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49 free Tina Turner trivia questions with answers — music quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Tina Turner trivia quiz covers the whole story of the Queen of Rock 'n' Roll: the girl named Anna Mae Bullock who picked cotton in Nutbush, Tennessee, grabbed a microphone at an Ike Turner show in St. Louis, and became the voice of River Deep – Mountain High, Proud Mary and Nutbush City Limits. It follows her escape from Ike in Dallas with 36 cents in her pocket, the years of cabaret and food stamps, and the 1984 comeback that made Private Dancer a ten-million seller and gave her the only US number one of her career. There are questions on the films (Tommy, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, GoldenEye), the record-breaking tours, the 180,000-strong crowd in Rio, her Grammys and two Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductions, her Buddhism, her Swiss citizenship, and the musical and documentary that told her story. Easy questions cover the hits everyone knows; the hard ones go into label deals, chart positions and the people around her. Every answer has been checked against Wikipedia's biography of Tina Turner and the sources it cites, and each question quotes the sentence that supports it.
30 of 49 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What was Tina Turner's birth name?
Anna Mae Bullock
She was born Anna Mae Bullock, daughter of Floyd Richard Bullock and Zelma Bullock; family and friends went on calling her Ann for the rest of her life.
Q 02In which state was she born?
Tennessee
She was born in Brownsville, Tennessee, the seat of Haywood County, and grew up in a small farming community nearby in the same county.
Q 03What crop did she recall picking with her family as a young child?
Cotton
She picked cotton as a child on Poindexter Farm, where her father Floyd Richard Bullock worked as an overseer of sharecroppers.
Q 04After high school in St. Louis, what job did she take before her singing career began?
Nurse's aide
She worked as a nurse's aide at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis after graduating from Sumner High School in 1958.
Q 05What was the name of Ike Turner's band that she first saw perform in East St. Louis?
The Kings of Rhythm
Ike Turner's band was the Kings of Rhythm; she first saw them at the Club Manhattan in East St. Louis and said she 'almost went into a trance' watching Ike play.
Q 06Whose blues ballad did she sing at an intermission, winning a spot in Ike's band?
B.B. King
She grabbed the microphone during an intermission and sang B.B. King's ballad 'You Know I Love You'; Ike had promised to let her sing but never followed through until then.
Q 07Under what name did she make her recording debut in 1958 on the single 'Boxtop'?
Little Ann
She was credited as Little Ann on 'Boxtop', a 1958 Tune Town single with Ike Turner and vocalist Carlson Oliver, two years before the name Tina Turner existed.
Q 08'A Fool in Love', Tina Turner's 1960 debut single, was written for which singer, who failed to show up to the session?
Art Lassiter
Art Lassiter missed the session, so she sang a demo vocal Ike meant to erase; Sue Records boss Juggy Murray heard it and insisted her voice stay on the record.
Q 09Ike Turner modelled the stage name 'Tina' on which comic-book jungle heroine?
Sheena
Sheena, Queen of the Jungle: Ike chose 'Tina' because it rhymed with Sheena, and he trademarked the name Tina Turner so he could hire a replacement if she left.
Q 10What were the backing singers and dancers of the Ike & Tina Turner Revue called?
The Ikettes
The Ikettes were the Revue's backing singers and dancers; their own 1961 single 'I'm Blue (The Gong-Gong Song)' became a top-20 pop hit in its own right.
Q 11In 1967 she became the first woman and first Black artist on the cover of which magazine?
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone put her on its second issue, dated November 23, 1967, making her the first woman and first Black artist on the magazine's cover.
Q 12Which band did Ike & Tina open for on tours of the UK in 1966 and the US in 1969?
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones had Ike & Tina open on their autumn 1966 UK tour and their late-1969 US tour, exposing the Revue to rock audiences.
Q 13Ike & Tina's biggest hit, a Grammy-winning 1971 cover, was originally by which band?
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Q 21Which was her only number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100?
What's Love Got to Do with It
'What's Love Got to Do with It' topped the Hot 100 on September 1, 1984, and stayed there three weeks; she was 44 and it was her only chart-topper there.
Q 22Which British pop group had recorded her signature 1984 hit before she did?
Bucks Fizz
Bucks Fizz recorded the Britten–Lyle song before Tina, but their version was shelved and stayed unreleased for well over a decade, leaving the song free for Capitol.
Q 23With which artist did she duet on a 1984 cover of Iggy Pop's 'Tonight'?
David Bowie
'Proud Mary' was written by John Fogerty for Creedence Clearwater Revival in 1969; Ike & Tina's 'nice and rough' 1971 version reached number 4 on the Hot 100.
Q 14Which 1973 hit did Tina write herself about the tiny community where she grew up?
Nutbush City Limits
'Nutbush City Limits', released in 1973, was written by Tina about the tiny rural community where she was raised; it reached number 4 on the UK singles chart.
Q 15In the 1975 rock opera film Tommy, which character did she play?
The Acid Queen
She played the Acid Queen in Ken Russell's 1975 film of The Who's Tommy, and her 1975 solo album was titled Acid Queen after the role.
Q 16In which city did she finally flee from Ike Turner on July 1, 1976?
Dallas
She left Ike in Dallas on July 1, 1976, slipping out of the Statler Hilton and running across a freeway to a Ramada Inn with 36 cents and a Mobil card.
Q 17In the 1978 divorce settlement, what was the one professional asset she insisted on keeping?
Her stage name
She insisted on keeping her stage name, Tina Turner, which Ike had trademarked; she also kept two Jaguars and her furs but took on the couple's IRS debts.
Q 18Which Australian manager took her on in 1979 after seeing her perform at San Francisco's Fairmont Hotel?
Roger Davies
Roger Davies, then working with Olivia Newton-John's management, saw her Venetian Room show at the Fairmont in 1979 and steered the comeback that produced Private Dancer in 1984.
Q 19Her comeback single in November 1983 was a cover of which Al Green song?
Let's Stay Together
'Let's Stay Together', Al Green's 1971 hit, was cut with Heaven 17's Martyn Ware and Greg Walsh; her November 1983 version reached number 6 in the UK.
Q 20How long did Capitol give her to record the Private Dancer album in 1984?
Two weeks
Capitol gave her two weeks to finish Private Dancer in early 1984; the album went on to sell around 10 million copies worldwide.
David Bowie duetted with her on 'Tonight', the title track of his 1984 album; released as a single, it peaked at number 53 in both the UK and the US.
Q 24Which character did she play as the ruler of Bartertown in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome?
Aunty Entity
She played Aunty Entity, ruler of Bartertown, in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985), her first film role since Tommy ten years earlier.
Q 25Which song did she record for Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome that became a transatlantic Top 3 hit?
We Don't Need Another Hero
'We Don't Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)' reached number 2 in the US and number 3 in the UK in 1985; the film's other song, 'One of the Living', won her a Grammy.
Q 26Who ripped her skirt off on stage during their duet at Live Aid in July 1985?
Mick Jagger
Mick Jagger tore away her leather skirt during 'It's Only Rock 'n Roll' at Live Aid in Philadelphia on July 13, 1985; she finished the song in a leotard.
Q 27What was the title of her 1986 autobiography, later the basis for a film?
I, Tina
I, Tina, co-written with journalist Kurt Loder and published in 1986, became the basis of the 1993 biopic whose two leads were Oscar-nominated.
Q 28In which city did she set a 1988 Guinness record for largest paying audience for a solo artist?
Rio de Janeiro
Her January 16, 1988 show at Rio de Janeiro's Maracanã Stadium drew about 180,000 people, then a Guinness World Record for the largest paying audience for a solo artist.
Q 29Her 1989 album Foreign Affair gave her a first UK number one album and which enduring hit single?
The Best
'The Best', from the 1989 album Foreign Affair, reached number 5 in the UK, and a 2010 Rangers fans' campaign sent it back into the UK Top 10.
Q 30Who wrote the title track of her 1984 album Private Dancer?
Mark Knopfler
Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits wrote 'Private Dancer' for his band's Love over Gold sessions, but felt the lyric needed a female voice; Tina recorded it in 1984 with Jeff Beck on guitar.