September 28, 2025
The statue’s unveiling was a part of town’s Tina Turner Heritage Days, which celebrates the early lifetime of the singer.
Tina Turner has quietly been honored in her hometown of Brownsville, Tennessee, for the previous decade however on Sept. 27, the Rock ‘n’ Roll legend acquired one other honor, this one forged in bronze.
Based on Billboard, Turner’s statue sits close to her outdated highschool, Carver Excessive Faculty, in shut proximity to the group of Nutbush, the place she grew up, in Heritage Park, positioned throughout the road from the highschool.
Turner’s sculpture was designed by the Atlanta-based, world-famous artist Fred Ajanogha, who aimed to seize her signature wild hair and versatile motion via the statue’s posing.
Earlier than Turner died on Could 24, 2023, she immortalized Nutbush via her hit music “Nutbush Metropolis Limits,” and left her imprint on the American music scene via different hit songs corresponding to “Proud Mary,” “Non-public Dancer,” and arguably her most well-known music that turned the title of an Angela Bassett-led movie, “What’s Love Bought To Do With It,” that recounted her tumultuous and abusive marriage to Ike Turner.
Turner’s lengthy profession earned her a protracted listing of admirers, from Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger to ’90’s R&B icon Mariah Carey to Beyoncé and the affectionately bestowed title of the Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll, a royal title she additionally shared with Little Richard, who was alternatively often known as the Actual King of Rock ‘n’ Roll.
The statue’s unveiling was a part of town’s Tina Turner Heritage Days, which celebrates the early lifetime of the singer, earlier than she left town as a youngster to pursue her desires as a recording artist.
Karen Prepare dinner, mates with one among Turner’s cousins, traveled from Georgia to attend the occasion, which she mentioned reminded her of listening to Turner along with her mom.
“She’s an ideal artist, I really like her music,” Prepare dinner instructed the outlet. “My mother listened to her loads. It’s an enormous deal and an ideal factor for the group to have Tina Turner in her small city.”
Based on Marianne Dunavant, group relations supervisor with the Ford Motor Firm, their $150,000 contribution in direction of the statue’s building is a part of their dedication to listening to the voices of the area people.
“We need to protect historical past for our youth, proper, so after we’re now not right here these statues will nonetheless inform that story and keep in mind that Tina Turner got here from this group and we would like our younger folks to know that they’ll do something they need and thrive too,” she instructed WBBJ 7 Eyewitness Information.
At present, a jukebox musical, “Tina: The Tina Turner Musical,” is touring throughout the nation, after taking a short hiatus to recast. The play is directed by Phyllida Lloyd and was written by Pulitzer Prize-winner Katori Corridor together with Frank Ketelaar and Kees Prins.
The unique Broadway run of the manufacturing, which starred Adrienne Warren within the titular position opened in 2019, and Turner was variety sufficient to provide the budding starlet some recommendation, even when she was cautious of yet one more depiction of her life for an viewers.
In an op-ed for Rolling Stone, Turner was, effectively, Tina Turner, as she defined the way it all got here to be.
“My life has been fairly a narrative. The story of a bit woman who grew up with massive ambitions; the story of a naive younger girl who entered right into a troubled marriage with nothing however her voice and her desires and who escaped — simply barely — with nothing however her voice and her desires; the story of a middle-aged singer with sturdy winds in opposition to her who discovered success and real love with the person she by no means thought she’d meet. I considered that, and of all of the individuals who inform me that my story provides them hope and is my legacy, and I mentioned, “Sure.” Then, I sat again to observe director Phyllida Lloyd and author Katori Corridor do what they do finest.”
Turner continued, providing excessive reward to Warren. “She took all of it in, labored tougher than arduous, and stepped into the footwear. She reworked herself into the particular person she wanted to be. With each observe and each transfer of her hips, Adrienne is pure Tina. She has my admiration and my blessing. The truth is, I wish to say that I need to thank her mother and father as a result of now that she’s onstage, I can actually retire.”
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