The singer, born Anna Mae Bullock in Tennessee, began performing in the 1950s when she was still in high school. After meeting her first husband, Ike Turner, and his ensemble band, the Kings of Rhythm, she was catapulted into stardom as the Ike & Tina Turner Revue. By the 1980s, when she had filed for divorce and embarked on a solo career, Turner was an unparalleled music icon and had been given the Queen of Rock 'n' Roll moniker. Her many accolades include two spots in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (she was inducted with Ike Turner in 1991 and as a solo artist in 2021), a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, a lifetime-achievement award from the Recording Academy, and eight Grammys.
She was also a trailblazer and became the first Black artist and the first woman to be on the cover of Rolling Stone. Turner's wealth was estimated at 225 million Swiss francs, or around $225 million, in 2022 by the Swiss business magazine Bilanz. Streams of the music icon's recordings earned her around $3.7 million annually in the years before her death.
Turner sold more than 100 million records worldwide during her lifetime, according to Billboard. Her 1984 solo album, "Private Dancer," sold 10 million copies and featured her only No. 1 hit, "What's Love Got to Do With It." She had five other top-10 singles, including "I Don't Wanna Fight," "Better Be Good To Me," "We Don't Need Another Hero," "Private Dancer," and "Typical Male." Billboard reported that $2 million of her revenue from streaming services came from outside the US. This shouldn't be surprising as Turner once told Larry King in a 1997 interview that she was a bigger star in Europe than she had ever been in America. In comparison, Billboard reported that $920,000 came from domestic streams, while her catalog also brought in around $700,000 annually from synchs. Turner received no money from her divorce settlement from Ike Turner.
Turner's first marriage ended abruptly in 1976 after she and Ike got into a fight on the way to their hotel one evening. After putting up with years of physical abuse from her spouse, she decided to flee with only 36 cents and a Mobil credit card in her pocket. The couple had four children together, one biological son named Ronnie, as well as Ike's sons from a previous relationship, Ike Jr. and Michael, and her own that she shared with one of Ike's Kings of Rhythm bandmates, Craig. Turner was given custody of all four after the divorce was finalized in 1978. Turner said that she never received any money in the settlement, just two cars and the rights to her stage name. "The divorce, I got nothing. No money, no house. So I said: I'll just take my name," she said in an interview featured in the HBO documentary "Tina." Turner put on cabaret shows and cleaned houses to make ends meet. She said she also used food stamps and appeared on TV shows such as "Hollywood Squares" to make money. Her final tour, which she embarked on in 2008, brought in more than $132 million, while her 2000 tour earned her more than $120 million.
Just before she retired, Turner hit the road for one final farewell with the "Tina!: 50th Anniversary Tour." It kicked off in Kansas City, Missouri, in October 2008 and concluded with its 90th show in Sheffield, England, in May 2009. The North American leg of the tour saw her earn more than $47.7 million, making it one of the highest-grossing domestic tours that year, according to Reuters. The European leg, meanwhile, brought in more than $84.8 million, per Billboard. The "Twenty-Four Seven Tour," which Turner completed in 2000, was also a huge success and raked in more than $120 million. "Tina: The Tina Turner Musical," which the singer oversaw as an executive producer, has made millions since it opened in London's West End in 2018.
The jukebox musical, which dramatizes Turner's humble beginnings in Tennessee and her path to superstar status, has also been performed in New York, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Australia, and North America. While it's not known exactly how much of a cut of the profits the singer received, Turner and Erwin Bach, her husband and manager, were credited as executive producers on the production. Turner herself was also heavily involved from the beginning, attending workshops for the musical as early as 2016. The Broadway productions of the show grossed $72,450,970 across 479 performances from 2019 to 2022, according to Broadway World, Details on how much the international and West End shows made are not available. Turner sold her entire catalog to the music company BMG in 2021 for an estimated $50 million.
Rolling Stone reported that the deal Turner struck with the German music company included her recordings and writings as well as her name and likeness. At the time, Turner was still signed to the label Warner Music. While BMG — which also owns rights to the work of Mick Jagger, David Bowie, and John Lennon, among others — declined to disclose financial details, Forbes reported the following year that the estimated value of the sale was $50 million. Turner said at the time: "Like any artist, the protection of my life's work, my musical inheritance, is something personal. I am confident that with BMG and Warner Music, my work is in professional and reliable hands." Turner and her second husband owned homes in Switzerland and France.
