Tumult!: The Incredible Life and Music of Tina Turner

by Donald Brackett

Overview

The narrative of Tumult! The Incredible Life and Music of Tina Turner is an extended exploration of the magical transformation of shy country girl Anna Mae Bullock into the boisterous force of nature we know today as Tina Turner. This is creative alchemy in action: turning into Turner is actually also the captivating tale of someone who was already precociously there, a stellar talent just waiting to emerge and grab the global spotlight. Far from the early myths attached to her name by association with her talented but tormenting producer-husband, she was not a Svengali-like creation at all, but rather a fully formed, if vulnerable, young musical prodigy who was going to burst out of the creative shell imposed upon her one way or the other. Even though it took sixteen years to do so, her second career as a solo pop artist is the achievement for which she is rightly remembered.



In Turner, we have a case study in triumph over adversity and sheer creative will power: singer, songwriter, dancer, actress, feminist icon. Often referred to as the Queen of Rock and Roll, she has sold over two hundred million records and sold more live concert tickets than any other solo performer in history. In 2019, she celebrated her eighieth birthday and was also lionized in the live Broadway version of her incredible life story, Tina: The Musical, starring Adrienne Warren. In Tumult!, we unearth and examine what uncanny skills enabled her to connect with so many people at such a deep heart-to-heart level. She is, in fact, a beating human heart in high heels.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781493055067
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	11/15/2020
Pages:	248
Sales rank:	1,070,764
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Donald Brackett is a Vancouver-based culture journalist who writes about music, art, and films, as well as curating film programs for Cinematheque. He is the author of two other books with Backbeat Books: on Amy Winehouse (2016) and Sharon Jones (2018). He has also written a book on the history of the blues/pop band Fleetwood Mac and is currently working on a book about the controversial pop artist and activist Yoko Ono.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction, No North or South in Dreams: Turning into Turner 1

1 I Could Have Been Anyone Anywhere: The Origin Myth 11

2 Pass Me That Microphone: One Chance in a Million 31

3 Chitlin' Royalty: Touring Mania 47

4 Public Romancer: Deeper and Higher 67

5 Please Release Me, Let Me Go: Proud Tina 93

6 Nichiren Nights: The Baptist Buddhist 115

7 Re-Launch: Firsthand Emotion 141

8 Better Than All the Rest: We Need Another Heroine 161

9 Heavy Weather in a Dress: The Legacy of Tina Turner 183

Discography 203

Bibliography 209

Index 213

Editorial Reviews

"Students of popular music and Turner devotees who want to know what Tina is doing now will enjoy this well-researched volume."-Library Journal

From the Publisher

10/01/2020

Born Anna Mae Bullock in Nutbush, TN, into a loveless marriage, Tina Turner (b. 1939) is one of the most famous singers of our time. Discovered by the older, already successful, but abusive Ike Turner, Tina became the lead singer in his band and eventually escaped their marriage and forged a triumphant solo career. Between biographies, memoirs, and the iconic biopic What's Love Got To Do with It, Turner's story is well known, but Brackett (Long Slow Train) updates readers on where Turner is today: a Buddhist, part of the spiritual group Beyond Foundation, the subject of the Broadway show Tina, and an anguished parent—in 2018, her son Craig died by suicide. More important, the author takes a scholarly approach that places Turner's creative contributions (Ike's, too) into the historical perspective of pop music; he depicts her as both a feminist icon and a sex symbol, and, above all, a tenacious artist who paved the way for singers such as Beyoncé and Nicki Minaj. Brackett is also a Turner fan, and the book is clearly a homage, at times a gushing one. VERDICT Students of popular music and Turner devotees who want to know what Tina is doing now will enjoy this well-researched volume.—Rosellen Brewer, Sno-Isle Libs., Marysville, WA

Library Journal