Tina (2021) Movie Script

Tina! Tina! Tina! Tina!
Well, hey, everybody!
Come on, give it to me.
I said hi, everybody!
Let me hear you say, "ow!"
Ow!
("ASK ME HOW I FEEL"
BY TINA TURNER)
Oh, waiting in the storm
Ask me how I feel
When things are going wrong
Ask me how I feel
The night is awful cold
Ask me how I feel
You're much too loose
To hold
Ask me how I feel
You don't treat me tender
No matter what I do
I'm the great pretender
Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh
Waiting in the storm
Ask me how I feel
When things are going wrong
You gotta ask me how I feel
When the night is awful cold
Ask me how I feel
You know
You're much too loose to hold
Come on
And ask me how I feel
I wondered sometimes
if anyone has approached you
to do the story of your life,
which is indeed fantastic.
Yes.
But I don't want
to play the part.
I've done it.
Who else could play
the part of Tina Turner?
We'll find someone.
I just really don't want to play
the part, you know what I mean?
No, you don't know what I mean
'cause you'd have to know me
to know.
It was just so unlike me,
my life,
that I don't want anyone
to know about it, I mean...
You mean
it'd be too painful or too...
Ah, it wasn't a...
It wasn't...
It wasn't a good life.
It was in some areas,
but the goodness did not balance
the bad.
So it's like not... not wanting
to be reminded.
You don't like to pull out
old clothes, you know?
- Uh-huh.
- It's like old memories,
you wanna just leave that
in the past and done with,
and a lot of things
you don't really wanna say,
but there comes a time
when you do have to say it.
This is interview one, take one.
In 1981, you did this interview
with "People" magazine where,
for the first time, really,
you spoke openly
about your past with Ike.
Yeah.
And I'm curious
if you can remember at all
any of the thoughts
you had around the decision
- to be public about that?
- About my past?
About your past,
but also, I guess,
- about the abuse specifically.
- Yeah. Yeah, that was quite...
nerve-racking.
Actually, I called my psychic
and I said,
"What's gonna happen?"
'Cause I was really apprehensive
about giving the story away,
because it was telling,
it was really telling.
And she said, "No, Tina,
it's going to do
just the opposite.
It's gonna break everything
wide open."
In the early eighties,
being in "People" magazine was
the equivalent of going viral.
We had 30 million readers,
and if somebody wanted
to reach a lot of people,
there was really no bigger place
to go than "People" magazine.
I was the music editor of
"People" magazine for many years,
uh, and this is
the December 7th, 1981 issue,
when Tina decided
to tell her story.
And it was the first time
she'd told the story
in public to a journalist.
So, um, this is the story.
I reported it and wrote it
for "People" magazine.
This is, uh,
the picture of Tina.
"Tina Turner remains
rock's original Jagger,
a primitive force who,
glittering in sequins
and a gold chain miniskirt,
typically assaults the stage
in mid-scream
with both legs pumping,
hips grinding,
long mane whirling,
and her mouth wrapped around
some of the sexiest sounds
ever set to music.
More than five years have passed
since Tina's bitter break
with Ike Turner,
her long-time husband, sideman,
and music collaborator
on such classics
as 'Proud Mary'
and 'Come Together.'
Only now is Tina able to discuss
what she claims
were the harrowing events
leading up to their split."
I lived 16 years with a man
that I knew there was no way
I could ever be happy with,
but I felt that
I had to stay there.
Mm-hmm.
You have to believe me,
now, when I tell you something.
My ex-husband
was a physically violent man.
I went through basic torture.
Torture? You would say...
You would call it torture?
I... To me it was.
A lot of people don't know,
and your magazine
will probably be the first
to make it publicly known.
I was living a life of death.
I didn't exist.
- But I survived it.
- Hm.
And when I walked out, I walked.
And I didn't look back.
People choose
to tell their story
for lots of different reasons.
I think she told me so much
because she wanted
to just tell it
and then forget it.
It didn't quite
work out that way
because now that story
is a great mark of her life.
Ladies and gentlemen,
you've seen them live
from coast to coast.
Now you're about
to see them all together
for the very first time
on national television.
"Hollywood A Go-Go"
presents the fantastic
Ike and Tina Turner Revue!
("GIMME SOME LOVING /
SWEET SOUL MUSIC" MEDLEY)
When I was a teenager
back in the sixties,
I knew of their record
that they had out,
but I had never seen them.
And then they came on TV,
and I saw her dancing.
And that's all I could look at.
I was just so amazed
at this woman!
I remember standing
there watching her
and saying,
"Whatever that is,
I want some of that."
I got the spirit.
It's no different
than being in a church
where you are moved
and stirred to the point
where you could feel it
inside yourself.
("SWEET SOUL MUSIC"
BY IKE AND TINA TURNER)
Do you like good music?
Sweet soul music
Long as it's swingin'
Yeah, yeah
Get out here on the floor
Y'all
Dancing to a go-go
And dancing to the music
Yeah, yeah
Spotlight is on me, y'all
And I'm having
A ball, y'all...
Back then, you had
the whole Motown Revue,
you had Diana Ross, Mary Wells,
the Temptations
in these Italian suits,
and were putting forth
an image of sophistication.
And they were all...
...that kind of stuff,
and Tina was more, "yeah!"
That kind of stuff,
it's wild, it's your sensuality,
your sexuality,
and it's in your face.
Dancing to a go-go
And dancing to the music
Did you ever study dancing?
- No.
- No?
And what about...
what about music, uh, singing?
No, no music at all.
Everything is just natural
for me.
I'm a performer.
And I sing and Ike does the, uh,
the managing and producing.
It was Ike's band, but he knew
that in order to...
to be a number one,
he needed Tina, 'cause Tina
was the shining star.
("BOXTOP" BY IKE TURNER)
Box top
Let's rock
Don't let it stop
You bet not
Oh, box top...
He gave
Me a mother
And he gave me
A father too
He gave
Yes, gave me everything
And then he gave
He gave me you
He gave...
He gave
Yes, gave me everything...
Could I want...
He was like her hero,
like a big brother.
And he seen her
like a little sister.
That relationship
was very beautiful,
it really was.
He gave me strength
to love with...
I wasn't thinking of...
"I'll go to St. Louis,
and I'll start singing,
and I'll be a star."
I was young, naive,
just a country girl,
and everything
just opened up to me.
And most of all
He gave me you
Tina, you started
your musical career
in a church choir
in your hometown.
Do you consider your musical
roots to be Black gospel?
Oh, yes, certainly.
Black gospel, blues,
BB King's music
was our radio during that time.
Mm-hmm.
What kind of songs
were you singing as a member
of the church choir?
Well, we called them...
Well, it was a Baptist church,
and they were just
spiritual songs, um...
songs about, you know,
love, and, um, giving,
and, uh, and, uh...
doing all of the right things
that make life good.
Those were good times, you know,
to remember all of the church
singing and the choir and all.
When you're in the South,
there's nothing... happened
except the church, the piano,
the preacher.
During that time, I didn't know
about anywhere else,
so seeing Lucille Ball
and Loretta Young,
all the beautiful ladies
of Hollywood,
they were a role model
for a performer.
But I didn't think that
I would actually achieve that,
because, first, I wasn't pretty,
and I didn't have the clothes,
I didn't have the means.
I remember the first
Vogue magazine that I saw,
and I remember my first
French poster of Champs-lyses,
uh, the Eiffel Tower, and the...
the very... very French woman.
I was like, "Ah,
that's what I want!
The world.
That's where I wanna go."
I got the impression
from her, she always felt
a little bit of out of time
or a little bit out of place.
I didn't think she ever felt
like people understood her
or really liked her
for who she was.
And the talent she had,
she finally learned
that she had,
can win you a lot of people
who will recognize who you are
and will become
like your... your real family,
uh, or try to.
Ike, first of all, if we can...
if we can kinda go back
a long way
to when you were a young man,
a lot of people credit you
with doing
the first ever rock and roll
record, "Rocket 88."
- Yeah, that was in 1951.
- Yeah.
How did... how did
that thing happen?
Well... I lived in
Clarksdale, Mississippi,
which is actually 61 miles
from Memphis,
and BB King, uh, my mother,
she practically raised him, you know?
And, um, one night, we was coming
from Chambers, Mississippi, playing,
and, uh, BB,
I asked him, I said,
"Man, can we play a song?"
And he said... he said, "Yeah."
So he let my band play
one number, so anyway,
he said, "Man, you guys
should be recording."
And, man, we didn't have
any material, so on the way up,
we decided to write this song, and
that's when I wrote the song "Rocket 88."
("ROCKET 88"
BY JACKIE BRENSTON)
You women
Have heard of jalopies
You've heard
The noise they make
But let me introduce
My new Rocket 88
Yes, it's straight
Just won't wait
Everybody likes
My Rocket 88
Baby, we'll ride in style
Moving all along
Ike Turner is a very
important part
of R&B history.
Everybody relied on him
'cause he really knew music,
and he scored a real hit record
with a song in 1951
called "Rocket 88."
People say it's
the first rock and roll record.
And when it comes out,
Chess has credited it
to Jackie Brenston
and his Delta Cats.
Ike Turner did that song,
you know.
He made everything
about it happen,
and it's credited
to one of his saxophone players.
Imagine how he feels about this?
And I think that's the story
of his career.
I think he became paranoid
about that,
he said, "People are always
trying to rip me off."
He was always obsessed on it.
"Everybody leaves me.
I make 'em, you know, popular
and get a hit record
and everything for them,
and they all leave me."
Ike had a problem
of writing songs for people
and they would leave,
and I promised him
that I wouldn't leave him.
In those days,
a promise is a promise.
Bullock.
("A FOOL IN LOVE"
BY IKE AND TINA TURNER)
Ooh
There's something on my mind
Won't somebody please
Please tell me what's wrong
- You're just a fool You know you're in love
- What you say?
- You've got to face it To let it explode
- Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey
- You take the good Along with the bad
- Yeah, hey, yeah
Sometimes you're happy
And sometimes you're sad
One more time
- You know you love him You can't understand
- Tell me about it now
Why he treats you like he do
When he's such a good man...
I finished school,
and I went to a recording studio
and I did a demo,
and that's when
the hit record came.
Oh, now I must be a fool
'Cause I'll do anything
He wants me to do
- Now tell me how it goes
- You're just a fool
- You know you're in love
- Yeah, one more time
You've got to face it
To let it explode
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Ike came in
and he said, you know,
"The people in New York
are very excited.
We got a hit record."
He was very excited, you know.
And then there was a contract
started coming in.
I was very ignorant
to show business.
I didn't have any idea
what it was about.
She really was young.
She never had no ambition
to be some kind of superstar,
but she... when she sang,
she just... she just had it.
And Ike exploited it.
He had to make sure
he was gonna get his this time,
so he makes sure
that his name is on it.
And that's when he put
the whole show together,
the Ike and Tina Turner Revue,
and gave her
the name Tina Turner.
Sheena, Queen of
the Jungle, it was a TV series.
"Tina" and "Sheena," I guess
it just sounded close to him,
and it sounded good,
"Ike and Tina Revue,"
as a whole entity.
So he changed it,
didn't even ask her,
she didn't know anything
about it.
Tina was the gold mine,
he knew that.
He created
this Frankenstein thing,
and he had to control her.
So he had to change that thing
from, "being my little sister,
no, no,
you've gotta be my wife now."
Boom.
You'd never know
from one minute to the next,
Ike could be having a good time,
and everybody was having
a good time,
and it could just flip
in a second.
And I think, with... with women,
I think, you know,
he figured
he had the upper hand.
And especially like with Tina,
you know, that was like...
I think him instilling in her,
"You'd better be good,
or, you know,
I'm gonna beat the shit
out of you."
And did on many occasions,
you know, I mean,
and for no reason,
a lot of times, it was just...
I really don't know.
I don't think he knows
a lot of the time.
I felt obligated to stay there,
and I was afraid.
And I stayed.
That was just how it was.
I felt very loyal to Ike,
and I didn't wanna hurt him.
I mean, sometimes, like,
after he'd beat me up,
I'd end up feeling sorry
for him,
and why am I feeling sorry?
I'm sitting here
all bruised and torn,
and then all of a sudden
I'm feeling sorry for him,
you know?
Little things like that.
I was 23 years old or something,
you know,
I mean, early twenties.
I was just all...
How do you call it when someone
brainwashes you like this?
- Brainwashed.
- Maybe I was brainwashed.
Yeah, I was...
I was afraid of him...
and, um, I cared
what happened to him,
and I knew that if I left,
there was no one to sing.
So I was caught up in guilt
and fear.
Yeah, those are the two worst
qualities, I think,
for a young girl
to be caught up into.
And now let's go with
Ike and Tina Turner!
("SHAKE"
BY IKE AND TINA TURNER)
Listen while I talk to you
I'll tell you
What I'm gonna do
There's a new dance
That's going around
I wanna tell you
What they're putting down
Just move your body
All around
Shake
Oh, baby...
In those early days,
we'd play three shows a night.
Two shows this place,
two shows that place
and two shows
at the after-hours place.
It was hard work.
I can remember working
as many as four shows a night,
and every night
and every show...
...was packed.
Was packed.
Right now, I'm gonna tell you
a little something about my man.
("MY MAN, HE'S A LOVIN' MAN"
BY IKE AND TINA TURNER)
- My man
- Your man Your man, your man...
He rehearsed constantly.
Even sometimes we'd be driving
to the next show,
and he'd be playing the guitar
in the back
and having Tina sing.
I mean, it was 24/7.
The show has to be perfect.
Every single part of it
has to be perfect.
He was one of those guys
who would, you know,
turn around on stage
and point at somebody,
they know they're getting
a ten-dollar fine
'cause they just blew a note.
He lets 'em know
That he's a one-woman man
My man
She didn't have the glam team,
someone doing the hair
and the makeup
and the stylist
getting the wardrobe.
They did it all themselves.
- My man
- Your man, your man, your man
You know
He's really all right
Your man, your man, your man
Yeah, yeah, yeah
He treats me...
The only freedom I had
was when the Ikettes and I
got the dancing ready
and I got the dresses ready,
and we'd get everything,
except we didn't even know
what song was coming up.
He would, "duh-dum,"
do it with the guitar, you know?
Here in our home
My man
It was awful in a way,
but it was a lesson.
Now that I look back,
I see it as a training.
You... you adjust to
what is given,
and that is what was given
at the time.
He controlled the music,
and she had to...
It was always his music,
and it was...
which is very samey, if you
listen to it all the time.
A lot of it's just brilliant.
I love those records.
But it's... it's of a type.
It's one thing.
It's Ike Turner's stuff.
And she... I think she had
broader tastes than that.
She must have felt there was more
you could do with music than this.
I think she probably had
a bigger dream than...
without knowing it, than he did.
People started to see
that there was more to Tina
than what Ike had to offer her.
Especially after the "River
Deep Mountain High" album,
you know, with Phil Spector.
Phil Spector was
the greatest pop record producer
of that period.
He played the studio
like an instrument, you know,
and he found all these singers,
and he made
these wonderful records.
And when Phil Spector wanted to
make "River Deep Mountain High",
Ike's presence
was not necessary.
Just bring Tina in,
'cause she's the star.
Spector didn't want Ike
nowhere near the studio,
so he paid Ike
X amount of dollars
to get him taken care of,
so to speak,
so that he wasn't...
wouldn't interfere with Tina.
And that was the first time
they gave Tina...
her chance to sing differently.
I remember
starting to sing with Phil,
that style of singing
which I had been singing.
When I was...
One more time.
And he said, "No, no, no, no.
Just sing the melody."
And I liked that.
That was a freedom
that I didn't have.
You know, like a bird
that gets out of a cage.
I was excited about singing
a different type of song.
I was excited about getting
out of the studio on my own.
It was a freedom
to do something different.
("RIVER DEEP MOUNTAIN HIGH"
BY TINA TURNER)
When I was a little girl
I had a rag doll
Only doll I've ever owned
Now I love you just the way
I loved that rag doll
But only now
My love has grown
And it gets stronger
In every way
And it gets deeper
Let me say
And it gets higher
Day by day
And do I love you
My, oh, my
Yeah, river deep
Mountain high
Yeah, yeah, yeah
And if I lost you
Would I cry
Oh, how I love you, baby
Baby, baby, baby
It was so big,
and my voice sounded
so different
standing on top
of all that music.
I love you, baby
Like the flower
Loves the spring...
People started to see
Tina was capable
of so much more.
She... she had wings, man.
And I love you, baby
Like a schoolboy
Loves his pet
This is such
an overpowering orchestration,
it's so complex,
it's this record
that just blows out walls.
Baby
Baby...
Oh, baby
Oh
Oh
It just died
in the United States.
It died.
Nobody wanted to hear it.
And you listen to this record
and you think,
"What's the matter
with this country?"
You know? I'm so ashamed
to be an American.
You know, it's like,
"What's wrong?"
Um, so... And that was a big blow
to Spector's career,
and, you know,
maybe Ike, probably,
was thinking, you know,
"Well, see?
He's not so great.
You should stick with me."
Like any Black artist in
America that do, uh, any tune,
it has to go, like, top ten
on the R&B charts
before the top 40 stations
will touch it.
And "River Deep," uh,
was not a Black record,
you know, and so it wouldn't
make the top ten on R&B charts,
and so, therefore, the top 40
radio stations wouldn't play it.
But where in England, they, uh,
they listen to the record,
and if the record is an R&B record,
it's an R&B rhythm, you know,
if it's rhythm and blues,
it's rhythm and blues,
and if it's pop,
it's pop, you know,
and so it got played over here.
It never got played in America.
The Black jockeys
say it's too white,
the white jockeys say
it's too Black.
("CONTACT HIGH"
BY TINA TURNER)
I was at this party
That had the doors
All closed
All this funny smoke
Kept goin' up my nose
They had this joint
That they was passin' around
But when they got to me
I turned it down...
- You live in LA?
- Yes.
What sort of life do you have?
Well, my life is sort of based
around my four sons.
I have a housekeeper that takes
care of them when I travel.
Being a wife and being Tina
at the same time
is almost like a split person.
But I'm able to separate
the two, so everything is fine,
and the whole thing is sane.
But everybody got tired
Of blowin' that grass
I told 'em at first...
Ike Junior and Michael
were Ike's kids
by Lorraine, his previous wife.
Tina had Craig when she was
with the saxophone player,
Raymond Hill,
and then she had Ronnie,
you know, with Ike.
They were, like, all together
by the time I met Tina.
Michael, don't stand
on that... that door,
don't lean
on that door like that.
I made myself a family.
I totally psyched myself out,
and I made a home,
and I found some pleasure
in that home every now and then.
Birthdays with children,
and dinners,
Thanksgiving dinners,
periodically,
but at least I had
some sense of a life
of what I had always wanted.
But I was just too stoned
To take that ride
Where my trophy at?
Give me my trophy.
That's a water boy trophy,
it's not...
- Where's Mother's new trophy?
- Hey, Craig?
What?
She was gone most of the time.
Over a period of eight years,
everything was basically
the same,
eight months on the road,
four months back,
eight months on the road,
four months back.
She was very, very strict, um,
particularly when she was home.
We couldn't have company
unless we finished our homework,
we had to do our chores,
we had to eat breakfast,
lunch, and dinner
at the same time.
She really took
to raising us personally
because, basically,
that was her happiness
to a certain extent.
Everybody was happy
around my mother,
and she was always sad.
She never had friends,
she never had anybody
she could really confide in.
So, basically, her happiness
was with us
and her time alone in her room.
And there was nothing she can do
about her circumstances.
He had to know
where she was at all the time.
She was on allowance,
she didn't have her own money.
My mother really had
a nonexistent life
other than the studio
and the house.
When I first interviewed her,
one of the questions
she kept on asking was,
"Why did I stay? Why did I stay?
People wanna know why I stayed."
And for me, it was interesting
to think about the violence
that happened before Ike,
'cause I think a lot of people
don't know that
she grew up watching
violence in her own home.
("PROUD MARY"
BY IKE AND TINA TURNER)
And right now...
I think you might like to hear
something from us...
- nice...
- Left A good job down in the city
...and easy.
- Working for the man...
- Well, now...
I'd like to do that for you.
But there's just one thing.
You see...
we never, ever do nothing...
...nice and easy.
We always do it nice...
and rough.
And we're gonna take
the beginning of this song,
and we're gonna do it... easy.
- Rolling
- Rolling
- Rolling on a river
- Rolling on a river My, my
Listen.
I left a good job
- In the city
- Down in the city
Proud Mary keep on burning
- And we're rollin'...
- Rollin'
I was truly a friend to Ike.
I had promised
that I would help him...
so I was still trying
to help him to get a hit record.
The river
Two, three, four, come on!
Whoo!
Now I left a good job
In the city
Working for the man
Every night and day
And I never lost
One minute of sleepin'
Worryin' 'bout the way
Things might have been
- Big wheel keep on turnin'
- Turnin'
- Proud Mary keep on burnin'
- Burnin'
- Rollin'
- Yeah
- Rollin'
- All right
Rollin' on the river
I said we're rollin'
- Rollin'
- Yeah
Rollin' on the river
River doo-doo-doo
Doo-doo-doo-doo
Doo-doo-doo-doo
"Proud Mary" became a hit.
We were all over America.
And I pumped a lot
Of 'tane down in New Orleans
But I never saw
The good side of the city
Till I hitched a ride
On the riverboat queen
Big wheel keep on turnin'...
That's fabulous.
Who settles
an argument if you...
Ah, things are not always
the way they look, you know.
No, Ike's kinda quiet.
Yeah, he's... he's...
Ike is very bashful
when the lights are on, and...
But on the other hand,
when he's in
the recording studio,
Ike's the one that does
all of the ruling around,
the talking,
he's the whole thing.
But in public, he's like this.
Yeah, 'cause he can't get it
together. It takes him...
You better do it
I said we're rollin'...
Rollin'
Rollin' on the river
Whoa
Hey
I swear you're behind me.
Y'all behind me, right?
These are... I'm on...
I'm on a speed above
where y'all feel that.
You don't hear me.
I'm just sayin', like,
you're telling her...
you're tellin' her that,
and she's not getting there.
I'm just trying to give her
an example...
of how to sing.
Okay.
In the later part of their
career when, you know,
the hits weren't coming in,
a lot of money wasn't coming in,
he started placing
the blame elsewhere.
You know, he took a lot
of his anger out on her.
Most of the time, um,
when Ike would come home,
he would take her
back in the room
and then close the door.
And there'd be the screams.
And we were so petrified,
we were in bed
with the, you know,
covers over our heads.
And then I remember
one time he was, uh...
...he was, um,
striking my mother,
and I was young,
and, uh, he had thrown
some scalding hot coffee on her.
And I went,
banged on the door...
and I said, "Mother!"
And then it stopped,
and then she said,
"Craig, I'm okay."
He came to apologize,
and he apologized
for the third-degree burn
but didn't apologize
for throwing the coffee on her.
At that point in time,
I hated that man
for the rest of my life.
And I will never forget that,
never.
I had begun to not really care.
And I was there alone.
How can I tell you
what alone meant?
Tell me have you seen him
We got to the hospital,
and they pumped her stomach
and Ike was out talking
to the doctor or something,
and I was in there,
just her and I,
and I was scared shitless,
and I said,
"Tina, you can't die on me.
Come on, now."
It just really scared me,
'cause I didn't know what had...
you know... if she was gonna
pull through or not.
- These are some difficult questions, now, and...
- Okay.
...there was a time
when she was unhappy,
and there was a suicide attempt.
Can you talk
about her unhappiness
and how that made you feel?
Well, I can't really say
how I felt
because I never knew
how she felt.
I didn't know why
she attempted suicide, uh, uh,
because I thought maybe
that it was a, uh, uh...
well...
Let me start this again.
Uh, all right,
at first, Tina, um,
attempting suicide
two or three times,
um, I think that
this was some form of attention.
Um, she was unhappy about
the things that I was doing.
Uh, um, me being a womanizer,
being with all these women
and stuff like this.
And I think that, uh,
the real truth
is that she was trying
to be something that she wasn't.
She was... Wait a minute,
I wanna clarify this.
She was trying to be
what she thought I wanted.
Not what she... what really was.
She was trying to please me,
and so therefore,
she was going through
a lot of hurt
and I think she had a very
unhappy life because of that.
I think we were living a lie,
and, uh, if I'd have
used my head any at all,
I would've known better.
And so this is what led
to our, um, downfall.
Mm-hmm.
Buddhism was a way out.
And it changed
your attitude towards
the situation that you're in.
The more you chant,
the more, you know,
you become liberated mentally.
Nam myoho renge kyo,
nam myoho renge kyo,
nam myoho renge kyo,
nam myoho renge kyo,
nam myoho renge kyo,
nam myoho renge kyo,
nam myoho renge kyo,
nam myoho renge kyo,
nam myoho renge kyo,
nam myoho renge kyo,
nam myoho renge kyo,
nam myoho renge kyo...
Yo
Yo
Yo, ha-yo
Hey!
Yo
Every woman's
Got to be respected
Every little girl's
Got to have her respect
Ike had recognized it too,
that he couldn't control
her anymore
because she just wasn't
putting up with any of that.
Right now,
I'm gonna talk about respect,
because you see...
respect is what I want.
I think it's what most
of us want.
But, you know, we don't always
get what we want.
Especially us women.
Tonight, I'm gonna speak
for us women, you see,
because somehow, the men
always manage to get
what they want.
That's right.
They do what they wanna do
whenever they want to do it.
And you know what?
They do it with whoever
they want to do it with.
But that's just started us women
to thinking.
Yeah, we can think too.
We think that whatever's
out there in the streets
must be good.
'Cause your man's been
out there a long time.
Now us women wants to go out
there and get us some too.
I want you to...
To get together
I want you to try to feel it
Try to feel it
And I want everybody
To do a soul clap
Clap your hands
Clap, clap
Clap, clap
Clap your hands, everybody
Show some respect
Just give me
Just give me respect
Just give me
Just give me respect
- Just give me
- Got to have
- Just give me
- Come on
- Just give me
- Got to have
Oh, yeah...
Okay, okay.
The memory of that
was horrendous, of course,
because I was practically
run over by a truck.
I didn't... I didn't...
Well, I wasn't thinking clearly,
of course.
And so I thought at that point
was a time when I could cross.
But, you know, I felt like
I was moving slow.
And there was that big truck,
really one of the big ones
coming,
and the horn blew and...
And what I mostly remember
is flashing lights.
The next day,
it was the Fourth of July,
and I said,
"Well, the Fourth of July,"
but I'll remember every time,
"Oh, Fourth of July,
that's when I got my freedom."
The divorce was... clean-cut.
I got nothing.
No money, no house, no car.
Mm-hmm.
That is when I realized
that I could use Tina
to become a business.
And so I said,
"I'll just take my name."
Ike fought a little bit
because he knew
what I would do with it,
and it was through court
that I got it, Tina.
To keep it... is to reclaim it.
Reshape it, refine it.
Also a kind of like,
"fuck you" to Ike.
"Yeah, you gave me this name,
but watch what I build with it."
("ROOT, TOOT, UNDISPUTABLE
ROCK 'N' ROLLER" BY TINA TURNER)
When you walk into the bar
I'm the first one
You're gonna see
Business and pleasure
Just don't mix
So can I take
Your order please?
You fellas know
I don't take no mess
It's a whole lotta woman
In this dress
Oh, they call me
Root toot undisputable
Rock and Roller
I got a fine fanny
But a rough-talking Annie
Rock and Roller
Ow...
I realized I had to go to work.
I mean,
I couldn't just stay there
and wait for what?
I had to work.
After Tina left Ike,
somebody had to pay
for all the dates they blew,
and Tina wound up
with all the bills,
none of the money.
She would go do Vegas.
She'd go do, like,
McDonald's conventions.
She'd play anywhere just
to make the money to get by.
Everybody
Knows to keep it cool...
Ike wasn't paying
anything at that point.
So she's gotta support
herself and the kids.
So that's when I started
booking television shows.
I mean, we were doing everything
from "The Brady Bunch"...
Too many nights...
- ...to "Hollywood Squares".
- ...in "The Hollywood Squares"!
Whatever TV shows
we could get her on,
because that was the only
source of income at that point.
Ike and Tina, where's Ike?
I don't know.
So nice to have you
on this show, Tina.
Thank you.
What I remember
is there was always the shadow
of Ike Turner.
It was really hard for her,
you know.
Is it all right for me
to ask you if you and Ike
are together, or separated,
or divorced, or...?
Separated and divorced.
Separated and divorced?
Yeah. We are divorced.
- Yeah, it took a while for you to decide.
- Oh, yes.
Well, yes. It was...
I mean, we're family,
- we've been together for, like, 16 years.
- Yeah.
- Ike and Tina Turner, that... that was a unit.
- Yeah.
They still... People still
call me "Ike and Tina."
- Ike and Tina.
- Yeah, they do.
He triggered a lot of trauma.
Just the thought of him.
You know,
'cause there was a lot.
But she's a professional.
She'd get on stage,
you'd never know
anything was up. Ever.
Five, six, seven, eight.
My head
I hear music in...
I hear music
That lets me know
There's a party going down
La-la-la-la
La-la-la-la...
I was... I was becoming stagnant.
I knew that there was
something else,
and I realized
I wasn't going anywhere.
I'd be in Las Vegas all my life.
Five, six, seven, eight,
change position,
two, three four...
I was ready to get out there.
This is fine,
what you've got so far,
but it's not good enough.
Well then, the next question is,
but you'll have to get
someone to organize that.
That is when
Roger came into the picture.
("HEARTACHE TONIGHT"
BY OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN)
Somebody's
Gonna hurt someone
Before the night
Is through...
Well, I was working
with Olivia Newton-John,
and we were doing
a television special
called "Hollywood Nights".
And Olivia had this desire
to have really strong
female singers
back her in one or two songs.
If it takes all night
We had a list
of people we asked,
Toni Tennille,
Captain & Tennille.
I think Peaches was in it,
Tina Turner, and that's
when I first met Tina.
It's gonna be
A heartache tonight
A heartache tonight
I know
Yes, I know
It's gonna be
A heartache tonight...
I remember when I walked
into Roger's office,
he looked at me.
I will never forget that look.
It was in wonder, like,
"How old is she?
What can I do with her?"
All of that. And then I said,
"I simply want a manager.
I don't know what to do.
I need to work,
I want to work."
And then he said, "I need
to see what you do."
And so I said, "Well,
I'm opening in San Francisco."
Now you've heard my story
You heard
Every word I say...
They were doing
a two-week residency
at the Fairmont Hotel
in San Francisco,
two shows a night.
Fahrenheit or centigrade
They give us fever
The first show was supper,
you know,
everyone eating dinner,
and I'm like going,
"Christ," you know, this is...
Fever
It was very cabaret,
and they did a lot
of cover versions.
I didn't react that excited.
'Cause I didn't think I could
do anything with her.
Way to burn
What a lovely way to burn
Burn, baby, burn
Burn, baby, burn
Anyway, we stayed
for the second show,
and the second show,
being like a nine o'clock show,
it was people had some drinks,
they were standing on tables
and Tina was just working
the audience.
And I went, "Wow. What a great
live performance."
People getting loose now
Getting down on the roof
Folks are screamin'
Out of control...
You know when you meet an artist
if they have got something
that grabs you,
and, obviously, it did to me,
and she was also
incredibly determined.
Roger said to me,
"What do you want?"
I had a dream.
My dream is to be the first
Black rock and roll singer
to pack places, like the Stones
or those people that are packing
those kinds of places, you know?
"I want to fill the rock stadiums,
like Mick and Keith."
And I said, "Yep, that's
what we're gonna do."
I had no idea
if we were gonna do it,
'cause there weren't any female
rock artists
in the world selling out
football stadiums.
Tina's problem
after leaving the Ike orbit
was now she's on her own,
she's just Tina Turner,
but who is that?
She is, by this point,
older than your average
pop stars,
she's a middle-aged woman.
Is she R&B, is it...
was it disco?
Wasn't she doing that recently?
It was very unclear,
her image was unclear.
When Tina said,
"I'd like you to manage me,"
I immediately thought, "Well,
we've got to get her
a record deal,
we've got to change the image
so people
at record companies know
that you're not just
a Vegas cabaret act.
We're gonna make it current."
I said, "We're gonna have
to make a rock show."
(MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
SOUND CHECKING)
I was ready for change.
I was ready for that.
Well, first of all,
the long hair was a...
a look that I used
for Ike and Tina.
So cut the hair.
That was a change immediately.
Then the Bob Mackie
clothes went.
Pulled out some
of my rock and roll dresses,
the shorter ones.
And I went to work.
Five, six, seven, eight!
("FOOLISH BEHAVIOR"
BY TINA TURNER)
Ladies and gentlemen...
Tina Turner!
Can I introduce myself?
I'm a girl
Of financial wealth
Sound in mind
Body, soul, and health
And I wanna kill his wife
I have this urge
To take a life...
We hired a young band.
We didn't really have any money,
so Tina, who had always knew
what she wanted them
to look like,
said, "We'll put them
in black karate suits."
The band hated them.
The musicians were like,
"Why do we have to wear these?"
I said, "Well you know, you each
get a different color belt."
He'll escape
Down into Mexico...
We looked a little bit shabby,
but that's what
rock and roll is. It's shabby.
She wanted two girls,
to get away, I think,
from that Ikette thing.
Should I act
Quiet, cold, and deliberate...
She was reinventing herself
as Tina Turner.
And they'll say suicide
They won't know who done it...
That was the beginning
of me taking control
of my performance.
Kill his wife
I was my own boss.
I really wanna take a life
He'll escape
Down into Mexico
Baby, to Mexico
Sell the house
And find a nice young girl
Find a nice young girl
Just so life
Won't hurt no more
Ooh
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah,
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah
So, the minute
we changed the show,
reviews were great,
everything was going well.
And then we started working
to try to get a record deal.
Nobody would touch Tina Turner.
When I first started
trying to look for a deal
with Tina,
the general feeling was,
"Is she still
with that guy, Ike?"
No one had any idea.
Tina needed to be exposed
as, "She's a solo artist,
she's not associated with Ike."
Roger came to me, asking me
if I would be willing
to give the story to the press,
and I was afraid to...
put it out because of
what I might receive from Ike.
I didn't really know too much
about the backstory,
and nobody knew
about the traumas
that she went through.
You know, I just was looking
for a simple comeback story.
Little did I know, you know,
there was this whole legend,
uh, that came about.
I didn't know what to expect.
I wanted to stop people
from thinking
that Ike and Tina
was so positive.
I mean, he was... it was...
that we were such a love team,
or a great team,
and it wasn't like that.
So I thought, if nothing else,
at least people would know.
Tina Turner is a legend,
a major influence on rock stars
like Rod Stewart
and Mick Jagger.
Once, she was teamed
with her husband, Ike.
Now she's on her own,
trying to establish herself
as a star once again.
My life with Ike, it was, uh,
one that a lot of, maybe,
people are familiar with,
of husbands that is, uh,
that practice brutality.
- Yeah?
- Yeah.
Nobody talked
about sexual abuse,
physical abuse, domestic abuse.
Abuse, period.
Our generation is the generation
that started
to break the silence.
Tina, she couldn't
voice her own opinions.
Everything that she did
was with Ike.
The idea of Tina
as a presence on her own
and having escaped,
people loved that story.
They wanted... You know,
here was somebody to root for.
Once the word was out,
we met a guy called Carter,
John Carter at Capital
who believed in her.
I had always been
interested in artists
that no one else
was interested in.
Once a star, always a threat,
and that's the way I felt
about Tina.
So you play that thing,
you're playing that,
and you're playing
the strum under me,
and we move down stage
with that.
Let's just get that right.
That's exactly...
Carter basically gave us
a development deal.
We tried probably
eight or ten tracks,
still trying to find our way.
We never got quite there.
Stay under me there,
but just come down.
Keep the pulse under me.
Don't lose the...
We record a few things,
and as much as Roger
and I would get enthusiastic
about a song here
and a song there,
it was never really
the body of work that we needed.
And then one day,
Carter rang me up,
beside himself,
because there'd been
a change of management
at Capital Records.
And they'd been in a meeting,
and they'd been going through
the roster of artists, I guess,
and the new management
didn't want Tina on the label.
The new regime comes in...
- Mm-hmm.
- ...and like any new regime,
they've got their own idea
about what they wanna do.
- Right.
- So I flip out,
I go downstairs, and I said,
"Hey, this is my act."
And the classic quote is,
"Carter, you signed
this old nigger douchebag?"
Whoa. Whoa.
"Yeah, yeah, I did,
and I'm really happy about it.
Now pick up the phone
and call Roger Davies."
- Wow.
- He said, "No fucking way."
And I get on my knees,
and I said,
"I'm now gonna beg you,
and I'm not gonna get up
until you pick up the phone."
And there was a long stare down,
- and he picks up the phone.
- Wow.
Well, he says, "Okay,
she's back on the roster."
- Mm-hmm.
- "You finish your record,
but you understand
that we're gonna do nothing.
That's all there is."
I was held back...
for a very long time.
But I didn't suffer
from those things,
and it's not necessary
to suffer about that
because what can you do
about it? You know?
So I didn't think
about those things.
She always had a belief
it was gonna be okay.
And I think you had to have
that belief to get... keep going.
Radio, as you know in America,
was very categorized.
And there's pop,
and there's R&B, there's urban,
then there's hot AC,
and she wanted to sing rock.
And that wasn't really what
they thought would work.
And that's when we knew
that it had to be England,
'cause England
and Europe got her.
It was London,
it was another whole experience
from America.
You know, it felt like home.
It felt so comfortable
that I could've been there
all my life.
Well I didn't have
that many friends in America
because, of course, Ike,
and then when I left Ike,
immediately, I went to work.
My sons were at home,
they were fine.
My oldest was 28, um...
my youngest is moving
well into his middle twenties,
so not really kids anymore.
I left everything
and everybody behind.
I needed every minute
of my brain
to map my life together.
It's almost like
she had a coming of age
at 40 years old.
The fact that
she has this voice,
this incredible,
incredible voice,
I would say the industry didn't
even really know what to do with.
Roger could see
what could be done
when other people
couldn't imagine
what it could become.
Said, "There's this new kind of
production technique in England,
and there are these new people,
they're getting new sounds,
and you should be part of that."
I was collecting songs.
I used to carry around
this leather bag
full of cassettes
and asking a bunch of people
and, you know,
Terry Britten,
he was a bit of a hero of mine,
and he had songs
I think might work for Tina.
Roger's tea.
("WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT"
BY BUCKS FIZZ)
"What's Love" is probably
the worst demo ever done
to this date. I mean,
there's no... there's no, uh...
Be-do-be-do
Just none of that stuff.
Very white, very pop.
And nothing remotely
would say Tina Turner.
Only logical...
Originally, it did go
to an English band
called, um, Bucks Fizz.
They were really popular
at the time
and, uh, I think they actually
recorded it.
Whoa-oh-oh
What's love got to do
Got to do with it?
What's love
But a secondhand emotion?
I was convinced.
I thought "What's Love" was...
it could be a big song.
Tina never really liked it.
It was terrible.
It was awful. It was...
I was rock and roll,
I was not...
That was a...
that was a pop song.
So Roger says, "All right,
all right, all right.
Just one thing,
you've gotta meet Terry Britten,
you've gotta meet him
'cause he's a great writer,
and maybe he can make some
adjustments or whatever."
And I went, "All right."
We walked in, and I didn't know
what to expect at first,
and Terry was like
a little leprechaun.
I mean, he's very short.
He was sitting there,
and his legs were hanging.
There's just something about his
legs hanging that I remember.
She came in,
and immediately, she said,
"Well, you know
I don't like that song,
and I don't wanna do that song,
and it's Roger... Roger
that wants me to do it."
Well, I said, "Well, you know,
if it doesn't work out,
you won't use it,
so let's give it a go."
I had to find a way
to sing the song,
so he would say,
uh, "Tina, sing this
how you would sing it."
So, okay. Then I applied
my heavy voice to it and...
Your hand makes
my pulse react...
She was trying
to get her head round it.
"How's this little...
...work?" Sort of thing,
and, uh, I said to her,
"Tina, this is a jog."
And we both stood and jogged.
I said... and...
she was singing loud,
and I went, "Quieter, quieter."
She said, "If I go any quieter,
I'll be whispering."
I said, "Yeah, that's it." And
we start to jog on this thing,
and suddenly she went,
"I got it, I got it, I got it."
Oh, oh, oh,
What's love got to do
Got to do with it?
What's love
But a secondhand emotion?
What's love got to do
Got to do with it?
Who needs a heart
When a heart can be broken?
I was stunned afterwards,
after the session.
That I'm acting confused...
They weren't used
to a strong voice
standing on top of music.
But I converted it
and made it my own.
I tend to look dazed
I read it someplace
I've got cause to be
There's a name for it...
She said, "You know what?
People are gonna say
this is a Tina Turner song.
It's not Tina doing a cover.
This is Tina Turner's song."
Whatever the reason
You do it for me
Oh, oh, oh
What's love got to do
Got to do with it?
I knocked that album out
in two weeks in the studio.
Done. Finished.
We just went
from studio to studio,
and, literally,
two or three weeks,
the album was done.
We turned up with an album
that sold 20 million copies.
Can be broken...
When the album was out
and we were in New York
at Tower Records
doing a record signing,
and I got the call
from our record company
that it had gone... "What's Love" had
gone to number one on Billboard.
In Tower Records?
This was in Tower Records.
And I just jumped up and I said
to everybody, "It's number one!"
And they all started cheering.
It was wonderful.
You know, when you said that,
I honestly have to tell you,
I know it's gonna sound
real corny, but I mean it,
when I saw you
say that last night,
that this went number one today,
I just, like, burst into tears
because, to me, it was like
there is some justice after all.
I don't know if you feel
that way about it,
but it was very moving.
Number one.
Oh, oh, oh
What's love got to do
Got to do with it?
What's love
But a secondhand emotion?
What's love got to do
Got to do with it?
Who needs a heart
When a heart can be broken?
What's love got to do
Got to do...
And the record of the year is
"What's Love Got to Do with It,"
Tina Turner.
My goodness. This has been
a wonderful evening.
I'd like to take this award
and give it to someone
that's been wonderful to me
as a friend, and in business,
and in many ways, my manager,
Roger Davies.
It's been a wonderful year.
My "Private Dancer" album,
no, I don't consider it
a comeback album.
Tina had never arrived.
It was Tina's debut
for the first time,
and this was my first album.
Tina Turner!
Tina Turner!
It reached a stage where,
after "Private Dancer",
it was unbelievably big.
It was a runaway train.
When you're hot, you're hot,
and this lady is the hottest.
- Here's...
- Tina Turner!
I had my boyfriend
standing in line
since 3:00 in the morning
to get these tickets.
I said, "That's it,
the relationship's over
unless you get me
these tickets."
And if she isn't sexy,
I don't know who is.
Give our honors to Tina Turner.
Stupenda, stupenda.
...Tina Turner.
Um, "Private Dancer",
I think we ended up doing
a hundred and fifty concerts.
And then we went on
to break every rule.
On that album, we did the
biggest tour we've ever done.
We played 230 shows
in 18 months,
everywhere in the world.
This 50-year-old woman playing
at stadiums throughout Europe
and having an audience
ranging from about 15 to 60
was pretty amazing.
- She makes you feel young. She's alive, she's bouncing.
- I know, I feel like
- I'm 20 years younger.
- I can't wait for them to come back.
When I'm on stage,
and it's like 20,000 people,
then you know that
it's all worthwhile, you know.
But it's really a lot
that goes on behind the scenes
when you... I've never
been this big before,
you know what I mean? And you...
Uh, it's just incredible.
We didn't stop.
We played the small halls,
we played the clubs,
we did all the TVs,
we got to arenas.
We eventually fulfilled
her dream
and filled the stadiums.
That concert in Rio
was 186,000 people there.
Tina! Tina!
Hello, Rio!
Give it to me. Hello, Rio!
You can't imagine
what it was like for me
to finally to stand there
and draw all those people.
It's a feeling of, like,
"I did it,"
and it's really genuine.
It's... it is almost like magic,
because you're standing there,
and they're really
giving you love.
Are you ready?
Are you ready for me?
I'm ready for you.
Hello.
("I CAN'T STAND THE RAIN"
BY TINA TURNER)
I can't stand the rain
Against my window
Bringing back sweet memories
I can't stand the rain
Do you remember?
Uh-uh
How sweet it used to be
When we were together
Everything was so grand
Now that we've parted
- There's the one sound
- One sound
I just can't stand
I can't stand the rain
Against my window
Bringing back sweet memories
I can't stand the rain
Against my window
'Cause he ain't here with me
Oh, oh
When we were together
Everything was so grand
Ah, bringing back some
Sweet memories
- One sound
- One sound
I just can't stand
- Rain
- Rain
Rain
- Rain
- Rain
Rain, whoo!
Yeah
Thank you.
In 1985, she signed on
to do the third Mad Max movie,
Beyond Thunderdome.
Rolling Stones sent me
to cover this.
Great, I would love
to cover this.
She was the biggest pop star
in the world.
I mean, it was already clear
that there were gonna be people
doing these quickie bios
of Tina Turner,
which I thought was really
tacky, so I get over there
and I talk to Roger,
and I said, "You know,
maybe you should have someone
do a book.
You know,
do an actual biography.
And... could be me.
I mean, could be
anybody, you know.
- I don't want to be pushy."
- You pitched to them?
Oh, yeah. Well,
I brought up the possibility
of doing something to forestall
all these bad books
that would be coming out.
When she became successful,
the past came up,
and it got a lot of press
'cause she was also
hugely popular.
People continued
to ask about Ike,
even after she had had
huge solo success.
They'd bring up
the same old stuff,
over and over,
in every interview.
We couldn't stop it.
Ike was, uh, arrested on some
cocaine charges in Pasadena.
- Oh.
- Yeah, for possession
and... and conspiracy,
possibly for dealing.
Any reaction to that?
I, you know, I'd like to hear
all positive things.
I'd love to hear that
Ike had a record deal,
- and he was producing an album on himself.
- Yeah.
Right.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
I think that she said
at the time that, "I can do this
and not talk about it again.
Everybody's talking about it.
Everybody has this idea
about it, thinks this or that.
So, I know what happened.
I'll say what happened.
Then I won't have
to address it again."
A long line of fans
waited outside
a Barnes and Noble bookstore
for Tina.
The soulful singer is now
also an author,
and she was in town,
anxious and willing
to autograph
a few hundred copies.
It was worth getting sweaty,
going up there, pushing people,
getting them out the way,
seeing Tina Turner. I love her.
"What's Love Got to Do with It"?
Tina's book, by the way,
tracing her rise and fall
and rise again,
is titled I, Tina.
It was a top ten
New York Times best seller,
strict because of Tina Turner.
I mean,
they could put an empty book out
with her picture on the cover,
that book would have sold.
She just felt
maybe it will put it to bed
once and for all.
Which, of course, it didn't.
It just made it bigger.
Albuquerque, New Mexico, hello.
I read your book,
and it's totally
changed my life.
I love you. I thank you.
That story
reached so many people
who felt like they had to kinda
keep their secrets
locked away deep down.
But then I wonder
that thing of, like,
it's like a Pandora's box
situation, right?
Like, "Damn, I gotta tell
this story again?"
And then the film came out,
and just kinda brought
more attention to her name,
for people to see
what happened and everything.
- What'd you say?
- Don't start with me.
I ain't in the mood today,
all right?
It's tangible in the sense
you're watching it.
I'll give up
all that other stuff,
but only
if I get to keep my name.
I worked too hard for it,
Your Honor.
That just changed
everything for her.
That role changed my life.
I mean, I'm not Tina,
and I've got so much,
uh, love from others.
Men, women who have come up
and said,
"You playing her in that story
changed my life."
The story goes out
into people's houses,
and then it becomes
a part of their life as well.
It's Tina Day!
That's hard to wrap
your mind around,
that your life has been
an inspiration,
maybe the worst parts
of your life
has been an inspiration.
We have 50,000
letters downstairs
from women who have also
been through it and survived.
Tina did it, so can you,
let's celebrate.
She's no longer
in control of that story.
That's what happens to icons.
Anna Mae Bullock
has her own life.
Tina Turner
belongs to the world.
Miss Turner, welcome to Venice.
Can you give me your views
on the film?
Well, I haven't as yet
seen the film.
Well, I'm not so thrilled
about thinking about the past
and how I lived my life,
it was, uh... made a story...
the story was actually written
so that I would no longer
have to discuss the issue.
I don't love that it's always
talked about, you see.
I made a point of...
of just putting the news out
to stop the thing,
so that I could go on
with my life.
And this constant reminder
is not so good.
You know,
I'm not so happy about it.
So, do I want to sit in a screen
and watch the violence
and all the brutality?
No. That's why
I haven't seen it.
You know,
when you talk to journalists
over and over
for 20 or 30 or 40 years,
memories come back.
She has partly dreams about it,
uh, they're not pleasant.
So I think these are
these things
that come back to her
when she opens that book.
It's like when soldiers
come back from the war.
It's not an easy time to...
to have this in your memory,
and then try to forget.
I see it a little bit like that.
Tina today
is a world superstar, um,
but there was a point where you
had to become the Comeback Kid.
How did you get the strength
to get out
of that situation with Ike?
Oh, we are going to talk
about him, aren't we?
Okay.
I need my fan now,
I just had a flush.
How did I get out
of that situation?
Let me figure out how I can
talk about that, two seconds.
No, no, I know how
to get out of it.
I'm just going to say,
um, something.
Give me two seconds here.
You don't want to think
about those times, you know.
You just want to...
it to just to go away.
But if you're gonna keep
bringing it up,
the brain is saying,
"Oh, you want to remember that."
That scene comes back.
You... you're dreaming. It's...
The real picture is there.
It's... it's like a curse.
You raised a son by him,
a son by another man,
and two of Ike's kids
by other women.
There were always other women
on the scene.
What was that like for you?
When you were married to Ike,
what was the absolutely
worse moment?
What do you think
attracts women to bad men?
Is there a real lowlight?
Something you'd love to forget?
And of course, the book
and the movie features
your allegations
about his bashings.
Tell me about that?
I'm... I'm past it.
It's been 16 years
since I haven't been with Ike,
and the movie and the book
is bringing me back to the past,
of something
that was really awful.
My life is wonderful
at the moment.
I'm a happy person now,
and I don't dwell
on unhappiness.
The trauma is still so deep
that to go back there
makes you feel like
you're actually going back.
If you don't address the wounds
of your past,
you continue to bleed.
You know, she just...
she always had the feeling
that she wasn't loved.
She wasn't, you know,
she wasn't a wanted child.
I think with her mom,
I think that's still the...
the dramatization
of being left as a child,
that never left.
Ma was, uh, not kind.
When I became a star,
of course, back then,
she was happy because
I bought her a house.
I did all kinds of things
for her. She was my mother.
You know, I was trying
to make her comfortable,
because she didn't have
a husband, she was alone.
But she still didn't like me.
Even after I became Tina,
Ma still was a little bit,
"Who did that?"
or "Who did this?"
And I said, "I did it, Ma."
You know, I was happy
to show my mother what I did.
I had a house,
I had gotten a car,
and she said,
"I don't believe it.
You're my daughter,
I know you didn't..."
Something to this affect.
Yeah, she...
She didn't want.
She didn't want me,
she didn't want to be around me,
even though she wanted
my success.
But I did for her
as if she loved me.
He's had a few kind
of ups and downs
in her life as well.
It hasn't...
it hasn't been all happy.
- Right.
- Um...
When... when she's unhappy,
how... how does she deal with it?
I would say she...
She did a great job
of dealing with it, because...
she would figure out the problem
and how to handle it.
Would she kind of come
running home to you crying?
No, no, no, no,
she figured that out on her own.
Have you had any particularly...
any particular moments
that you were really proud of?
Well, I've been proud of her
ever since she started singing.
But it's like...
a person... some people's
afraid to climb a ladder
unless someone's holding it.
But she's not.
Once she make that first step
on that ladder,
she keep climbing up,
up, up, up.
She's not afraid.
She'll try it.
She's not afraid
to try anything.
Do you think
that now, after all the...
I mean, you've risen to the top
of the entertainment field,
where you've maybe
sacrificed love for...
- Rising.
- This is what...
This is what
readers will say, now.
"She has no...
she has no love in her life."
Oh, Kurt, we're gonna
get really heavy now
because I'm drinking.
- You're gonna find out.
- Oh, good.
I have not received love
almost ever in my life.
I did not have it
with my mother,
and my father
from the beginning of birth.
And I survived.
Why did I get so far
without love, Kurt?
I've never had it.
And it... and if I cry here,
it doesn't mean
that I pity myself,
it means that tears come
with certain memories.
No. Tears are not bad.
I have had not one love affair
that was genuine
and sustained itself.
Not one.
Kurt, I've been through...
...fucking tons of heartbreak.
I have analyzed it.
I said, "What's wrong with me?"
I've looked in the mirror
with myself stripped of makeup
and without hair.
Why can't someone see the beauty
in the woman it is that I am?
Not a goddamn person
that found it.
("HELP!"
BY TINA TURNER)
When I was younger
So much younger than today
I never needed anybody's
Help in any way
Now those days are gone
I'm not so self-assured
Now I find
I've changed my mind
And opened up the doors
So help me if you can
I'm feeling down
And I do appreciate you
Being round
Help me get my feet
Back on the ground
Won't you please
Please, help me
And now my life has changed
In, oh, so many ways
My independence
Seems to vanish in the haze
And every now and then
I feel so insecure
I know that I just need you
Like I never did before
Help me if you can
I'm feeling down
And I do appreciate you
Being round
Oh, help me get my feet
Back on the ground
Won't you please
Please, help me
Won't you please
Please, help me
Oh, yeah
Won't you please...
Won't you please help me
Oh
Help
Oh, oh, oh
Help
Help
Oh
The man that
I'm looking for, actually,
has to be a very strong man,
to wear, actually, the trousers,
but yet not to dominate me.
And that's fair.
Tina, over here!
We met at Cologne airport.
No, actually it was,
uh, Dsseldorf Airport.
And, uh, her manager, Roger,
asked me to, uh...
to pick up Tina.
He was younger.
He was 30 years old at the time.
The prettiest face.
I mean, you cannot.
I said, it was like saying,
"Where did he come from?"
He was really so good looking.
My heart went,
"ba-boomp, bop, bop."
And it means that
a soul has met.
And my hands were shaking.
So Roger said to me,
"Tina, you ride with Erwin."
And I... I wanted to go, "Yay."
We enjoyed the ride.
I enjoyed driving the artist.
Actually a superstar for us,
where you're normally
a little nervous, you know.
But, uh,
I wasn't nervous either.
I was just doing the job.
When he found out
that I liked him,
he came to America.
We were in Nashville,
I think it was,
and I said to him,
"When you come to LA,
I want you to make love to me."
But I thought that I could say
that 'cause I was a free woman,
I didn't have a boyfriend.
I liked him.
There was nothing wrong with it,
it was just sex.
And he looked at me
as if he doesn't...
didn't believe
what he was hearing.
I laugh now at the moment,
because I sometimes
get that look
when I do certain things.
He was just so, so different.
So laid back, so comfortable,
so unpretentious.
And that was the beginning
of our relationship.
I really needed love.
I just needed to love a person.
How many years later, darling,
we got married?
Twenty-seven.
It's love. It's something
we both have for each other.
I always refer to it
as an electrical charge.
I still have it.
I still have it and even though
when I left her
two hours ago,
three hours ago this morning,
I still have that feeling.
That feeling is still with me,
and, uh, it's in my heart.
I feel very warm about this.
First, a minute to remember
one of the fathers
of rock and roll.
Ike Turner died today at age 76.
Back in 1951,
Turner helped record
what is one of the first
rock and roll records,
"Rocket 88," with his band,
The Kings of Rhythm.
He may be best known
as the abusive ex-husband
of Tina Turner, with whom
he performed for many years.
After their separation,
Ike Turner continued
to make music.
In 1991, he was inducted into
the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame,
and earlier this year,
his record "Risin' with the Blues"
won a Grammy
for Traditional Blues Album.
For a long time, I did hate Ike,
I have to say that.
But then after he died,
I really realized
that he was a sick person.
He was an ill person
at the soul.
He did get me started,
and, uh, he was good to me
in the beginning.
So I have some good thoughts.
Uh, maybe it was a good thing
that I met him.
That, I don't know.
It hurts to have to
remember those times.
But at a certain stage,
forgiveness takes over.
Forgiving means not to hold on.
You let it go,
because it only hurts you.
Not forgiving, you suffer,
'cause you think about it
over and over again.
And for what?
I had an abusive life.
There's no other way
to tell the story.
It's a reality, it's a truth.
That's what you've got.
So you have to accept it.
Working it.
Working it as always.
Why thank you, honey.
Can you tell us
what Tina means to you?
The money shot is coming.
Some people say
the life that I lived
and the performances
that I gave,
the appreciation
is blasting with the people.
And yeah, I should be proud
of that... I am...
but when do you stop
being proud?
I mean, when do you...
How do you bow out slowly,
just go away?
She said, "I'm going to America
and I'm going to say goodbye
to my American fans,
and, uh, I'll wrap it up."
And I think this
documentary here and the play,
this is it.
It's a closure, a closure.
Tina, Tina, Tina!
What I gleaned
from her life was love.
Love of self,
love of her family,
love of her... of her talent.
Love of audiences,
of music, of freedom.
But there's a part of her,
I guess,
that we've all laid claim to,
we've all embraced
across the world,
and I hope she knows that.
You know, how beloved,
how loved she is.
She is absolutely adored.
("SIMPLY THE BEST"
BY TINA TURNER)
I call you when I need you
My heart's on fire
Come to me
Come to me wild and wild
You come to me
Give me everything I need
Give me a lifetime
Of promises
And a world of dreams
Speak a language of love
Like you know what it means
And it can't be wrong
Take my heart
And make it strong, baby
You're simply the best
Better than all the rest
Better than anyone
Anyone I've ever met
I'm stuck on your heart
I hang on every word you say
Tear us apart
Oh, no
Baby, I would rather be dead
In your heart I see the start
Of every night and every day
Oh, yeah
In your eyes I get lost
I get washed away
Just as long
As I'm here in your arms
I could be
In no better place
You're simply the best
Whoo!
Better than all the rest
Whoo!
Better than anyone
Anyone I've ever met
Ooh, I'm stuck on your heart
And I hang on
Every word you say
Don't tear us apart, no, no
Baby, I would rather be dead
Each time you leave me
I start losing control
You're walking away
With my heart and my soul
I can feel you
Even when I'm alone
Oh, baby, don't let go
Oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
You're the best
Sing it, everybody!
Better than all the rest
Better than anyone
Anyone I've ever met
Ooh, I'm stuck on your heart
I hang on every word you say
Don't tear us apart, no, no
Baby, I would rather be dead
Ooh, you're the best
You're simply the best, yeah
Better than all the rest
Better than anyone
Anyone I've ever met
I'm stuck
On your heart, baby
I hang on every word you say
Don't tear us apart, no, no
Baby, I would rather be dead
Ooh, you're the best
Thank you.