i think we all know, those of us who loved mtv back in the day, some artists really just segued right into video. it was as though the medium was waiting for them. tina turner absolutely the case. you re right, she was perfect for what was happening on mtv at that time. who was more visual? who was more electrifying? who clearly we knew the history by this time. we knew what she had been through. we knew that mick jagger was studying her. we saw her in give me shelter. that moment for her, and she s said it, that moment was the pinnacle of her career. good morning, it s willie geist. great to have you on the show this morning. something that rev was just talking about earlier, i think, has to be said again. we heard it in lester s piece there, which is how she walked away from ike turner in a way that in a very public way, talked about the abuse she suffered, and said to a lot of women, you can get out of that
raised by sharecroppers. she was discovered we ike turner, who gave her the stage name. they performed together as the ike and tina turner review. in their 16 years of marriage, ike s abuse was brutal and unrelenting. there was no control, no freedom. you just get fed up and you say, life is not worth living if i m going to stay in this situation. reporter: tina fled in 1976. she said she had just 36 cents and a mobile card to her name. a scene recreated in the 1993 biopic, what s love got to do with it? tina turner. my husband and i just had a fight. reporter: it was after she broke free from ike she truly became a superstar. i got to be known as a grae performer. i never tried to change my style
the time that she did, think about what was going on in music. as you pointed out, joe. for some woman who was in her mid 40s, to actually make it on mtv, stunning. yeah, and it s hard, again, for some people to remember just what mtv meant to music and breaking artists in 82, 83, 84. obviously, a visual medium. a lot of young bands from all over the world, 18, 19, 20, 21-year-olds. again, here comes a woman in her 40s, a has been supposedly, whose last massive hit was in 1970. talk about, though, how tina turner helped mtv and also how that powerful engine of mtv, it catapulted her back into fame. because she fit, she fit the medium so well.
abusive relationship and go on to thrive, as you just documented. that part of her story, that feminist side of the story, was such an important part of who she was, as well, wasn t it? it s true. massively important. i think that we know that she really sort of was a sign post for so many women who were in that kind of relationship. yes, you can get out. you can survive. you can thrive. all of that, she pointed the way. but she s said, the reason she didn t show up in the 1991 induction, when she was inducted into the rock hall with ike, she wanted to separate herself from that. she wanted to be tina turner, the star, the queen of rock n roll that she was. she wanted to separate herself from that without leaving those victims behind. yeah, but that story, i mean, it gives me chills, john heilemann. she left an abusive relationship