Tina Turner: Queen of Rock 'n' Roll who had her first hits in the '60s dies at 83
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND: Legendary 'Queen of Rock' Tina Turner died at the age of 83 on Wednesday, May 24. She had a famed career as a singer and actress spanning six decades in which she struggled in both her personal and professional life. The singer’s Instagram page shared the news of her demise.
Turner's representative confirmed to The Telegraph that Turner died in her Küsnacht home near Zurich Switzerland after suffering from a long illness. "With her music and her boundless passion for life, she enchanted millions of fans around the world and inspired the stars of tomorrow. Today we say goodbye to a dear friend who leaves us all her greatest work: her music," captioned the Instagram post that announced her death.
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A look at Tina Turner's decades-long relationship with life-saving husband Erwin Bach
Turner's career as a singer and actress
In the 1960s, Turner rose to fame after her performance with her ex-husband Ike Turner for the 'Ike and Tina Turner Revue' which gave numerous songs that topped the charts. However, she later left the singer years after she became a victim of domestic abuse. She then made a great comeback in her career by continuing her work as a solo artist as she garnered international attention in the 80s with her major hit 'What’s Love Got to Do With It', according to Page Six.
Apart from her singing career, she was popular for her acting roles including Aunty Entity in 'Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome' and her exemplary role in the 1971 version of 'Proud Mary'. In her final years, the legendary performer suffered from several health issues including a stroke, kidney failure, and intestinal cancer. In the 2021 HBO documentary 'Tina', she said her final goodbye to her fans. “Some people say the life that I lived and the performances that I gave the appreciation… I should be proud of that. I am. But when do you stop being proud? I mean, when do you, how do you bow out slowly? Just go away?", Turner said in the documentary.
Turner's personal life
Ike and Turner married in 1962 and had a son Ronnie. They adopted two of Ike's children Michael and Ike Jr and the actress also had a son, Craig, from her previous relationship. Following an altercation in Dallas, the duo finally separated and in 1978, their divorce was finalized. She revealed that they separated following Ike's abuse, his increasing drug and alcohol use and frequent infidelities.
In 2018, the 'Queen of Rock' lost her son Craig to suicide which she recalled as her "saddest moment as a mother." In the documentary, Turner talked about her son's death and said, "He was 59 when he died so tragically, but he will always be my baby."
After a 27-year relationship, she and former music executive Erwin Bach married in 2013. She then moved to Switzerland to live with him in a castle after she renounced her US citizenship. In her autobiography 'Tina Turner: My Love Story' published in 2018, Turner opened up about her life with Bach and revealed that he is 16 years her junior. She shared that when she needed a transplant in 2016, Bach gave her a kidney and saved her life. "I could hardly believe it then, and there are times when I still can’t believe it.” she wrote. “When he thought about his future, he thought of me. ‘My future is our future,’ he told me," she wrote.