The Lady of Rock, the embodiment of Jagger’s “honky tonk woman” and Hendrix’s “foxy lady,” was the erotic-musical invention of Ike Turner, a piano prodigy of the blues in Saint Louis, session musician for Chess in Chicago, talent scout for various labels, as well as guitarist and composer in Memphis (Rocket 88, 1951, one of the songs that invented rock, credited to singer Jackie Brenston and based on Pete Johnson’s Rocket 88 Boogie from 1949).

Tina (Ann Mae Bullock), a former prudish gospel choir singer from Tennessee, married in 1957 and presented as the sex symbol of her “revue,” made her fortune: A Fool In Love (1960), I Idolize You (1961), It's Gonna Work Out Fine (1961), I'm Blue, revealed to the world Tina’s sexual cries and vocal orgasms, alongside Ike’s pornographic-choreographic skill. Full success came when the two began recording rock songs in a funky style: Phil Spector’s River Deep Mountain High (1966, arranged by Jack Nitzsche) and Otis Redding’s I've Been Loving You Too Long (1969). But Ike’s abuse eventually destroyed Tina, leading her to attempt suicide in 1968.

With her Nutbush City Limits (1973), Tina became self-sufficient, first asserting herself as the driving force of the duo, then launching solo as a disco-music superstar, and ultimately becoming an unrivaled erotic-vocal myth with midtempo rock that often veers into dramatic ballads (What's Love Got To Do With It and Better Be Good To Me, 1984; We Don't Need Another Hero, 1985; Typical Male, 1986; Private Dancer, 1986; What You Get Is What You See, 1987; Best, 1989).

Meanwhile, the shocking backstory of her life came to light: abandoned by her mother at a young age, witnessing her father’s murder by his lover, and impregnated by a passing man. Her fortune with Ike was no better: the famous musician was a sadist who beat her, forced her to sing even when ill, pushed her to the brink of tuberculosis, and, despite living off her, cheated on her with every kind of sexual degeneracy. Tina’s moans and roars have acquired the charisma of lived experience and pain, and the squalor of that miserable past served to illuminate the epic martyrdom of her voice.

Ike Turner died in december 2007. Tina Turner died in 2023.