What made one of the brightest stars of our time, Tina Turner, “simply the best” was not her achievements, but her losses. Throughout her life, she changed her name, faith, country, and citizenship, decided to marry at 74, and never once met her grandchildren or great-grandchildren. The “superpower” of the eight-time Grammy winner, who amassed a fortune of $250 million, lay in her artistic talent and her Buddhist understanding of the laws of harmony. Having endured childhood, womanhood, and motherhood traumas, the singer “learned to be happy, regardless of money, love, and men.” Her journey back to success in a revived music career was paved with tears, poverty, betrayal, violence, and loneliness. Her marriage to an African American man was marked by despair and suicide attempts, and in addition to fame, she faced the deaths of two sons, the loss of a vital organ, a difficult transplant, a stroke, and cancer.
At a concert in Norway, 1985
Tina Turner: Early Biography
The future global star from Tennessee was born Anna Mae Bullock on November 26, 1939, in Nutbush. The youngest daughter of factory workers Zelma Currie and Floyd Richard Bullock, who was both a farmer and a Baptist deacon, she would later dedicate her famous song “Nutbush City Limits” to her hometown in 1973, which even named a local highway after her. However, as a child, she found no happiness there. According to the singer, there was no love in her family, neither between her parents nor from them to their daughters. Tina Turner recounted that when she was ten, her parents divorced, leaving her and her sister Ruby with their grandmother. Their mother left first, and three years later, their father also abandoned the family.
Tina Turner in her youth
The girls learned to survive on their own. In the mornings, Anna rushed to school, where she tried to excel, and after classes, she worked as a housekeeper and took care of children in a model local family, which she never had herself. It was there that the descendant of local African American slaves witnessed an example of dignified relationships among family members and resolved to emulate that at all costs. “There will be no place for alcohol and drugs in my life; I will never let myself down and will face hardships with my head held high,” the future star promised herself.
From a young age, Anna could sing and tried to make a living with her talent. By the age of fourteen, she and her sister began performing in nightclubs, which ultimately shaped her destiny. At sixteen, after her grandmother’s death, their mother took the girls to St. Louis, where Anna met the rhythm and blues musician who would change her future.
Tina Turner: The Singer’s Biography
However, this transformation would not happen overnight. The creator of Tina Turner would later be Ike Turner, the leader of the band The Kings of Rhythm. The determined girl would repeatedly ask her new acquaintance from the Imperial club to let her perform with the “Kings of Rhythm,” but he initially saw no need for her. Anna had to learn the ropes on her own. At 19, she became a single mother, giving birth to her first child with saxophonist Raymond Hill. He played no role in raising their son, who grew up without parental support, just as his mother had.
Her relationship with Mississippi native Ike Turner blossomed after they began working together. The recording studio in St. Louis became the birthplace of Tina Turner when the musician needed to record a track with female vocals. From 1957, the young vocalist Anna, nicknamed Little Ann, was accepted into the band, where she was entrusted with singing, dancing, and leading the show.
Ike and Tina Turner, 1962
In her marriage to bandleader Ike Turner, Tina gave birth to her second child. At twenty, she became a mother of three, raising two sons from Ike’s previous marriage as well. Fearing for her job, Tina Turner turned a blind eye to Ike’s drug addiction, infidelities, and abuse. Once she became a star, it was he who feared losing her. “Ike wasn’t going to let me go, but his lifestyle made me miserable,” Tina recalled. “The moment I hinted that I had enough, fists and a shoe stretcher came into play, with which he injured my spine. The violence lasted for sixteen years.”
At times, Tina contemplated revenge against her abuser and even attempted suicide twice. The tragic resolution was held off by her children: she often thought about what would happen to them if they were left orphans. During one of her tours, the singer paused her performances to secretly leave the stage and take her children away from home. The fugitives hid from the abuser for several months before Tina could secure a divorce.
Rebirth: Twice into the Same River
Starting in 1978, the vocalist and dancer began a new life, embarking on a “free swim” with debts and tax obligations from a canceled tour. The only acquisition for 40-year-old Tina Turner was her stage name, which now needed to be reestablished. Help came from singer Cher: participating in her show allowed Tina Turner to gradually regain her self-confidence. The renowned music manager Roger Davies helped her develop an expressive “signature style.” During her time with the new producer, Tina Turner transformed into the most stylish singer of the 20th century.
She managed to enter the same river twice, earning the title “Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll” once more. The star regained global fame, and eventually, she found happiness in love. The 46-year-old Tina Turner fell for 30-year-old music producer Erwin Bach from Germany, who was well-known in artistic circles as a recording studio manager. After four years of dating, just before her 50th birthday, the young handsome man proposed to Tina, but she only accepted after 24 years. All that time, he stood by her side and even donated a kidney to save her life.
And although Tina Turner had repeatedly stated in interviews that she would never marry again, at 74, the well-groomed “grandma of rock ‘n’ roll” became a bride once more. The wedding took place in 2013 at the couple’s residence on the shores of Lake Zurich. “Marriage is a good state,” said the singer, who had avoided such a step for a quarter of a century after her negative experiences. “You can finally exhale and realize that everything is alright.”
Newlyweds Tina Turner and Erwin Bach
Tina Turner: Life Facts
Unfortunately, marital happiness proved short-lived. Three weeks after the wedding, Tina suffered a stroke, and she had to learn to walk again. Three years later, she was diagnosed with intestinal cancer, and she rushed to finish her work before announcing her retirement (which occurred after she turned 80). However, the illness caused complications with her kidneys. Not wanting to interrupt her performances, Tina Turner ignored treatment and maintained her health through homeopathy. In the process, she “killed” one of her kidneys. When the test results came back, it turned out that she needed an urgent organ transplant: her own kidney was functioning at only 20%.
In a difficult emotional state, the singer even joined an initiative group for the legalization of euthanasia in Switzerland, where she had emigrated from the U.S. Prior to this, the artist had changed her religion, finding solace in Buddhism.
In 2017, her husband donated his kidney to her. This operation was not publicly disclosed, and fans were unaware that Tina Turner was caught between life and death: her body was rejecting the donor organ.
In the following year, another trial awaited the recovering woman: on July 3, 2018, at a Giorgio Armani collection show, the singer was informed of her eldest son’s suicide (59-year-old Craig Raymond Turner shot himself—he had struggled with drug abuse). Four years later, cancer claimed the life of her youngest son, 62-year-old Ronald Renelle Turner, whom his terminally ill mother survived by only six months (her condition prevented her from saying goodbye to her son—traveling was out of the question).
Legacy and Inheritance
At one point, the singer could have had a third child, conceived with Ike Turner in 1968, but she terminated the pregnancy after learning of her husband’s simultaneous pregnancy with one of his many mistresses. Thus, it happened that the heirs to the star’s multimillion-dollar fortune could be the descendants of her adopted children from previous relationships (Ike’s son was born in 1958, and Mike in 1960).
The house in Küsnacht, with several buildings and a pond on three hectares of private land, was purchased by the singer two years ago, coinciding with the sale of her music catalog to the publishing giant BMG for $50 million (which then became the owner of five platinum albums and all of Tina Turner’s hits, including “Nutbush City Limits Best”). In this Swiss estate, valued at $76 million on the shores of a picturesque lake near her main residence in Zurich, the star passed away on May 24, 2023, at the age of 84.
She spent her final years with her last husband, Erwin Bach (now 67, of which 28 he spent with the singer). This man may claim half of Tina Turner’s $250 million fortune. The other half of her estate may be divided among her non-biological descendants: three grandchildren and five great-grandchildren from her former husband. According to American tabloids, the celebrated grandmother’s heirs never visited her during her illness or in health…
Tina Turner on the Hollywood Walk of Fame