"I began the last tour because so many fans were asking me to, so it was a kind of thank-you," she told Audi magazine earlier this year. "Today, I only appear in front of small audiences because I no longer want to take on the responsibility of a big tour with a large group of people. I’m enjoying my retirement, my home and no longer having to fly from city to city."

Of African-American, Navajo and Cherokee ancestry, she was born Anna Mae Bullock in Nutbush, Tenn., a town of about 300 where another great musician was born, bluesman Sleepy John Estes. Estes had long left by the time Anna Mae came along in 1939.

Her childhood did not have music but it did have parental fighting, until her Mom moved to St. Louis when Turner was 10. When her father left she lived with her grandmother until her grandmother died ; at 16 she joined older sister Ruby Alline and her mother in St. Louis.

It was there she met Ike Turner and she soon joined him as a singer and the two were married. While they rose to fame - River Deep, Mountain High and an awesome Proud Mary version - after their divorce in 1978 the extent of the spousal abuse she suffered was revealed. In 1993, a successful film, What's Love Got to Do With It starring Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne was made of her biography, I, Tina. Ike Turner died in 2007, a cocaine overdose cited as cause of death.

She came back from it all and became an even bigger star, famous for her voice, energy and legs, with albums like Private Dancer (1984) and songs like the title song from that album and What's Love Got to Do With It, Better Be Good to Me and We Don't Need Another Hero. She has also done some acting.

In 2005 she was given, along with Robert Redford and Tony Bennett, a Kennedy Center Honor for her lifetime achievement in the performing arts.

Tina Turner Today

Her sister died in September and she flew back to America to pay her last respects but more often she is at home on Lake Zurich or in France or England. At 71 she remains as world-class performer but one with no more mountains to climb or rivers to cross.

"The split with Ike showed me that I was controlled by the male ego," she told Audi. "To escape it, I had to find myself again. As a female solo artist, I learned that first you get the women on your side if you’re going to win back the public. This realization made me strong.

"I had to earn my living, meet my obligations and make my dream come true."