Gaby
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 eight-time Grammy winner’s “superpower”—beyond a $250 million fortune—was her artistic talent and a Buddhist sense of harmony. After childhood, womanhood, and motherhood traumas, the singer learned to be happy regardless of money, love, or men. Her return to success in a revived music career was paved with tears, poverty, betrayal, violence, and loneliness. Alongside 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. She was the youngest daughter of factory workers Zelma Currie and Floyd Richard Bullock; Floyd was both a farmer and a Baptist deacon. She later dedicated her famous song “Nutbush City Limits” to her hometown in 1973, and the town even named a local highway after her. As a child, however, she found little happiness there. According to Turner, there was no love in her family — neither between her parents nor from them toward their daughters. When she was ten her parents divorced, and Tina and her sister Ruby were left with their grandmother. Their mother left first; 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 and tried to excel, and after classes she worked as a housekeeper and cared for children in a model local family — a family she never had herself. There she, a descendant of local African American slaves, saw an example of dignified family relationships and vowed to emulate that. “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,” she promised herself.
From a young age Anna could sing and tried to make a living with her talent. By fourteen she and her sister were 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 a rhythm-and-blues musician who would change her future.
Tina Turner: The Singer’s Biography
The transformation did not happen overnight. The creator of Tina Turner would later be Ike Turner, leader of the band the Kings of Rhythm. Anna repeatedly asked 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. Hill 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 a female vocal. From 1957 the young vocalist Anna, nicknamed Little Ann, joined the band, where she sang, danced, and led the show.
Ike and Tina Turner, 1962
During her marriage to bandleader Ike Turner, Tina gave birth to her second child. By twenty she was a mother of three and was also raising two sons from Ike’s previous marriage. Fearing for her job, Tina turned a blind eye to Ike’s drug addiction, infidelities, and abuse. Once she became a star, he 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, and he injured my spine. The violence lasted for sixteen years.”
At times Tina contemplated revenge against her abuser and even attempted suicide twice. Her children kept her from following through: she often thought about what would happen to them if they were left orphans. During one tour the singer stopped a performance to secretly leave the stage and take her children away from home. Tina and her children hid from Ike for several months before she could secure a divorce.
Rebirth: Twice into the Same River
Starting in 1978 the vocalist and dancer began a new life, facing debts and tax obligations from a canceled tour. The one thing the 40-year-old kept was her stage name, but she had to rebuild that reputation. Help came from Cher: appearing on Cher’s show helped Tina gradually regain her self-confidence. Renowned manager Roger Davies helped her develop a striking signature style. Under the new team, Tina transformed into one of the most stylish performers of the 20th century.
She managed to enter the same river twice and earned the title “Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll” again. The star regained global fame, and eventually she found happiness in love. The 46-year-old Tina fell for 30-year-old German music producer Erwin Bach, known as a recording studio manager. After four years of dating, just before her 50th birthday he proposed; she accepted only 24 years later. All that time he stood by her side and later donated a kidney to save her life.
Though Tina had repeatedly said she would never marry again, at 74 the grandmother of rock ‘n’ roll became a bride once more. The wedding took place in 2013 at the couple’s home on the shores of Lake Zurich. “Marriage is a good state,” the singer said after avoiding marriage for a quarter century. “You can finally exhale and realize that everything is alright.”
Newlyweds Tina Turner and Erwin Bach
Tina Turner: Life Facts
Marital happiness proved short-lived. Three weeks after the wedding Tina suffered a stroke and had to relearn how to walk. Three years later doctors diagnosed intestinal cancer, and she rushed to finish work before announcing her retirement, which came after she turned 80. The illness then caused kidney complications. Not wanting to interrupt her performances, Tina neglected conventional treatment and relied on homeopathy. As a result, one of her kidneys failed. Tests showed she needed an urgent transplant: her remaining kidney was functioning at only 20%.
In a difficult emotional state, the singer joined an initiative group advocating for legal euthanasia in Switzerland, where she had emigrated to from the U.S. Before that she had changed her religion and found solace in Buddhism.
In 2017 her husband donated a kidney to her. The operation was not publicly disclosed, and fans were unaware that Tina’s body was rejecting the donor organ.
On July 3, 2018, at a Giorgio Armani fashion show, the singer learned that her eldest son had died by suicide. Craig Raymond Turner, 59, shot himself after years of struggling with drug abuse. Four years later cancer claimed the life of her youngest son, Ronald Renelle Turner, 62. Her illness prevented Tina from traveling to say goodbye to him; she outlived him by only six months.
Legacy and Inheritance
At one point Tina could have had a third child conceived with Ike Turner in 1968, but she terminated the pregnancy after learning Ike had gotten one of his many mistresses pregnant. As a result, the heirs to the star’s multimillion-dollar fortune may be the descendants of her non-biological children from previous relationships (one child was born in 1958 and another 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 publishing giant BMG for $50 million (BMG then acquired five platinum albums and all of Tina Turner’s hits, including “Nutbush City Limits”). In this Swiss estate, valued at $76 million and set on a picturesque lake near her main residence in Zurich, the star passed away on May 24, 2023, at 84.
She spent her final years with her husband Erwin Bach, now 67, with whom she had spent 28 years. Bach 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, those heirs never visited her during her illness or in health…
Tina Turner on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
