September 1, 1984: "What's Love Got to Do With It" is listed at Number 1 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100, their list of the 100 biggest hit songs in America. It is the biggest hit ever for Tina Turner, making one of the most amazing comebacks in the history of show business.
Anna Mae Bullock was born on November 26, 1939 in Brownsville, Tennessee, and grew up in nearby Nutbush. As a teenager, she worked as a maid and a nurse's aide. By 1956, she was singing in music clubs in St. Louis, Missouri and East St. Louis, Illinois, on the other side of the Mississippi River.
One of these clubs was the Club Manhattan in East St. Louis, where she saw Ike Turner and his Kings of Rhythm. He heard her sing, and hired her for his band, first billing her as Little Ann, then, because she reminded him of the fictional character Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, he gave her the alliterative stage name Tina Turner.
In 1960, they had their 1st hit song, "A Fool In Love" -- and their 1st child together, a son named Ronnie. Tina already had a son with Raymond Hill, Ike's saxophonist, and Ike adopted him, renaming him Craig Raymond Turner.
They were big stars among black fans, but it took until 1966 for them to become familiar to white audiences, when Tina had a hit with "River Deep -- Mountain High," written by Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich and Phil Spector, and produced by Spector with his full "Wall of Sound." As it turned out, Phil was every bit as monstrous as Ike, including with his wife, Veronica Bennett, a.k.a. Ronnie Spector of The Ronettes.
"The Ike & Tina Turner Revue," with Ike leading the band on guitar, and The Ikettes backing Tina's lead vocals, appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show on January 11, 1970, including performing their version of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Proud Mary." The following year, they became the opening act for Johnny Mathis in his stand at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. They had become bigger than ever, allowing white audiences to see what Darlene Love, another Spector singer, would later say: "While Fred Astaire changed the way dancers sing, Tina Turner changed the way singers dance." In 1975, she was cast as the Acid Queen in the film version of The Who's rock opera Tommy.
But Ike was abusive, and it got worse as his cocaine addiction got out of control. On July 1, 1976, the Ike & Tina Turner Revue flew from Los Angeles to Dallas, where they had a gig at the Dallas Statler Hilton. While en route to the hotel, the Turners got into a physical altercation in the car. Shortly after their arrival, Tina fled from Ike with only 36 cents and a Mobil gas card, to the nearby Ramada Inn across the freeway. Despite this being the South, and the manager being white, he took her in.
Following her divorce, Tina headlined in Las Vegas. On New Year's Eve, 1982 into 1983, she appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and tore the roof off the Burbank studio. I was just old enough to start appreciating her both as a singer and as a woman, and I remember my father saying, "That's some dress she almost has on."
In 1983, John Carter signed her to Capitol Records, and steered her next album away from traditional rhythm & blues to traditional pop, rock, and even jazz. Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits wrote Private Dancer," which became the title track, and Jeff Beck played guitar on it. The 1st single was a cover of Al Green's "Let's Stay Together," which became her biggest hit single in years. It was followed by "What's Love Got to Do With It?" which soared to Number 1. She also covered David Bowie's "1984," and Holly Knight's "Better Be Good to Me."
Film director George Miller offered her the role of Aunty Entity, the villain of the Mel Gibson film Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome. She was intrigued by the idea of playing a villain, but insisted that the character still be alive at the end. She got her wish.
She appeared at the U.S. edition of Live Aid in 1985, including a duet with Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones. From then on, no mere sports arena could hold her: She sold out stadiums all over the world. She eventually moved to Switzerland, and married German music executive Erwin Bach.
In 1996, Ed Bradley of the CBS News show 60 Minutes was going to interview her for a segment, but came down with the flu. With everything set, the network couldn't back out, so a replacement had to be found, and main anchor Mike Wallace was selected. Wallace was 78 years old, and introduced the segment by admitting that he'd never been to a rock concert before, but said, "I jumped at the chance." He followed Tina to stadium concerts in Europe, where she was always more popular than at home.
Interviewing Tina and Erwin together, he pointed out, "You're 56, he's 40." She said, "But he's really 56, and I'm really 16." Wallace also commented on how youthful she looked, including her most famous feature, her powerful dancer's legs. She admitted that she'd had her nose fixed, after Ike had broken it, but that was all the plastic surgery she'd had.
Ike and Tina, as a single act, were elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991. Tina showed up to the award ceremony. Ike did not. He couldn't: He was in a California prison on drug charges. Tina was elected again for her solo work in 2021.
Ike died on December 12, 2007. By that point, Tina had sold more records, and more concert tickets, than any female musical performer, ever, in any genre. That wouldn't have been possible if he hadn't given her a chance. But it also might not have been possible if he had observed the title of one of Tina's comeback songs: "You Better Be Good to Me."
In 1986, Tina published a memoir, I, Tina. In 1993, it was made into a film, What's Love Got to Do With It? Angela Bassett played Tina, and Laurence Fishburne played Ike. As of September 1, 2022, Tina is 82 years old, and Angela is 64. It appears that the secret to eternal youth is to either be Tina Turner, or to play her.
In 2018, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, a "jukebox musical" debuted in London's West End, and made its Broadway debut the following year. Adrienne Warren, an actress from Virginia, won an Emmy Award for playing Tina. She's 35, the same age Angela was when she played Tina. Hopefully, she'll enjoy the same kind of career and youthful appearance as her subject and her forebear.
UPDATE: Tina Turner died on May 24, 2023, at the age of 83. She had outlived both of her biological children.
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September 1, 1984 was a Saturday. Hockey player Rod Pelley was born.
These Major League Baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees lost to the California Angels, 11-6 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). The Yankees led 5-4 at the 7th inning stretch, thanks in part to a home run by Don Mattingly and a decent start by Phil Niekro. But Niekro, 45 years old, lost control of his knuckleball in the bottom of the 7th, and Dave Righetti, in his 1st season as a relief pitcher, fell apart. Fred Lynn homered for the Halos, and former Yankee Reggie Jackson went 1-for-4.
* The New York Mets swept a doubleheader from the San Diego Padres, 7-4 and 10-6 at Shea Stadium. Dwight Gooden won the opener, striking out 10. Over the 2 games, Strawberry went 4-for-8 with a home run in each game, a walk and 6 RBIs. Keith Hernandez went 3-for-4 with 2 RBIs, Hubie Brooks went 5-for-9 with 5 RBIs, Wally Backman went 4-for-10 with an RBI, Ray Knight went 3-for-6 with 3 walks, and Tony Gwynn went 1-for-7 with a walk.
* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Montreal Expos, 4-3 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.
* The San Francisco Giants beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 7-2 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Mike Schmidt did not play.
* The Chicago Cubs beat the Atlanta Braves, 4-1 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.
* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Minnesota Twins, 12-4 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto.
* The Boston Red Sox beat the Cleveland Indians, 4-1 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 7-5 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Each having returned to the Reds after some time away, player-manager Pete Rose went 3-for-5, and Tony Pérez won the game with a home run in the bottom of the 11th inning.
* The Chicago White Sox beat the Kansas City Royals, 6-1 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. George Brett did not play in this game.
* The Houston Astros beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 8-4 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.
* The Texas Rangers beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 8-4 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Robin Yount went 1-for-4 with a walk. Paul Molitor was injured and did not play.
* The Oakland Athletics beat the Detroit Tigers, 7-5 at the Oakland Coliseum. Despite the Tigers being the best team in baseball all season long, starting 35-5, winning 104 games, and winning the World Series by going 7-2 in the postseason, in this one, the A's scored 6 runs in the 1st inning, and never looked back. Rickey Henderson went 0-for-3, but drew 2 walks, and stole 2nd each time.
* And the Seattle Mariners beat the Baltimore Orioles, 10-9 at the Kingdome in Seattle. The M's scored 3 runs in the bottom of the 8th to beat the O's. Jim Presley hit 2 home runs. Eddie Murray went 1-for-2 with 2 walks. Cal Ripken went 2-for-3 with a home run, 2 walks and 2 RBIs.
The college football season began that day. Among the games played were these:
* Number 3 University of Pittsburgh were upset by Brigham Young University. BYU beat Pitt, 20-14 at Pitt Stadium.
* Number 4 Clemson beat Appalachian State, 40-7 at Memorial Stadium in Clemson, South Carolina.
* Number 10 Miami, defending their surprise National Championship, beat arch-rival Florida, 32-20 at Tampa Stadium.
* Only one of the service academies was in action: Air Force beat San Diego State, 34-16 at Falcon Stadium in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
* And one rivalry game was played, one that tends to be played early in the season rather than late: Illinois beat Northwestern, 24-16 at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Illinois.
And in English soccer, North London team Arsenal beat Watford F.C., 4-3 at Vicarage Road in Watford, Hertfordshire.
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