The music icon Tina Turner passed away on Wednesday, leaving her beloved husband behind.
The vocalist went through a tough divorce before she met Erwin Bach.
Bach stuck with Turner until her final days, writing love letters to her for over 30 years.\
Tina Turner, an icon in the music industry, tragically passed away on Wednesday, May 24, 2023. Throughout her life, Tina set the bar for numerous other musicians hoping to do what she did, eventually earning herself the monicker the “Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll.” Despite her successes, the singer had to overcome many challenges.
One of the most significant blows in Tina’s past was surely the end of her first marriage with her co-star Ike Turner. The decision to leave him came after years of making music together, but Turner revealed things weren’t as rosy as their famous R&B double act had suggested.
Although things ended on a more-than-surly note, Tina and her first husband, Ike, were together for a long time, having first met each other in St. Louis in the ’50s. Tina first showed up at one of Ike’s shows, and she stunned him with her vocal prowess. Not long after their first meeting, he invited her to join his band.
After a long and fruitful career, Turner eventually chose her love for Erwin over her career.
Tina started playing weekly gigs with Ike and the rest of the band when she was only 17, and by 1960, the ensemble bore her name with the title the Ike & Tina Turner Review. The new band name came with a proposal, which Tina gladly accepted. The young singer was on her way to fame, but it came at a dear price.
After Tina and Ike married in 1962, the marriage became something of a trap, according to Tina. She revealed that Ike became increasingly abusive, often assaulting her physically and controlling her finances and career options. The singer confessed that his repeated violent behavior greatly affected her mental health.
The singer confessed that she couldn’t get herself to leave Ike. Although she wanted to get away, she was scared of what Ike might do. At the same time, she knew her leaving would be the end of Ike’s career, and she truly didn’t want to do that to him. So, she stayed with him.
However, on July 27, Tina finally filed the divorce papers. The entire ordeal had left Tina shaken and intimidated, but she stuck to her guns and got herself out of her marriage with Ike. He had half the rights to their music, but Tina only wanted her stage name so she could reinvent herself. With no money and lacking a studio, Tina began again.
1986: When Tina Met Erwin
Having separated from Ike and restarted her career, Tina was on her way up once more. Almost ten years after ending her abusive first marriage, Tina had built a successful solo music career for herself, and she was attracting the attention of huge record labels, most notably the European label EMI.
In 1985, Tina arrived in Düsseldorf, Germany, having been flown in by EMI to talk business. It was a big break for the singer, since EMI signed internationally famous acts such as Queen and Radiohead. It was safe to say Tina had made it to the big leagues. Waiting at the airport to pick her up was a young Erwin Bach. Tina recalled:
“The day I first met Erwin, at an airport in Germany, I should have been too tired from my flight, too preoccupied with thoughts of my concert tour. But I did notice him … That simple first meeting led to a long, beautiful relationship — and my one true marriage.”