ZURICH, SWITZERLAND: Tina Turner became furious when Erwin Bach, who later became her second husband, didn't call her for two days following their first encounter. The late 'Private Dancer' singer married the 67-year-old German music producer in 2013—35 years after she officially divorced her despotic ex-husband and longtime musical collaborator Ike Turner. Bach was by her side until her death at 83 on May 24, 2023, at their Swiss residence.
Turner and Bach first met when he picked her up from the airport in Germany, where she had flown in for a concert. Turner frequently referred to her relationship with Bach as "love at first sight." Turner reportedly said of their first meeting, "My heart went bu-bum. It means that a soul has met. My hands were shaking."
'I tried to stay cool but inside I was furious'
In her memoir 'My Love Story', Turner describes bedding Erwin after a dinner party and waiting for his call. She writes, "Music was playing, the other guests drifted away, the kissing began and we kissed all the way to the bedroom. Erwin stayed with me that night."
Turner went on to write: "The next morning, Erwin was scheduled to go to Hawaii on a business trip." She continued, "I Erwin was in my thoughts for the next two days... until he called and casually mentioned that the trip to Hawaii had been canceled. He was a few miles away in Malibu— he'd been there the whole time, hanging out at the beach with his colleagues, and hadn't thought to tell me. I tried to stay cool, but inside I was furious. “Tina, you stupid old fool,” I fumed. Why did I make such bad choices in men? Why was there always disappointment? I couldn’t bear the thought of being hurt again. I was better off alone, I decided."
While Turner was promoting 'Private Dancer' in Basel, Switzerland, she bumped across Erwin once again, and she said, "All my feelings came roaring back." She continued: "I’d rented a house in Gstaad for the holidays, so I invited him and some other people from the EMI team [the record label] to visit." Erwin turned up alone at her place one night, wearing a funny little German hat. She stated that he "exuded a masculinity that I found irresistible."
"Thus began my love story," she said, adding that the 16-year age gap was "never an issue in my mind, then or now."
Tina Turner and Erwin Bach's love story
Turner and Bach dated for 27 years before getting married for 10 years. Turner died on May 24, 2023, after a protracted illness. The pair had many memorable times and significant milestones together during their long-lasting relationship. Turner also gave Bach credit for teaching her "to love without giving up who I am."
The phrase "in sickness and in health" was put to the test by Turner and Bach in 2017. Turner had been given regular dialysis or a kidney transplant as treatment options after being diagnosed with kidney failure.
Turner writes in her memoir that she was shocked by Bach's declaration to give her one of his kidneys for transplant. She stated: "He said he didn't want another woman, or another life," continuing to say, "At this point, he shocked me by saying that he wanted to give me one of his kidneys."
