After spending a chunk of her life being in an abusive relationship with Ike Turner, Miss Tina Turner calls it quits and kicks him to the curb to pursue her own solo career, which has since then grown beautifully
It was Tina herself who made the decision to leave a marriage that was only going to end one way-her death. This decision came to her while on tour with her husband in Dallas in 1976. Their relationship had been, to say one word, abusive. Physically, emotionally, financially. She filed for divorce on July 27, 1976. The reason: "Irreconcilable differences". In a 1981 People interview, Turner recalls "Maybe I was brainwashed. I was afraid of him, and I cared what happened to him. And I knew that if I left, there was no one to sing."
Ike and Tina met in St. Louis in the 1950s, when Tina had showed up at one of his concerts. After hearing her amazing vocals, he had her join the band and be the singer-at age 17. He renamed the band the Ike & Tina Turner Review to highlight her and soon they were married. They married in 1962. In her 2018 memoir My Love Story, she recalls "He threw hot coffee in my face, giving me third degree burns. He used my nose as a punching bag so many times that I could taste blood running down my throat when I sang. He broke my jaw. And I couldn't remember what it was like not to have a black eye." Tina also admits to contemplating suicide, since suicide is the number one risk of intimate partner violence.
She also mentioned that Ike's "stooges" were sent to intimidate her during the divorce proceedings. She was on food stamps, living with their four sons because Ike controlled the finances. All publishing rights were in his name, leaving Tina with no money. The family had no choice but to live in her assistant's house for a short time while the divorce proceedings were occurring. Tina would recall men working for Ike coming to destroy the property to continue the intimidation, going as far as to shoot out the car windows in the driveway and even shoot into the house.
The whole relationship and aftermath left Tina with PTSD. In her memoir, she wrote "My relationship with Ike was doomed the day he figured out I was going to be his moneymaker. He needed to control me, economically and psychologically, so I could never leave him." She then proceeded to reclaim her own identity in the divorce proceedings. She gave Ike half the rights to all music they recorded as a couple, all money they made together, the studio they built and all property they owned in exchange for her name and freedom. Money issues didn't stop there. When their music relationship dissolved, numerous promoters who lost money on the cancelled shows they were supposed to perform sued for their losses. Tina was forced to pay for her share of those losses
After a while, Tina was free. She convinced Capitol Records to sign her as an artist in 1979. By the time 1984 had rolled around, the Queen of Rock had one of the biggest albums, Private Dancer, to her name and one of the biggest successes of the decade
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