''I, Tina: My Life Story'' is a 1986 autobiography by

Tina Turner Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939) is an American-born Swiss retired singer and actress. Widely referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", she rose to prominence as the lead singer o ...

, co-written by

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

news correspondent and music critic

Kurt Loder Kurtis Loder (born May 5, 1945) is an American entertainment critic, author, columnist, and television personality. He served in the 1980s as editor at ''Rolling Stone'', during a tenure that ''Reason'' later called "legendary". He has contribute ...

. The book was reissued by Dey Street Books in 2010.

Content

The book details Tina Turner's story from her childhood in

Nutbush, Tennessee Nutbush is a rural unincorporated community in Haywood County, Tennessee, United States, in the West Tennessee, western part of that state, about 50 miles northeast of Memphis, Tennessee, Memphis. It was established in the early 19th century b ...

to her initial rise to fame in

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

under the leadership of

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

musician

Ike Turner Izear Luster "Ike" Turner Jr. (November 5, 1931 – December 12, 2007) was an American musician, bandleader, songwriter, record producer, and talent scout. An early pioneer of 1950s rock and roll, he is best known for his work in the 1960s and 1 ...

which became an abusive marriage, leading up to her resurgence in the 1980s.

Contributors

The book contains passages from many of Turner's family, friends and associates, among those are: *

Joe Bihari The Bihari brothers, Lester, Jules, Saul and Joe, were American businessmen of Hungarian Jewish origins. They were the founders of Modern Records in Los Angeles and its subsidiaries, such as Meteor Records, based in Memphis. The Bihari brothers we ...

Bonnie Bramlett Bonnie Bramlett (born Bonnie Lynn O'Farrell, November 8, 1944) is an American singer and occasional actress known for performing with her husband, Delaney Bramlett, as Delaney & Bonnie. She continues to sing as a solo artist. Life and career ...

Alline Bullock Alline Bullock (December 1, 1936 – September 4, 2010) was an American songwriter and the older sister of singer Tina Turner. Bullock was the one-time manager of the girl group the Ikettes. She wrote songs for Ike & Tina Turner as well as thei ...

* Zelma Bullock (Tina's mother) * Roger Davies *

Venetta Fields Venetta Lee Fields (born 1941) is an American-born singer, musical theater actress and vocal coach. She was a backing vocalist for American and British rock and pop acts of the 1960s and 1970s, including Ike & Tina Turner, Pink Floyd, Humble Pi ...

* Rhonda Graam (Ike & Tina's road manager) *

Bob Gruen Bob Gruen (born October 23, 1945) is an American author and photographer known for his rock 'n' roll photographs. By the mid 1970s Gruen was already regarded as one of the foremost photographers in music working with major artist such as John Len ...

* Raymond Hill * Bob Krasnow *

Clayton Love Clayton D. Love Jr. (November 16, 1927 – February 28, 2010) was an American blues pianist, who led his own band, the Shufflers, in the early 1950s. He was later a vocalist in Ike Turner's band, the Kings of Rhythm. Biography Love was bor ...

Robbie Montgomery Robbie Montgomery (born June 16, 1940) is an American singer and restaurateur. She is noted for being one of the original Ikettes in the Ike & Tina Turner Revue in the 1960s. After her tenure as an Ikette, she was a member of the Mirettes, and t ...

Juggy Murray Juggy Murray (November 24, 1923 – February 8, 2005) was an American record label owner, producer and singer-songwriter. He co-founded Sue Records which launched the career of Ike & Tina Turner. Subsidiary labels under the Sue were Symbol, B ...

* Harry Taylor (Tina's first love) * Craig Turner (Tina's son with Raymond Hill) *

* Ike Turner Jr. (Tina's adopted son) * Ronnie Turner (Tina's son with Ike Turner) * Gene Washington (

Kings of Rhythm The Kings of Rhythm are an American music group formed in the late 1940s in Clarksdale, Mississippi and led by Ike Turner through to his death in 2007. Turner would retain the name of the band throughout his career, although the group has underg ...

drummer / boyfriend of Tina's sister Alline)

Reception

The book became a worldwide best-seller when it was released and led to the film adaptation, ''

What's Love Got to Do with It What's Love Got to Do with It may refer to: *Tina Turner: ** "What's Love Got to Do with It" (song), a 1984 song by Tina Turner ** ''What's Love Got to Do with It'' (1993 film), a biographical film about Tina Turner ** ''What's Love Got to Do with ...

'', in 1993 starring

Angela Bassett Angela Evelyn Bassett (born August 16, 1958) is an American actress. She had her breakthrough with her portrayal of singer Tina Turner in the biopic ''What's Love Got to Do with It'' (1993), which garnered her a nomination for the Academy Award ...

as Turner. In 1999, Ike Turner released his own autobiography, ''

Takin' Back My Name ''Takin' Back My Name: The Confessions of Ike Turner'' is a 1999 autobiography by American musician Ike Turner with British writer Nigel Cawthorne. Overview After Ike Turner's ex-wife Tina Turner revealed that his violent behavior and infidelity ...

'', which in part is a rebuttal of the image presented of him in Tina's book and the film.

References

African-American autobiographies Music autobiographies 1986 non-fiction books Tina Turner Autobiographies adapted into films Books about singers Literature by African-American women {{music-bio-book-stub