Tina Turner found true love with her second husband, Erwin Bach, after ending her toxic marriage with singer, Ike Turner.
The Swiss musician, also known as the “Queen of Rock and Roll,” was a phenomenal singer who became popular in the 1950s. She rose to fame mainly because of her powerful vocals. At the same time, she met the very talented Ike Turner. Their energies matched instantly, and the duo became inseparable within no time.
Over time, their relationship became more personal, and a few years after their initial meeting in 1962, the two got married in Mexico.
The Ike & Tina Turner Revue quickly became one of the most popular live acts in the world. Their energetic performances and Turner’s powerful vocals earned them a large following, and they released a string of hit albums, including “River Deep – Mountain High” (1966) and “Rough Justice” (1971).
It was a love marriage between two people very much smitten with each other, and everybody thought that they made a perfect couple and nothing could separate them. However, just a few years after their marriage, Tina revealed in her book, “My Love Story” that getting married to Ike was one of the worst decisions of her life and that their relationship was nothing but toxic.
She wrote in her book that the marriage was physically and verbally abusive. She discussed Ike’s temperament and told her fans that he was highly intolerant and used to insult, sometimes even beat her over trivial issues.
In 1976, Tina finally decided to end her abusive marriage with Ike by telling fans she had had enough and could not bear his abuse anymore. She officially divorced Ike in 1978.
After this terrible life experience, Tina chose to stay single and focus on her career until she met Erwin Bach. Tina met Erwin when his company assigned him to pick her up from the airport. She was set to perform in Germany when she met her now-husband, who at the time was a 30-year-old music executive for EMI.
The singer later recalled that it was an instant attraction. Although she was reluctant to start a new relationship, she gave it a chance anyway. They dated for almost 27 years. Yes, it took them that long to finally make up their minds to get married to each other, and eventually, they got married in Switzerland.
In 2016, Tina was diagnosed with Kidney Cancer, and doctors suggested she should either go for dialysis or a transplant.
“Only the transplant would give me a chance of living a near-normal life. But the chances of getting a kidney donor were remote.” she wrote in her book My Love Story.
That’s when Erwin, the love of her life, stepped in. She said Erwin told me that he didn’t want another woman or another life; he only wanted her. So, he will do anything to save her life. Therefore, to save her life, Erwin donated one of his kidneys. Thankfully, the transplant was successful.
Erwin had always supported Tina throughout her ups and downs. These include her son’s death, the debut of her Broadway musical, and her HBO documentary as a final goodbye to her American fans as she bowed out of the public eye. Tina Turner and Erwin Bach were living proof that faithful, loyal, and honest love does and can exist.
The legendary singer breathed her last on Wednesday, May 24, after a long and unspecified illness at her home in Küsnach near Zurich, Switzerland.
Turner’s death was confirmed by her publicist, Bernard Doherty in a statement.
“Tina Turner, the “Queen of Rock’n Roll” has died peacefully today at the age of 83 after a long illness in her home in Küsnacht near Zurich, Switzerland. With her, the world loses a music legend and a role model. There will be a private funeral ceremony attended by close friends and family. Please respect the privacy of her family at this difficult time.”
The icon is survived by two of her four children – two of them died before her – and her loving husband, Erwin Bach, 67.
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