Legendary icon Tina Turner died yesterday at age 83.

One of the best-known singers of her generation, Tina started performing as a teenager in rural Tennessee and embarked on a long, often painful, journey to global stardom. She was almost forty when she finally broke free from an abusive marriage.

In an interview with German Vogue, she commented, “A lot of people thought that Tina Turner was history. They only knew Ike and Tina Turner and didn’t understand what was going on. So I had to test myself.”

While she found it difficult at first, she achieved even greater success as a solo artist, proving she could hold her own against any man. At age 60, she was the biggest-selling concert artist in the world. Her high energy and uninhibited style earned her the title: Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll.

My favorite quotations from Tina Turner:

“My legacy is that I stayed on course… from the beginning to the end because I believed in something inside of me.”

“I believe that if you’ll just stand up and go, life will open up for you.”

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”

“At every moment, we always have a choice, even if it feels as if we don’t. Sometimes that choice may simply be to think a more positive thought.”

“The older you get, the more you realize it’s not what happens, but how you deal with it.”

“You must love and care for yourself, because that’s when the best comes out.”

“My greatest beauty secret is being happy with myself.”

“Sometimes you’ve got to let everything go—purge yourself. If you are unhappy with anything… whatever is bringing you down, get rid of it. Because you’ll find that when you’re free, your true creativity, your true self comes out.”

“My heartfelt wish is that you and I, and everyone around the world, will continue expanding our hearts and minds while celebrating our differences and ridding ourselves of any form of discrimination. This, I believe, is a basic requirement for peace, both within ourselves and in our societies.”

“This is what I want in heaven… words to become notes and conversations to be symphonies.”

My favorite song: