspective.

I will readily admit though that I am proud of the fact that I did do so much writing back then, and even though I would have to do a ton of rewriting, it still turned out perfectly.  There was just one problem with it.

It was left unfinished.

You see, sometime between high school and college, I sort of put that binder away in storage and forgot all about it without coming up with a suitable ending for the piece.  Fifteen years later, I still never came up with a conclusion for it.  In some ways, it made me feel sad.  Here was this project that I had spent the better part of a year or two on, and yet I never cared enough about it to give it the conclusion it deserved.

But then, I suppose that’s always been a theme in my life.  Starting something and never finishing it.  And, that’s something that I would like to change.

I always said that I wanted to become a published author.  I wanted to have something physical that I could hold on to with my name on the front cover, and my picture on the back cover.  That way, I would know for sure that I have at least contributed something to the world, and that people would know that I had.  But, you know...I suppose keeping a blog going for almost two years certainly qualifies, doesn’t it?

But just think about it for a second.  Imagine what would happen if every author who ever lived came up with an idea for a brilliant story, only to leave it incomplete?  Wouldn’t that just be terrible? 

I mean, if Kathryn Stocker left her story unfinished, it certainly wouldn’t have been made into one of 2011’s most successful films.  And, Stocker certainly put a lot of time and effort into that piece.  It reportedly took her FIVE YEARS to write her first book, and she shopped it around to as many as sixty different literary agents, each one rejecting her manuscript!  It wasn’t until Susan Ramer took a chance on Stocker, and helped Stocker publish the 2009 novel, “The Help”, which became a New York Times bestseller, staying on the coveted list for over two years!


So, therefore, it’s only fitting that “The Help” was made into a film of the same name, in which a young author tries to get a book published by writing about a subject that was incredibly controversial, but heartwarming at the same time.  “The Help” was released on August 10, 2011, and was directed by Tate Taylor, who also worked on the film’s screenplay.  The movie’s cast included Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jessica Chastain, Ahna O’Reilly, Cicely Tyson, Mary Steenburgen, Sissy Spacek, and Allison Janney.  The film earned over $210 million at the box office, and it netted Octavia Spencer an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.  Chastain and Davis were also nominated for Academy Awards, and it was also given an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture (it lost to “The Artist”).


In many ways, I can completely relate to the main character of the story (as I’m sure author Kathryn Stockett could as well), as the main character is a young woman named Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan (Stone) who is wanting to have a career as a writer after earning a university degree.  Set in the state of Mississippi in the 1960s, many seem to look down at Skeeter because she is single (whereas all of her peers have gotten married and have become mothers by then).  Still, Skeeter is very determined to make a name for herself as a writer, and she comes up with the perfect idea for a book after an event takes place that sets the story in motion.


You see, Skeeter grew up on a plantation where she lived with her parents, Charlotte (Janney) and Robert (Brian Kerwin).  During her childhood, her parents didn’t really raise her.  They were too busy maintaining the plantation and being social climbers within the community.  Instead, Skeeter was raised by the family’s African-American maid, Constantine (Tyson).  Upon returning back home from university, she is saddened to learn that Constantine has quit working for the family, and is puzzled as to why she would leave without even so much as writing her a letter.

Eventually, Skeeter lands a job as a columnist for the local newspaper, which answers the questions of homemakers all throughout Jackson, Mississippi.  She does her best to answer the questions honestly, but whenever she got stuck, she had someone else give her the answers for her...the maid of her very good friend, Elizabeth (O’Reilly).


The maid’s name was Aibileen Clark (Davis), and Aibileen had devoted her whole life to raising the children of the rich and affluent white citizens of Jackson, while at the same time grieving the loss of her only child who passed away.  Aibileen is very close with another maid, Minny Jackson (Spencer), whose gourmet cooking skills almost made up for the fact that her sharp tongue and sarcastic wit has given her somewhat of a negative reputation around town.

For a little while, at least, Aibileen answers Skeeter’s questions in her column without much incident...but Skeeter seems to notice a rather alarming trend...mainly the callous and demeaning ways that her friends seem to treat “the help”.  One woman in particular, Hilly Holbrook (Howard) is especially nasty and snobbish towards them.  Would you believe that she even founded an organization known as the “Home Help Sanitation Initiative”, which was a group that lobbied to have separate toilets for black maids to use so that their white employers wouldn’t catch their diseases?


In case you weren’t aware, Hilly Holbrook was a bitch...and a racist bitch to boot.  But the one thing I will say is that Bryce Dallas Howard played her very convincingly (even though I imagine it must have been hard to be so mean)!

Hilly’s attitude was the final straw for Skeeter, and she decided to use her gift of writing to take a stand on the issue.  Being one of the few women in the community who believed in treating everyone equally despite the colour of their skin, Skeeter believed that it would make an interesting book idea if she wrote about the lives of several African-American maids who raised white children in the homes of their employers, and the stories and secrets that they experienced during their tenures.


Of course, Skeeter, being a young white woman, knew that getting the maids to spill their guts was not initially going to be an easy task.  Sure enough, when Skeeter approached Aibileen and Minny about her idea, they were hesitant to speak.  After all, their jobs were all that they had.  If they lost those, they were doomed as far as they were concerned.  But Aibileen decides to change her mind after discovering Hilly’s “Home Help Sanitation Initiative” plan, and tells Skeeter the first story to be included in the book...about how Hilly had fired Minny after Minny had used the indoor bathroom during a violent thunderstorm (which developed into a deadly twister that killed several people).  The end result meant that Minny’s daughter was forced to drop out of school to become a maid herself to keep the family afloat, because Hilly had successfully poisoned the high society women against her with her wicked tongue.


Again, I should state...Hilly is a racist bitch.

Luckily, after Minny also agrees to tell her story to Skeeter, Aibileen manages to get Minny a job working for Celia Foote (Chastain), a woman outcast from the cult of Hilly Holbrook because she committed two cardinal sins...firstly, being born in a working-class family, and secondly...marrying Hilly’s ex-boyfriend!  Minny lucked out though, because Celia and her husband treated Minny with far more respect than Hilly ever did.

So, with the detailed stories of both Aibileen and Minny in her possession, she writes the first draft of her manuscript, and submits it to the editor of Harper & Row Magazine in New York City, Miss Stein (Steenburgen).  On the positive side, Stein loves the idea, and believes that the public would be interested in the project.  But Stein also believes that two stories do not make up a full book.  Before she’ll consider printing Skeeter’s story, she will need the stories of at least a dozen more maids, and advises Skeeter to be hasty in getting more material, as she believed (wrongly, might I add) that the Civil Rights Movement was just a temporary fad.  This certainly puts the pressure on Skeeter, who just wants to give a voice to a group of people who never really had one.

That’s all that I want to say about the plot, because really, this is one movie that you must (and I repeat, must) see for yourselves.  While I’ve been largely disappointed with the box office over the last five years, “The Help” is a picture that is absolutely worth watching.  There are some parts in which you will feel heartbreak and sadness for the maids who literally go through hell at some points in the movie.  You’ll feel anger and frustration over the poor attitudes of the people who deem themselves the “cream of high society”...in particular with Hilly Holbrook.  But, you’ll also have instances in which you will laugh out loud at some of the antics and comedy that is present throughout the film.  Let’s put it this way.  Octavia Spencer DESERVED that Academy Award for her performance alone!


But, just to keep your appetite wanting more, I’ll provide a couple of more spoilers for you to chew on if you have not yet seen the film.

-          We find out what really happened to the Phelan family maid, Constantine.

-          We find out that revenge is a dish best served disgusting, courtesy of Minny (though considering that the target is Hilly, I say, go Minny)!

-          We find out that sometimes relationships don’t always work out – particularly in the case of Skeeter.

-          And, we find out that Aibilene’s final scene is one that is bittersweet.

You know, I have to give Skeeter a lot of credit.  She ended up coming up with a brilliant idea for a book.  A collection of stories from African-American maids who raised the children of the rich, elite, and white...and the horror in knowing that in some cases, the children would grow up to be just as racist as their parents were.  In Skeeter’s eyes, the book was a statement.  It became more than just a debut by a promising young author...it became a manifesto for change within the community of Jackson, Mississippi, and it represented the voices of several people who didn’t think that they had one.

I hope one day, I’ll be able to write something as poignant and as heartfelt as the project that the fictional “Skeeter” Phelan crafted.  A project that benefits more than just myself.  Maybe one day it’ll happen.  Maybe some of you reading this entry will say that I have already done this...but I know that I can do more.

Until then, I’ll stick to blogging...and maybe re-writing a fourteen year old handwritten manuscript!  J

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Simply The Best - Tina Turner


I hope that you’re ready because we’re going to begin this entry with a bit of a pop quiz.

Don’t worry.  I won’t be grading you or anything.  It’s all in fun, and besides, you know that I will be revealing the answer a little later in this blog.  You already have a bit of a clue in that this is Day 17 of “Black History Month” in “A Pop Culture Addict’s Guide To Life”, so obviously you know that the featured artist will be a person of colour.

So, I’ll give you a series of clues that will hopefully narrow down the identity of this person.  You might be able to guess the person before I reveal the answer.  Good luck!

CLUE #1 – The person in question is of the female variety.

CLUE #2 – You may recognize her instantly by her stage name, but her given birth name was that of Anna Mae Bullock.

CLUE #3 – She was born November 26, 1939, making her seventy-three years of age.

CLUE #4 – She has been in the music industry since 1958 and has not stopped since.

CLUE #5 – She has won a grand total of eight Grammy Awards throughout her career.

CLUE #6 – Angela Bassett once portrayed her in an autobiographical film based on this singer’s life.

CLUE #7 – She performed a duet with Canadian rocker Bryan Adams in 1986.

CLUE #8 – If you could choose a body part that best represented this singer, it would definitely be her legs.

CLUE #9 – Believe it or not, she has a surprising connection to Mel Gibson.

Well?  Have you figured it out yet?  Yes?  No?  Maybe so?

All right...I’ll offer you one final clue.  And, this clue will be in video format.  So, watch it, and you’ll get your answer!


I think it’s only fitting that the song that I have chosen to play at this moment is called “The Best”, as many fans would agree that as far as musical contributions, Tina Turner has been deemed one of the best-selling African-American female performers of all time.  And, this whole entry is all about the woman who sang about a “Private Dancer” and “Proud Mary”.


You know, Tina Turner is just one of those artists who have been through a lot during her career.  Just to put things into perspective, when Tina Turner began her career in the music industry with the release “Box Top” (under her previous stage name as ‘Little Anna’), the Grammy Awards held their inaugural ceremony.  That was fifty-five years ago!

In those fifty-five years (and counting), Tina Turner has worn many hats and had many highs and lows.  And, in this special feature on Tina Turner, we’re going to use her music to talk about some of the events that helped shape the life and times of Tina Turner.  We’ll talk about the peaks that cemented Tina’s star status, as well as the lows that helped make Tina a stronger person overall.

THE IKE & TINA TURNER YEARS



You could argue that Tina Turner would not be the person she became had she not crossed paths with Ike Turner.  Not only did he give Tina her famous stage name, but he and Tina eloped in 1962.  And, throughout their near sixteen year partnership, the couple were responsible for some of the biggest R&B hits on American radio.  While the duo were never able to achieve the feat of having a #1 hit, they enjoyed the success of having several smash hits, such as the cover of the Creedence Clearwater Revival single, “Proud Mary” (seen above), “River Deep – Mountain High”,  and “Nutbush City Limits”. 


Their contributions to the music industry helped both Ike and Tina Turner get inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991.  But neither one were present for the induction ceremony.  Phil Spector instead accepted the honour on their behalf.  The reason being was that Ike was sitting in jail, and that Tina did not want any association with Ike Turner (despite keeping the stage name that he bestowed upon her all those years ago).  The reason why is linked to my next point.

TINA TURNER:  DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SURVIVOR

One fact remained clear throughout the sixteen years that Ike and Tina Turner performed together.  They made beautiful music together.  But if you took away the stage, musical instruments, and recording studios, their marriage was anything but beautiful.  Ike used to beat up Tina, hard...and often.  Although the duo started off getting fame and attention as a double act, Tina’s star began to gleam a little bit brighter.  She started performing as a solo act in some performances, and received a solo Grammy Award nomination...without any mention of Ike.  As a result, Ike began using heavy drugs like cocaine...which fueled the heavy-duty drug-induced rages that often saw Tina get caught in the crossfire.  Ike reportedly physically attacked Tina with such force that Tina once swallowed an entire bottle of Valium before a concert in Los Angeles in the late 1960s.  She physically recovered from this, but emotionally was a different story.  As the hits continued to chart, Tina became more of a punching bag for Ike, as his drug use escalated.


The beginning of the end of Ike and Tina came right around the same time as the American bicentennial, in July 1976.  Ike had signed a record contract with Cream Records for $150,000 per year, which would have lasted until 1981.  But when the couple arrived in Dallas on July 2, 1976 to begin another tour, the couple got into another nasty argument in the limousine to their hotel, and continued to fight in their hotel room.  The fight once again grew violent as Ike slapped Tina around...but this time was different.  Tina fought and kicked Ike just as hard as he did her.  She was tired of fighting.  She just wanted it to be over.

And in the early morning hours of July 3, 1976, Tina made her escape.  She freed herself from her hotel room and darted across a busy freeway to make her way to a Ramada inn with only pocket change to her name.  Three and a half weeks later, Tina Turner filed for divorce from Ike Turner on July 27, 1976, the divorce finalized in 1978.  Initially, both parties were at war over their assets and finances, but Tina made the decision not to fight Ike on their assets after a while, stating that her freedom was more important than anything else.  All she wanted was to continue to use the stage name that Ike had bestowed upon her years ago...something that could be granted, given that Ike had never registered a copyright for the name.

When the divorce was finalized, Tina cut off all ties with Ike Turner.  And, when he died in December 2007 from a drug overdose, Tina never attended his funeral, or even commented directly about his death.  But then again, if anyone went through the abuse that Tina went through, you can understand her decision not to let bygones be bygones.



The Ike and Tina Turner story was later made into a biopic entitled “What’s Love Got To Do With It?”, which was released in 1993.  It starred Angela Bassett as Tina Turner, and Laurence Fishburne as Ike Turner.  Though the picture isn’t exactly an accurate depiction of what really happened, it still is worth watching, and it is this picture that inspired Tina to do a cover of Lulu’s “I Don’t Wanna Fight”, which you can hear up above.

TINA TURNER GETS HER FIRST #1 SINGLE

With Tina Turner free from Ike, she knew that if she wanted to have a career in the world of music, she would have to go it alone.  But by the time her divorce with Ike was finalized, she was almost forty years old.  Some may have thought that she may have been past her expiration date when it came to finding success as a solo artist.  But then again, some people failed to understand just how much passion and determination Tina Turner had.

Though it took a few years of playing small gigs and appearing on various talk and variety shows (as well as a conversion to Buddhism right around the time she had split up with Ike), Tina was determined to make a success as a solo artist.  And, in 1983, Tina would end up releasing her first hit in eight years...and it quickly became the single that began a period of renaissance for Tina Turner.


When she released a cover version of Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together” at the tail end of 1983, it became a Top 30 hit in the United States, peaking at #26.  Because of the sudden success of the single, Capitol Records (which released the single) signed Tina to a three-album deal in early 1984, when Tina was 44 years of age.  In just two months, Tina recorded enough material to release the full-length album “Private Dancer”, and many people regarded this album to be Tina’s full-fledged comeback to the music industry.

That comeback was helped by this single...which became Tina Turner’s very first (and as of 2013, her only American #1 hit single).


ARTIST:  Tina Turner
SONG:  What’s Love Got To Do With It?
ALBUM:  Private Dancer
DATE RELEASED:  June 4, 1984
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS:  #1 for 2 weeks

(A couple of things to note about this song before I continue.  This song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2012, and at the time, Tina Turner was the oldest solo female to have a number one hit, being two months shy of 45 when it peaked on the top of the Billboard Charts in September 1984.  That record has since been smashed by Cher, who was 53 when “Believe” topped the charts in early 1999.)

But, don’t think for a moment that this song was just a fluke.  The other releases from the album (which included the title track “Private Dancer”, and “Better Be Good To Me”) also did phenomenally well on the charts.  The album also helped Tina win four Grammy Awards in 1985, and cemented her spot on the USA for Africa single “We Are The World”.

TINA TURNER – ACTRESS

Okay, so this might be a bit of a stretch, given that Tina has only appeared in a couple of film projects...but in the projects that she did act in, her performances were well received.  She earned critical acclaim for her role in the 1975 rock musical, “Tommy”, in which Tina portrayed “The Acid Queen”.


A decade later, she starred alongside Mel Gibson in the third installment of the “Mad Max” film trilogy, “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome”.  She assumed the role of Auntie Entity, the ruler of Bartertown, and her performance in the film helped earn her the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Film Actress.


Tina Turner also contributed two songs to the film’s soundtrack.  One can be heard above in the form of “We Don’t Need Another Hero”, which peaked at #2 on the Billboard Charts.  The second single, “One of the Living”, earned Tina yet another Grammy Award in 1986 for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance.


And, Tina also joins Shirley Bassey, Sheena Easton, Madonna, and Adele in the “Women Who Have Sang the Themes for James Bond Films Club”, as she provided the vocals for the 1995 Bond film, “GoldenEye”.

TINA TURNER – DUET PARTNER

It’s no secret that some of Tina’s most memorable performances were with other performers.  Who could forget Tina’s performance with Bryan Adams on the 1986 single “It’s Only Love”?  Tina also sang alongside Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger on 1985’s Live Aid benefit concert, and two years later, sang alongside Eric Clapton during a 1987 concert performance at Wembley Arena.  And, who could forget the 2008 Grammy performance, where Tina performed alongside Beyonce Knowles?  I couldn’t find the video clip, but can post an audio clip below!



TINA TURNER – SPOKESPERSON FOR PANTYHOSE?

It’s true.  Here’s the commercial below!


Man, oh man, what a set of gams, huh?  I keep forgetting that when this commercial was filmed, she was almost in her sixties!  But, to Tina’s credit, she looked incredible.  Oh, and the song in the background?  That’s the song “Missing You”, a song originally recorded by John Waite in the early 1980s.  Tina re-recorded the single, and it became a minor hit in 1996. 

TRIVIA:  It was also the very first video to be “popped” on “Pop-Up Video”!

So, that’s a look back on the highs and lows of Tina Turner.  A woman who has had the following life achievements in her 73 years on this planet;

-          8 Grammy Awards

-          1991 inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

-          3 American Music Awards

-          8 Billboard Music Awards

-          2 MTV Video Music Awards

-          2 World Music Awards

-          Awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1986

-          Awarded with the Kennedy Center Honor Award in 2005


Is it any wonder why Tina Turner’s simply one of “the best”?