Although she announced her retirement from touring in 1999, Tina Turner remains one of the most influential pop singers, renowned for her raucous vocal style.

Born Nov. 26, in Brownsville, Tennessee, USA, Annie Mae Bullock spent most of her time in St. Louis. During her early teenage years, she began singing in local nightclubs when she was discovered in 1956 by guitarist Ike Turner. She joined his group Kings Of Rhythm as a backing singer, and then became the co-star with Ike. Two years later she married Ike and given the stage name Tina Turner. The couple then moved to Los Angeles and formed a group called the Ike and Tina Turner Revue. Their debut song 'A Fool In Love' became a smash in US, reaching No.2 on the R&B chart. In 1969, the duo had a moderate hit 'River Deep, Mountain High', produced by Phil Spector. After touring with the Rolling Stones in U.S., they produced their million-selling 1971 single 'Proud Mary', a cover of the CCR tune, with which the duo peaked in popularity. Her trademark enthusiastic vocal style, with hip gyrations, was so sexually stimulating.

As the duo enjoyed greater commercial success, the relationship between husband and wife grew worse. Ike's behavior became erratic and out of control, frequently subjecting Tina to physical and mental abuse. After years of difficult times, she gained the courage to break free. After the release of the duo's final single 'Baby Get It On', the couple separated in 1975 and later divorced in 1978.

The future of Tina Turner as solo artist was uncertain. Her solo debut single 'Whole Lotta Love' (a cover of Led Zeppelin's famous tune) and 1978's debut album 'Rough' showed strong promise but skimpy sales. Except her cameo as the Acid Queen in Ken Russell's film adaptation of the Who's Tommy, her career hit bottom in late '70s. During this time she met her new manager Roger Davies, who helped her to be what she wanted to be - rock'n roller.

It was not until 1983 that Tina was back to the front when she appeared on the album of UK's pop act Heaven 17's side project called BEF. She sang the Temptations' 'Ball Of Confusion', leading to a contract with Capitol Records. The stage was set for her big comeback with the album 'Private Dancer'. The album spawned a U.S. No.1 hit 'What's Love Got To Do With It' and brought her back into international spotlight. Selling over ten million copies worldwide, 'Private Dancer' earned the singer four Grammy Awards.

Tina Turner enjoyed huge commercial success over the next decade with albums like 'Break Every Rule' ('86), 'Foreign Affair' ('89), 'Simply The Best' ('91) and 'Wildest Dreams' ('96). She also launched an acting career with the role in movie 'Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome' ('85), for which she sang theme song 'We Don't Need Another Hero'. Her autobiography 'I, Tina' was adapted into the film 'What's Love Got To Do With It' in 1993, in which Angela Bassett plays Tina.

She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991. In 1999, she duet 'Proud Mary' with Elton John and Cher on VH1's famed 'Divas Live' and proved she hadn't tamed powerful vocal. After releasing her latest album 'Twenty Four Seven' (2000), she announced she was retiring from live performance because she "can't keep up with Janet Jackson. I'm not a diva like Diana Ross".

Tina Turner was recently asked by her longtime friend Phil Collins to make one-off comeback and recorded a new song on the Collins-produced soundtrack to Disney's latest film 'Brother Bear'.