Anna Mae Bullock AKA Tina Turner

Tennessee, to work at a defense facility during World War II. Bullock went to stay with her strict, religious paternal grandparents, Alex and Roxanna Bullock, who were deacon and deaconess at the Woodlawn Missionary Baptist Church. After the war, the sisters reunited with their parents and moved with them to Knoxville. Two years later, the family returned to Nutbush to live in the Flagg Grove community, where Bullock attended Flagg Grove Elementary School from first through eighth grade.

As a young girl, Bullock sang in the church choir at Nutbush’s Spring Hill Baptist Church. When she was 11, her mother Zelma ran off without warning, seeking freedom from her abusive relation ship with Floyd by relocating to St. Louis in 1950. Two years after her mother left the family, her father married another woman and moved to Detroit. Bullock and her sisters were sent to live with their maternal grandmother, Georgeanna Currie, in Brownsville, Tennessee. She stated in her autobiography I, Tina that she felt her parents did not love her and that she was not wanted. Zelma had planned to leave Floyd but stayed once she became pregnant. Turner recalled: “She was a very young woman who didn’t want another kid.”

As a teenager, Bullock worked as a domestic worker for the Henderson family. She was at the Hender son house when she was notified that her half-sister Evelyn had died in a car crash alongside her cousins Margaret and Vela Evans. A self-professed tomboy, Bullock joined both the cheerleading squad and the female basketball team at Carver High School in Brownsville, and “socialized every chance she got”. When Bullock was 16, her grandmother died, so she went to live with her mother in St. Louis. She graduated from Sumner High School in 1958. After high school, Bullock worked as a nurse’s aide at Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

Tina Turner began her career with Ike Turner’s band Kings of Rhythm in 1957. Under the name Little Ann, she appeared on her first record, “Boxtop”, in 1958. In 1960, she debuted as Tina Turner with the hit duet single “A Fool in Love”.

The duo Ike & Tina Turner became “one of the most formidable live acts in history.” They released hits such as “It’s Gonna Work Out Fine”, “River Deep – Mountain High”, “Proud Mary”, and “Nutbush City Limits”, before disbanding in 1976.

In the 1980s, Turner launched “one of the greatest comebacks in music history.”

Her 1984 multi-platinum album Private Dancer contained the hit song “What’s Love Got to Do with It”, which won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year and became her first and only number-one song on the Billboard Hot 100. Aged 44, she was the oldest female solo artist to top the Hot 100. Her chart success continued with “Better Be Good to Me”, “Private Dancer”, “We Don’t Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)”, “Typical Male”, “The Best”, “I Don’t Wanna Fight”, and “GoldenEye”. During her Break Every Rule

World Tour in 1988, she set a then-Guinness World Record for the largest paying audience (180,000) for a solo performer.

As of May 2023, Turner had reportedly sold around 100 to 150 million records worldwide, becoming one of the best-selling recording artists of all time. She received 12 Grammy Awards, which include eight competitive awards, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and three Grammy Hall of Fame inductions. She was the first black artist and first woman to be on the cover of Rolling Stone. Rolling Stone ranked her among the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time and the 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 Women of the Year award.

The music industry has lost one of its best and the world has lost a great legend. Tina Turner’s music will live in our hearts forever. However, it is her courage, drive, and determination, to triumph against all odds that prompted us to make this tribute to the late Anna Mae Bullock. May your beautiful soul rest in peace.

November 26, 1939 – May 24, 2023

WE HAVE A DRESS FOR EVERY OCATION

At Mackeline International Fashion Magazine, we believe that reading is important and we encourage you to check out our monthly Series. We promise to keep you engaged by keeping you in insuspense till the end. Oh but don’t worry, fashion continues to be our focus. Just keep on reading. Enjoy!

Does The Outfit Make The Person?

Episode One A

s he dragged the straws of the broom across the sparkling marbled foor, Jabari felt the vibrations of his cell phone which had been placed in the back pocket of his navy-blue janitorial uniform. He quickly switched the broom handle to one hand as he used the other to pull out his phone. At first glance he knew right away that it was an urgent message from one of the hotel guests. The message had come from his manager. “A guest wants room service” the message read. The Golden Palace Hotel had a model that says, “never keep the guest waiting for more than five minutes if possible.” Jabari knew that he had to act quickly.

He closed his phone and swiftly gathered the debris from the broken glass that had shattered across the lobby floor. With the pieces of glass securely wrapped in a special trash bag, he returned the broom and disposes the trash bag. The secondmessage from his manager read, “customer from room 581 orders one red rose, 2 Casava, Sweet potatoes, with yams, fried eggs, and red gravy breakfast tray. The order also included 2 glasses of freshly squeezed orange juice, and a box of condoms. Jabari was not familiar with the word “condom.”

He wanted to make sure the order was completed correctly. He called his manager to clarify the order and asked where he could find the thing called “condoms.” His manager was surprised by the naivety of the nineteen-yearold, six-foot two inch tall, strikingly handsome, dark chocolaty brown skin, university students’ ignorance. She burst into laughter when she heard his question. Feeling embarrassed, and confused, Jabari asked if he had said something wrong. Imani, the hotel manager remembered that Jabari had come from a nearby village and had been sheltered from city life his entire life. Knowing this she tried to control her laughter and apologize to the young man.

“The condoms are kept in the hotel gift shop on the first floor. Just ask the clerk and he will get them for you,” she said. Jabari was already in the hotel lobby and had gone there to clean up after a customer accidentally dropped a glass of water. In the gift shop, the clerk showed him where the condoms were kept and begged it after charging it to room 581.

The elevator stopped on the second floor, where the guest meals were prepared. As the elevato’s doors opened, a soft aroma of herbs and spices coming from the guest kitchen penetrated his nostrils which delighted his tast buds. The kitchen staff had the food waiting in a silver chafing dish placed on a pushcart with a single red rose and beverage. Jabari gently knocked on the door of room 581. His jaw dropped as the door opened quickly. He had recognized the young woman standing on the other side of the door waring one of the hotel’s terrycloth monogramed bathrobes. Her name was Dalilah, she stood five feet tall, and bear footed.

Does The Outfit Make The Person?

“What, what are you doing in this room?” He whispered.

“What are you doing here,” she shouted nervously in reply. “Anyway, I’m glad you found out. I’m tired of pretending to be your girlfriend, you are a poor village trash.” She rolled her eyes and looked away.

“Found out what? Dalilah, why are you saying these things? What’s going on here?”

Just then, a young fellow walked out of the bathroom and headed to the door. He had heard their exchange and wanted to know what was happening. The young man’s name was Cali, he also wore a bathrobe and bedroom slippers.

“Jabari,” said Cali, with a slight grin as he moved closer to the young woman and put his harms around her waist. “I knew you were nothing but a poor working class village boy,” he repeated.

Jabari knew the young man. He was a fellow student. The three of them attended the university.

“What are you doing in this room with my girl?” Jabari shouty Noticeably angry.

“Your girl? Did you really think someone like her would be with you once she found out how poor you are?”

Jabari rushed toward Cali, but Dalilah raised her hand and shouted at Jabari to stop.

“I am no longer your girlfriend. I pretended to like you because you were nice to me, but you are too poor for me. It’s embarrassing walking around campus with someone like you. You wear old clothes; you don’t even have a car. Most of the students here are from rich families. You are a nobody. Someone told me that your parents are farmer, and your mother is a market woman. They can’t afford to pay your school fees that’s why you work here.”

Her words penetrated his soul, while he fought back the river of tears that had welled up in his eyes. His anger slowly turned to sadness as he turned away to leave the room, Cali threw money at him.

“Don’t forget your tip, use it to buy yourself some new clothes.” Cali slammed the hotel room door behind Jabari.

At age nineteen Jabari found himself in a strange land with no money and only three friends. His three friends were also his roommates at one of the most prestigious universities in the Kingdom of Nahoura. Nahoura was the capital of Zim a minute country located on the east coast of Africa. Jabari was born in the village of Ticom. He was an heir to the throne of Eze. His family was one of the wealthy families in Africa.

From a very young age his family knew that Jabari would one day rule their kingdom. But, every king had to prove that they were worthy of holding such a prestigious title. Every King had to live outside that kingdom for seven years without any support from the family.

To be continued: