A statue honoring rock ‘n’ roll legend Tina Turner has been erected in her hometown community.
On Saturday (September 27), a 10-foot bronze statue of Turner was unveiled in a park in Brownsville, Tennessee, just steps from the high school she attended, per ABC News. Brownsville, with a population of roughly 9,000, lies near Nutbush, a small community Turner made famous with her song “Nutbush City Limits.”
Sculptor Fred Ajanogha said he aimed to capture Turner’s signature energy, including her wild hair, expressive stage stance, and the way she gripped the microphone with her index finger extended.
“Her hair was like the mane of a lion,” Ajanogha said.
Turner, known as the “Queen of Rock ’n’ Roll,” died on May 24, 2023, at age 83 in Switzerland after a long illness. Saturday’s unveiling was part of Tina Turner Heritage Days, an annual celebration of the singer’s early life in rural West Tennessee. The statue is located near the Tina Turner Museum at the West Tennessee Delta Heritage Center. The museum opened in 2014 inside the restored Flagg Grove School, a one-room schoolhouse Turner once attended.
“She’s a great artist, I love her music,” Karen Cook, who traveled from Georgia to attend the statue unveiling, said. “It’s a big deal and a great thing for the community to have Tina Turner in her small town.”
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