**Slug:** tina-turner-stage-name-divorce-ike-private-dancer-comeback-career
**Meta description:** She left Ike Turner in 1976 with 36 cents and a stage name she’d fought to keep. Eight years later, she had four Grammys and the biggest solo career of her life.
**Category:** Celebrity / Reinvention
**Thumbnail hook:** She left the marriage with a name she didn’t choose. Then she made it mean something nobody had expected — not even her.
**Internal tracking:** BM-CANDIDATE-065
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**SOURCE AND EDITORIAL NOTES**
**Primary sources accessed:**
1. Wikipedia — “Tina Turner” (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tina_Turner, accessed October 2026). Source for: birth November 26 1939 Brownsville/Nutbush Tennessee, parents and childhood, St. Louis move 1956, “Little Ann” 1958 debut, “A Fool in Love” 1960 (number 2 R&B, number 27 Hot 100), Sheena Queen of the Jungle name origin, marriage Tijuana 1962, “It’s Gonna Work Out Fine” Grammy nomination, “Proud Mary” 1971 Grammy, departure July 1 1976, divorce filed July 27 1976, finalized March 29 1978, settlement details (Jaguars, furs, jewelry, name, songwriter royalties; Ike kept studio/publishing/real estate), food stamps, “Let’s Stay Together” November 1983 chart positions, Private Dancer May 1984 (Billboard 200 number 3, 5x platinum US, 12M+ worldwide), “What’s Love” number 1 September 1 1984 three weeks, 27th Grammy Awards four wins, Break Every Rule tour record 1980s, Maracanã January 16 1988 180,000 Guinness record, Foreign Affair 1989 number 1 eight countries, Rock Hall 1991 (with Ike) and 2021 (solo), Kennedy Center Honors 2005, Grammy Lifetime Achievement 2018, Hollywood Walk of Fame 1986, Twenty Four Seven Tour 2000 $120M, retirement 2009, BMG catalog sale estimated $50M October 2021, Bach kidney donation 2017, marriage July 2013 Küsnacht, Swiss citizenship 2013, death May 24 2023 aged 83 Küsnacht.