HISTORIC BLACK VEGAS: Tina bit of Las Vegas history

BY CLAYTEE D. WHITE

My birthday is in November, so I decided to write about something upbeat. As I mentally scrolled through notable events in the penultimate month on our calendar, I remembered that Tina Turner was born on a November day in Nutbush, Tenn. 

I won’t tell the many-times-told story of early life, finding her voice in a turbulent marriage, and surviving horrible abuse before a bitter divorce. I’ll focus instead on the Las Vegas connection that pointed her toward a triumphant rebirth. 

In 1977, shortly after beginning a solo career, Turner emerged to headline a series of cabaret shows at Caesars Palace with new costumes created by Bob Mackie. While there she jumped rope with Ken Norton, who was in town training for a fight with Jimmy Young. Shortly afterward, she released her third solo album, “Rough.” She was surviving in a man’s world, singing: 

He’s always right, I’m always wrong / Because he’s weak I must be strong /The more I give, the more he takes / I live inside the world he makes 

She also sang “The Woman I’m Supposed to Be” 

Won’t you give me just one day / Without a worry / I could use that extra hours / I’m in a hurry 

And after a bit of a struggle, she got it right in her soul and ended the set of songs with a Willie Nelson number, “Funny How time slips away” 

… Well, hello there / My, it’s been a long, long time / How am I doing? /Oh, I guess that I’m doing fine 

… It’s been so long now / And it seems now that it was only yesterday / Gee, ain’t it funny how time slips away? 

… How’s your new love? / I hope that she’s doing fine? /I heard you told her / That you’d love her ‘til the end of time 

… Now that’s the same thing that you told me/ It seems like just the other day /Gee, ain’t it funny how time slips away? 

… I gotta go now /I guess I’ll see you around/I don’t know when though/ Never know when I’ll be back in town 

… But remember, what I tell you/That in time you’re gonna pay/And it’s surprising, how time slips away. 

But Tina did not have time for regrets or revenge. Her career began to soar and she dove deeper into Buddhism, steeping herself in a state of enlightenment, perfect peace, and happiness. And she always kept a foot in the Baptist church, referring to herself as a Buddhist-Baptist. The combination allowed her to reach the highest place within herself, where “communication with It allows you to receive information on what to do.” Daphne Brooks at the Guardian explained it as: “I believe that we all have that magic place within that comes alive when we commune with that Presence.” 

Turner once held a Guinness World Record for the largest paying audience (180,000 in 1988) for a solo performer. In the UK, Turner was the first artist to have a top 40 hit in seven consecutive decades; she has a total of 35 UK top 40 hits. She sold over 100 million records worldwide. Turner won a total of 12 Grammy, including eight competitive ones; she shares the record (with Pat Benatar and Sheryl Crow) for most awards (four) for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. Three of her recordings, “River Deep – Mountain High, “Proud Mary,” and “What’s Love Got to Do with It” are in the Grammy Hall of Fame. 

At birth in Nutbush, Tennessee, on Nov. 26, 1939, Tina was named Anna Mae Bullock, Over her younger life, she worked in fields and as a domestic. When she passed away in Switzerland at the age of 83, she had lived a life that included living at Chateau Algonquin on the shore of Lake Zurich, had once owned property in Cologne, London, Los Angeles, and a villa on the French Riviera. 

Her very long Wikipedia entry shows that Turner became one of the best-selling recording artists of all time. She was the first Black artist and first woman to be on the cover of Rolling Stone, which ranked her among the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time and 100 Greatest Singers of All Time. Turner has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and on the St. Louis Walk of Fame. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice: with Ike Turner in 1991, and as a solo artist in 2021. She was also a 2005 recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors and the Women of the Year awards. 

Not bad for a woman who started her solo comeback in several places — including Las Vegas, the place of second chances. I think Tina is one of those who abided by the words of Hunter S. Thompson: “Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming, ‘Wow! What a ride!’” 

I know too little about Tina Turner’s Las Vegas history. Please share your stories with me.