Goodbye Queen of Rock and Roll: What were Tina Turner’s final years like before the star’s death

In 2009, Tina Turner played her final stadium as part of a world tour celebrating the greatest hits of her 50-year career. And there were plenty of them in Tina’s repertoire: from the canonical The Best, which, by the way, was a remake – the original was sung by Bonnie Tyler, to the soundtrack to the Bond film GoldenEye.

Tina broke off one last standing ovation and left.

“I got on the plane, took a deep breath and said, ‘It’s over. I really felt like it was over and I’m glad it’s over,” Turner later recalled.

At that time, she had been living in quiet Switzerland for many years with her lover, the German producer Erwin Bach. But only after the end of her career, the singer decided to formalize the relationship with him officially.

They got married in 2013, at the same time Turner took Swiss citizenship, automatically renouncing the American one. It seemed that the measured and prosperous life in the city of Küsnacht in the canton of Zurich was to become idyllic – admiring the views, breathing the mountain air and reminiscing about the past and enjoying the company of your loved one. But life, which had already caused Tina a lot of trouble, prepared her with grim surprises again. Literally a month after the wedding, Tina had a stroke, and the consequences were severe – the singer admitted that she learned to walk again.

At the same time, Turner perceived old age quite calmly.

“I’m not looking forward to death, but when my time comes I will have no regrets. I did what I came into this world to do. Now it’s time to have fun. There is a wonderful husband in my life and I am happy, “she admitted in an interview with Oprah Winfrey.

However, life soon tested the strength of the unbroken Tina again – the star was diagnosed with bowel cancer and subsequently kidney failure.

It was a big blow for her. Only inner peace saved. Since the 70s, the singer has embraced Buddhism – it was he who helped her overcome difficult times in the past: a difficult marriage with the rapist Ike Turner, domestic violence, abortions…

Now, immersed in gloomy thoughts, Tina even thought that her time to die had come. So why not decide for herself when her last day on earth will be? Fortunately, her husband saves her from a terrible step – Bach donated a kidney for transplantation.

Only Tina began to recover as her world shattered again. In 2018, her son Craig committed suicide. And in December 2022, the second son of the singer Ronald also died – like his mother, the man had serious health problems, including cancer, and died at the age of 62 after a long illness.

And yet Turner was not one to complain and humbly bow her head under the blows of fate.

When CBS News journalist Gail King met with Turner in Switzerland three years ago to discuss her memoir My Love Story, she asked if there was anything Tina wanted in life that she didn’t have.

“No,” Turner answered without hesitation.

Simply put, the best.

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