A 10-foot statue of Tina Turner has been unveiled in the rural Tennessee community where she grew up before becoming a Grammy-winning singer, an electrifying stage performer, and one of the world’s most recognizable entertainers.
The statue was revealed during a ceremony at a park in Brownsville, located about an hour’s drive east of Memphis. The city, home to about 9,000 people, is near Nutbush, the community where Turner went to school as a child. As a teenager, she attended high school just steps from where the statue now stands.
The statue depicts Turner with her signature wild hairdo and holding a microphone, as if she were singing on stage. It was designed by sculptor Fred Ajanogha, who said he tried to capture her flexibility of movement, the way she held the microphone with her index finger extended, and her hairstyle, which he compared to the mane of a lion.
Tina Turner passed away on May 24, 2023, at the age of 83, after a long illness at her home in Kusnacht near Zurich. Her Grammy-winning career included hit songs such as “Nutbush City Limits,” “Proud Mary,” “Private Dancer,” and “We Don’t Need Another Hero” from the film *Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome*. Turner also appeared in movies including *Tommy* and *Last Action Hero*.
In the 1960s and 70s, Turner teamed with her husband Ike Turner for hit records and live shows. She survived a troubled marriage to achieve solo success in middle age with the chart-topping song “What’s Love Got To Do With It,” released in 1984.
The statue unveiling was part of the 10th annual Tina Turner Heritage Day, a celebration of her life growing up in rural Tennessee before she moved away as a teenager. Sculpted in clay and cast in bronze, the statue took about a year to complete.
Karen Cook, who traveled from Georgia to attend the event with her friend—a cousin of Turner’s—said, “She’s a great artist, I love her music. My mom listened to her a lot. It’s a big deal and a great thing for the community to have Tina Turner in her small town.”
About 50 donors contributed funds for the statue, including Ford Motor Company, which donated $150,000. Ford is building an electric truck factory in nearby Stanton.
The statue stands near a museum honoring Turner at the West Tennessee Delta Heritage Center in Brownsville. The museum opened in 2014 inside the renovated Flagg Grove School, a one-room building where Turner attended classes in Nutbush. The school closed in the 1960s and was once used as a barn before the dilapidated building was moved by truck from Nutbush to Brownsville.
https://www.breakingnews.ie/world/statue-of-tina-turner-unveiled-in-tennessee-community-where-she-grew-up-1811966.html
