Turner started being a choir boy at Christ Church, Oxford. Then he became a choir boy in the Chapel Royal in London. He wrote an anthem together with John Blow and Pelham Humfrey, known as the "Club Anthem". When his voice broke in 1666 he had three years out of the choir, but returned in 1669 and sang as a countertenor in the Chapel Royal for another 71 years until his death. He became a member of the King's Private Musick. Besides his work at the king's court he was also a vicar-choral of St Paul's Cathedral and later a lay vicar of the choir of Westminster Abbey. In 1696 he was given a doctorate of music by Cambridge University. After that he was known as "Dr Turner".