The rest of the story

When singer Tina Turner was at her lowest, she was hiding out from her abusive ex-husband Ike Turner and had little to no money coming in to survive. When Turner’s died last week, I knew much of her story. I knew how she had clawed her way out of a horrible situation and back to the pinnacle of success. 

But I was surprised by what I didn’t know. 

She grew up in a poor family. When Tina Turner was 18, she worked as a nurse’s aid and would frequently head out to clubs in St. Louis to see new music acts. She always planned to become a nurse or work in the medical field, but she became enamored with Ike, who was the bandleader of Kings of Rhythm. One night, Ike passed Turner the microphone while she was in the audience. Of course she nailed the song, and lo and behold a star was born.

Ike then invited Tina to be the group’s guest vocalist and from there a new career was born. In 1960, Ike and Tina Turner released their debut single, “A Fool in Love.” It was an immediate success, reaching the Top 30 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Image by Nadine Wuchenauer via Pexels.

Likewise, when Jim Brown died on May 18 he was praised as one of the greatest running backs in the history of the American football. He was the NFL’s most valuable player here times and at his retirement held records for most rushing yards in a season and career. I knew that Brown was an actor and activist and earned a spot in both the pro and college football halls of fame, but I didn’t know about his success on the lacrosse field. Brown had excelled at lacrosse in college and loved playing it, but football offered a more lucrative option from a career perspective. 

I mention Turner and Brown because while both reached a certain level of fame and we think we know everything about them, we often don’t know the full story. I write today in my blog, Life lessons from an unlikely place, on The Heart of the Matter on my crazy habit of reading obituaries for both the famous and not-so-famous and how I read obituaries for what old-time radio announcer Paul Harvey used to call “the rest of the story.” 

I’m not especially dark or morbid, I just love the stories that you learn from them. I love the life lessons too. 

Let me know what you think of my post.

Related Story:

Life lessons from an unlikely place

On The Heart of the Matter.