By Allen Voivod
She went from singing as a young girl in her rural church choir in Nutbush, Tennessee, to becoming a legendary performer hailed as the undisputed “Queen of Rock ‘n Roll.” She’s Tina Turner, Grammy-winning music icon and one of the best-selling recording artists of all time. In fact, she’s the first female artist to have hits reaching the charts in seven consecutive decades!
Barbie celebrates Tina’s unprecedented music journey and career achievement with the new Music Series Tina Turner Doll. This Black Label doll is available for $55 right now in our online shop, with no purchase limit. That way, you can get one that you can keep in the box, and another you can de-box for posable displays.
To create this Tina Turner tribute, we introduced a “new” designer to the series – Barbie Principal Designer Bill Greening. “This is my first doll in the current collection, though I worked on a series called ‘Ladies of the 80s’ back in 2010,” Bill recalls. “Let’s just say Tina has been on my wish list for a very long time. We started it right about the time she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.”
This wasn’t the only dream come true for Bill on this project, as he got to work directly with Tina as well. “She was very involved in the design process,” Bill reveals. “And the ‘What’s Love’ look was the choice right from the start.” He’s of course referring to her outfit in the music video for her chart-topping smash hit, “What’s Love Got to Do With It.” It’s also an outfit that he was well acquainted with.
“As a Gen Xer, MTV was a big influence in my pre-teen and teen years. ‘What’s Love Got to Do With It’ and ‘Let’s Stay Together’ was our introduction to Tina, for kids of my generation. ‘What’s Love’ was such a huge hit – the video was on MTV constantly! The song and iconic look really defined Tina’s ‘80s comeback to me.”
Take three minutes and 46 seconds to watch the official music video, then check out how well Bill and the rest of the Barbie Signature design team recreated her look. Our doll wears a near-identical outfit – black leather mini dress, denim jacket, sheer black tights, and black heels. “I think the costume is very authentic to the video, and there’s lots of nice detailing on the denim jacket,” Bill says. “The ‘leather’ skirt, black top, tights, and black ‘80s heels really complete the ‘tough’ look.”
But perhaps the most challenging aspect of the doll’s creation, and the most impressive result, is the replication of Tina’s signature hairstyle. How did they do it? “We used a lot of screen grabs [from the music video] to see the hair at all angles,” Bill explains. “The hair team did lots of trials to get the style and color just right. Lots of teasing and hairspray was involved!”
For an artist who’s also known for her dynamic live performances, we’re also giving you good reason to take her out of our specially designed Music Series packaging. “The doll body is articulated, so you can get lots of rock and roll poses if you decided to de-box Tina,” Bill says. “She has lots of great dance moves on stage, so a posable body was very important.”
There’s one final element of the doll to mention, and that’s the ring painted on her thumb. It’s meant to evoke the golden thumb ring she’s worn for decades. (You can read the story of the ring at https://tina-turner.rocks/.)
Bill is very pleased with how the doll turned out – “I think this doll pays a great tribute to such an iconic performer” he concludes – but the final approval, naturally, was in Tina’s hands. And it went as well as anyone could have hoped. “I was pleased to hear that this doll brought tears of joy when Tina received her sample,” Bill tells us.
It’s a doll that’s been on Bill’s wish list as both a designer and collector for a very long time, and that passion is overwhelming evident in the final design. The same can be said for Packaging Designer Diana Leto, who recalled that “I had just gotten my first CD player, and Tina Turner’s “What’s Love Got To Do With It” album was the very first CD I purchased! I loved her music video and adored watching her iconic walk. I admired her whole look. Tina was so empowering, and I leaned into that feeling when designing this packaging.”
To create something that fits in with the rest of the Music Series but stands out in its own right, Diana worked with Senior Packaging Engineer Kambiz Betaharon to create a spotlight-inspired structure and packaging design. “I wanted to capture the thrill of Tina's live performances and was inspired by the warm spotlights illuminating Tina on stage,” Diana explains. “To re-create the experience, I created the depth effect of a large stage with a golden spotlight-speckled background illuminated by stage lights. The ultimate result was an elegant golden and black design to beautifully frame this music legend on stage!”
Our Music Series dolls have been incredibly popular, and we expect this one to be, too. So don’t hesitate – add the Music Series Tina Turner Doll to your collection right now.
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