Tina Turner and Ike Turner were a formidable combo on and off the stage. However, the singer never experienced marital pleasure until she met her second husband, who was “so different” and gave her the “gift of life.”

Tina Turner, dubbed the “Queen of Rock and Roll,” came to prominence in the 1950s. She matched her enthusiasm with that of the brilliant Ike Turner after meeting him at a Manhattan bar as a gorgeous young vocalist.

In a short time, the couple had established themselves as a formidable force, singing and performing as “Tina and Ike Turner.”

Aside from music, the pair’s attraction to each other became stronger. Despite Tina and Ike’s five-year age difference, they quickly became romantically linked. Being charmed by her, a guy younger than her never got in the way of their love affair for the cheery force.

A few years later, she flew to Tijuana, Mexico, with Ike to exchange wedding vows. This marked the start of a new adventure for the famous couple.

What many assumed was a joyful marriage of kindred spirits turned out to be the Queen of Rock and Roll’s darkest moment. Tina said decades after her divorce from Ike that the relationship was rife with verbal and physical violence.

In her book “My Love Story,” she claimed that her ex-husband detested conflict. So she was in for a beating if there was a tiny disagreement or he felt insulted.

This went on for almost a decade. Tina, on the other hand, concluded in 1976 that it was better to quit the violent marriage. The couple divorced two years after their separation.

Tina, thankfully, got the opportunity to rediscover genuine love. This time, in the arms of Erwin Bach, a music executive,

Although she had no intention of getting into another relationship when she met Bach, he stayed long enough for the two to have the most endearing love story.

Tina Fell’s cover of “So Different” Erwin Was First While He Wasn’t

Tina, 47, then met who she believed was her prince charming in a rom-com-style narrative. Bach had agreed to pick her up from the airport before the concert.

Tina saw the then-30-year-old EMI music executive; his features quickly struck her. The musician had hardly opened his lips to speak when he realized he was unique. In her own words:

“He had the most beautiful face.” It was impossible to overlook. My heart skipped a beat. It denotes the meeting of two souls. My hands were trembling. And when Roger said to me, ‘Tina, you ride with Erwin,’ I wanted to shout, ‘Yay!'”

Tina admitted that the setting was not conducive to eliciting her feelings. She might have been preoccupied with her show in Germany and rejected her feelings for the music executive, but that was impossible.

“Even then, I could have ignored my feelings—I could have listened to the ghost voices in my head telling me that I didn’t look good that day or that I shouldn’t be thinking about romance because it never ends well,” she said. Instead, I followed my heart. I stepped out of my comfort zone and made it a point to get to know Erwin.”

Once she was confident of her feelings for Bach, she suggested a future encounter in the United States, which Bach agreed to. They quickly became a thing. Tina expressed the following when remembering the event:

“He was just so different, so laid-back, so comfortable, so unpretentious, and that was the beginning of our relationship.”

Bach, on the other hand, did not fall in love at first sight. Nonetheless, Bach explained that their relationship was founded on love for one another and flourished on the same basis. He stated:

“It’s love,” she says. It’s something we both have in common. I usually call it an electrical charge. It’s still in my possession. I still have that sensation, even though I left her two hours ago. It’s in my blood. This makes me extremely happy.”

Bach planned to propose on one of her greatest days: her 50th birthday, three years after their initial meeting and an intensive courtship.

Tina, on the other hand, did not react as he had hoped. Instead, she responded ambiguously because she did not feel he was serious. Then, when she reflected on the proposition, she said:

“‘I don’t have an answer,’ I answered. It wasn’t a yes or a no. Marriage denotes ownership. I didn’t want anything to do with “my” anymore. That was enough for me.”

Despite the uncertainty, Bach stayed steadfast in his love for the famed singer, and she answered yes over three decades later!

In 2013, the pair married in their lavishly furnished Swiss house. Family and friends, including notable faces like Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King, wore white and smiled broadly as they joined the long-term partners for the historic ceremony.

Tina, the most gorgeous lady in the room, was dressed to the nines in a lavish Giorgio Amani gown adorned with Swarovski crystals.

Tina marveled at its accomplishment since it was the ideal occasion for her. When asked about the ceremony, the singer stated:

“I aspired to be the best that I could be.” I wanted my garden and my visitors to be the best they could possibly be. They certainly were.”

Furthermore, she praised her spouse for his self-assurance. He was characterized by the vocalist as:

He is a force of nature in his own right and has never felt the least bit intimidated by my success, abilities, or fame.

Relocating to Switzerland

Tina’s wedding site in Switzerland had been the couple’s home for many years. They cherished their lakefront home in the Zurich neighborhood of Kuesnacht. The singer’s residence, dubbed “Chateau Algonquin,” exuded “cartoon palace energy.”

According to the New York Times, “the home, which overlooks Lake Zurich, has ivy snaking up the walls, gardeners manicuring the shrubs, a life-size two-legged horse sculpture suspended from a domed ceiling, a framed rendering of Turner as an Egyptian queen, [and] a room stuffed with gilded Louis XIV style sofas.”

The calm and seclusion of the nation surprised Tina, who retired from performing in 2009. Despite having some relatives in the United States, the singer considers Switzerland to be her home. She confessed:

“I’m very happy in Switzerland and feel right at home.” I can’t think of a finer location to live.”
The singer already revealed what impacted her choice to migrate. She claimed that her boyfriend-turned-husband resided abroad and that her music was more popular in Europe than in the United States. She said in an interview with Larry King:

“In Europe, I’m as famous as Madonna.” In certain regions, I’m as big as the Rolling Stones.”

Following her Swiss citizenship, the award-winning actor voluntarily renounced her American citizenship in 2013 by signing the Immigration and Naturalization Act.

Bach and Tina were one of the industry’s power couples during Thick and Thin. They stayed supportive of one another throughout their courtship and marriage. Indeed, the German native proved to be a kind companion whose first aim was to keep his leading woman as safe as possible.

Bach was there throughout Tina’s health issues. She was diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2016 and given the choice of regular dialysis or a transplant. Tina writes in her memoir:

“Only the transplant would give me a reasonable chance of living a normal life.” However, the prospects of receiving a donor kidney were slim.”
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That’s when Bach did something unusual: He gave her one of his kidneys. The vocalist of “Proud Mary” recalled:

“He stated that he did not desire another woman or another life.” Then he surprised me. He claimed he wanted to donate one of his kidneys to me.”

The kidney transplant was a success, and she was thankful to her lover for giving her the “gift of life,” a move she thought demonstrated to the public how sincere their love story seemed.

Tina was also “happy, overwhelmed, and relieved that we’d made it out alive.” Unfortunately, the Queen of Rock and Roll lost her first child, Craig Turner, not long after this life-changing incident.

Craig was her former boyfriend’s kid before she met Ike. Ike, on the other hand, adopted him. Unfortunately, he committed suicide in 2018.

The singer kept remembering her baby and referred to the tragedy as her “saddest” moment. While mourning the loss of a loved one, Tina once tweeted a picture of Bach hugging her.

“My saddest moment as a mother,” the post said. I said my last farewell to my son, Craig Raymond Turner, on Thursday, July 19, 2018, when I met with family and friends to spread his ashes off the coast of California. He was 59 years old when he died, but he will always be my baby.”

Bach remained constant in his love for the singer even through the most difficult times, refusing to allow her troubles or famous position to stand in the way of their relationship.
Tina said in 2019 that her long-term lover would serenade her with the nicest phrases via his letters. She posted a cute photo of herself and Bach, along with the caption:

“Erwin and I have been together for over 30 years, and he still writes me love letters—isn’t that romantic?”

Bach and Tina demonstrated that genuine love can survive outside of huge screens and rom-com literature, as only death separated them.