The Brief
The rural community where Tina Turner grew up honored her legacy with a 10-foot statue just steps from where she went to high school.
The statue shows Turner with her signature wild hairdo and holding a microphone, as if she was singing on stage.
Turner died May 24, 2023 at age 83 after a long illness in her home in Küsnacht near Zurich.
Rock n’ roll legend Tina Turner’s legacy lives on: A 10-foot statue of Turner has been unveiled in the rural Tennessee community where she grew up.
The statue was revealed during a ceremony at a park in Brownsville Saturday, more than two years after the death of the Grammy-winning singer and one of the world’s most popular entertainers.
New Tina Turner statue
Local perspective
The statue shows Turner with her signature wild hairdo and holding a microphone, as if she was singing on stage. As a teen, she attended high school just steps from where the statue now stands. The statue stands near a museum honoring Turner at the West Tennessee Delta Heritage Center in Brownsville.
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About 50 donors gave money for the statue, including Ford Motor Co., which donated $150,000. Ford is building an electric truck factory in nearby Stanton.
What they’re saying
Sculptor Fred Ajanogha, the statue’s designer, said he tried to capture her flexibility of movement on stage, how she held the microphone with her index finger extended, and her hair style, which he compared to the “mane of a lion.”
Tina Turner statue (Brownsville Haywood County Chamber of Commerce via Storyful)
The statue was sculpted in clay by Ajanogha in Atlanta and cast in bronze by a West Tennessee foundry, and it took about a year to complete. It is 7 feet and 9 inches tall with a base of 2 feet, making it stand about 10 feet high.
Tina Turner’s life
The backstory
Turner’s Grammy-winning singing career included the hit songs “Nutbush City Limits,” “Proud Mary,” “Private Dancer,” and “We Don’t Need Another Hero,” from the film “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.” Her movie credits also include “Tommy” and “Last Action Hero.”
Turner teamed with husband Ike Turner for hit records and live shows in the 1960s and ’70s. She survived her troubled marriage to succeed in middle age with the chart-topping “What’s Love Got To Do With It,” released in 1984.
Her admirers ranged from Mick Jagger to Beyoncé to Mariah Carey, and she was known as the “Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll.”
Turner died May 24, 2023 at age 83 after a long illness in her home in Küsnacht near Zurich.
The Source
This report includes information from Storyful and The Associated Press.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com ’
