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Celebrities and fans have paid tribute to Tina Turner, after the death aged 83 of the American singer behind worldwide hits like ‘The Best’ and ‘What's Love Got to Do With It’.

She was simply ‘The Best’ - a song title, and now description used by so many for the multi award-wining, soul and pop singing legend Tina Turner - who has died at the age of 83. The singer known as the Queen of rock and roll touched the lives of many through her music and the story of her life.

Tina Turner had suffered a number of health issues in recent years including cancer, a stroke and kidney failure. Born Anna Mae Bullock in the state of Tennessee in the US, she became famous in the late 1960s performing as a duo in a turbulent musical partnership with her abusive husband Ike Turner.

A stunning solo career followed. Overall she sold more than 180 million albums worldwide.

Daphne A Brooks, professor at Yale's Department of African American Studies, told Newsday how Tina Turner rose to superstardom and why she was a musical genius who embodied a musical revolution as well as a personal journey of black female empowerment.

"She marks and encapsulates these transitions of modern rock n' roll singing which becomes modern pop singing writ large. This is a woman who understood and absorbed the blues... but she combined it with the euphoric aggressiveness of early rock n' roll."

(Pic: Pop star Tina Turner performs during rainfall in Vienna, Austria in 1993; Credit: Reuters)

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