Tina Turner

Part-whirlwind, part-feral cat, part-sex machine, Tina Turner is not just a soul legend — she's a force of nature who belts out every song as if her life depends on it. From the early classics ("Nutbush City Limits") to the comeback corkers ("Private Dancer", "Let's Stay Together"), Turner turns on the juice like no other.

Whenever the world thought Turner was chewed up (by her tough marriage to Ike) or washed up (by the turning tide of pop), she hit back like a lightning bolt. Feel the sheer guts of "I'll Be Thunder" on Break Every Rule (1986), then slow the pace and raise the temperature with her Barry White duet, "In Your Wildest Dreams": sizzling.

The late '70s were Tina Turner's overlooked "cover" years, but time reveals that she never lost her fire. On the 1978 album Rough she belts out Elton John's "The Bitch Is Back". Acid Queen is the product of her role in the Who's movie rock opera, Tommy.

Blessed with heart, soul, and volcanic sensuality, Tina Turner is a one-woman gunpowder plot to obliterate lacklustre pop. Now semi-retired in France, she is nothing less than a soul icon whose body of work takes in movie songs ("We Don't Need Another Hero" from the third Mad Max installment), electrifying duets with Bryan Adams and Rod Stewart, and those incredible '80s pop-rock rock standards. Few voices in pop history contain so much agony and so much ecstasy.