Cuban president mourns death of Tina Turner

Havana, May 25 (RHC) Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel mourned the death at the age of 83 of the American singer Tina Turner, known as the queen of rock and roll.

The so-called rock grandmother died the day before after a long illness at her home in Kusnacht, near Zurich, Switzerland.

Turner had a career spanning more than five decades. Withdrawn from public life since 2013, the interpreter suffered from intestinal cancer, diagnosed in 2016, and a kidney transplant in 2017. She became one of the greatest artists of all time, known for hits like What's Love Got to Do with It and The Best.

Her career has been celebrated around the world and she received numerous awards and recognitions during her career as a performer, dancer, choreographer and composer. She managed to place a dozen songs in the Top 40, including Typical Male, The Best, Private Dancer and Better Be Good to Me. Her 1988 show in Rio de Janeiro drew 180,000 people, still one of the largest concert audiences for a single artist.

The singer was born in 1939 in Brownsville, Tennessee, United States, as Anna Mae Bullock. Her childhood was full of difficulties marked by poverty and the abandonment of her parents, and it was there when her voice began to emerge.

She began her career in the 1950s when she joined Ike Turner's band as a backup singer. But it wasn't long before her talent and charisma brought her to the front of the stage.

Along with her performances, she lived a marriage full of troubles, gender violence, addictions and suicide attempts. After a legal battle for divorce, she decided to relaunch her career.

Her career as a rock icon was already established when she released what for many is her best song: The Best. Her own life was also made into a film in 1993's What's Love Got to Do with It.

She has sold more than 150 million records worldwide, won 12 Grammy Awards, and was inducted with Ike into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991 -and alone in 2021. (Source: Prensa Latina)