BROWNSVILLE, Tenn. (WREG) — The world is mourning the loss of Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll Tina Turner, but her impact especially hits close to home in West Tennessee.
It’s a loss already felt around the world from well-known music producers like Boo Mitchell to everyday folks.
“So she was pretty and gritty at the same time and I think she was the first artist to really bring that type of talent to the table,” said Mitchell.
“It’s just a tremendous loss. She really was such a fantastic person and singer. I just loved to watch her dance,” said fan Mary Finello.
Tina Turner is a worldwide icon, but it all started in the small town of Brownsville, Tennessee, which is why the news of her death hits especially close to home.
“She was a hometown girl that we were really proud of so it hits home,” said Sonia Outlaw-Clark, executive director of the Tina Turner Museum in Brownsville, which is operated inside the school Turner attended.
Outlaw-Clark said last year alone, people visited from 50 different countries.
“People come from all over the world just to walk in Tina’s schoolhouse, to go out to Nutbush and walk on the grounds that she walked as a child,” she said.
This includes some people who arrived Wednesday to pay tribute to the Queen of Rock and Roll.
“We were traveling down I-40 listening to the radio and of course, everybody is talking about her death and what a tragic loss. And we’re just coming down and all of a sudden there was this billboard that said ‘Tina Turner Museum’ like ten miles down the road and I was like, ‘Well we have to stop,'” said Finello.
As the world pauses to say goodbye to Tina Turner, they welcome her legacy that will live on forever, especially right here where she called home.
“That means a lot to this area, knowing a hometown girl, a West Tennessee girl was able to go on and accomplish the things that she has,” said Outlaw-Clark.
Tina Turner was inducted into the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame in 2021, and the Memphis Music Hall of Fame in 2019.
Turner died in Switzerland, where she’s lived for the last decade. There is no word yet on any funeral arrangements.
