Tina and Ike Turner were once a hit musical duo but behind the scenes, she was living in servitude. She found happiness again with Erwin Bach many years later.
Not everyone finds the right partner at their first attempt. For some, the path to finding their true love is filled with pain but when they get do get to the right person, their life changes completely.
Legendary singer Tina Turner, 80, didn't find love the first time she got married. Her first marriage to Ike Turner, who passed away in 2007 at the age of 76, gave her years of grief. "I had a terrible life," she said. "I just kept going. You just keep going, and you hope that something will come," she added, according to Oprahmag.
Tina and Ike were married from 1962 to 1978. Her career skyrocketed when she was with him. The influential guitarist turned his wife into a superstar in the 1960s but his career had flatlined after reports of drug use and claims of spousal abuse, as per Reuters. Tina made a comeback in the 1980s and accused him of beating her and reducing her to servitude. In a 2019 interview with the New York Times, she said, "I don’t know if I could ever forgive all that Ike ever did to me," but "Ike’s dead. So we don’t have to worry about him."
Years later, Tina surprised herself when she fell for Erwin Bach. It was love at first sight for her when she met him in 1986. At the time, he was a German executive for her record company EMI, as per the SUN UK. The What’s Love Got To Do With It singer revealed in her book Tina Turner: My Love Story how forthright she was with him.
Erwin, who is 16 years younger, met Tina at a dinner party thrown by her label. "I saw Erwin again at a couple of dinners organized by EMI. On the second occasion, we were sitting next to each other. I said to myself: I don’t care - I’m just going to ask him," she wrote. "'Erwin,’ I whispered, ‘when you come to America, I want you to make love to me.’ He turned his head slowly and just looked at me as if he couldn’t believe his ears. I couldn’t believe what I’d said either! Later, he told me he’d never been propositioned by a woman," she added.
"His first thought was: ‘Wow, those California girls are really wild.' But I wasn’t wild. I’d never done anything remotely like that before. I didn’t recognize myself. Eventually, Erwin did come to Los Angeles - on business - and I met him again at another dinner. I invited everyone back to my house afterward, and that’s when our real romance began," she said.
Their love has lasted since then and they got married in 2013. He lifted her spirits with his love after her abusive first marriage. "I lived through a hellish marriage that almost destroyed me, but I went on," she wrote in her book, as per Essence.
Erwin also saved her literally by donating one of his kidneys to her. She suffered from kidney disease, and by 2016 they were at "20 percent and plunging rapidly," as per Pagesix. Erwin "shocked me by saying that he wanted to give me one of his kidneys. I could hardly believe it then, and there are times when I still can’t believe it. When he thought about his future, he thought of me. ‘My future is our future,’ he told me," she added.
She had wondered then what others thought of this loving act by her husband. "I wondered if anyone would think that Erwin’s living donation was transactional in some way," she said, as per Essence. "Incredibly, considering how long we had been together, there were still people who wanted to believe that Erwin married me for my money and fame. What else would a younger man want with an older woman? Erwin always ignored the rumors," she added.
She survived and the surgery was a success but she is still dependent on heavy medication. Her relationship is also stronger than ever. "I know that my medical adventure is far from over but I’m still here — we’re still here, closer than we ever imagined. I can look back and understand why my karma was the way it was. Good came out of bad. Joy came out of pain. And I have never been so completely happy as I am today," she said.
The couple has retired and they live in Switzerland. Their home allows them a view of Lake Zurich and the singer made a comeback in 2020 when her song was remixed by Kygo. It's already a chart-topper.
References:
https://www.oprahmag.com/entertainment/a28983082/tina-turner-ike-terrible-life-interview/
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-turner-1/ike-turner-dead-at-76-idUSN125183820071212
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/09/theater/tina-turner-musical.html
https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/7435681/tina-turner-propositioned-husband/
https://pagesix.com/2018/10/06/tina-turner-reveals-husband-gave-her-kidney-for-transplant/
https://www.essence.com/lifestyle/travel/19-couples-who-took-swoon-worthy-baecation-in-2019/
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