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What Happened to Tina Turner? Inside Her Illustrious Career and Life Before Her Death at 83
On May, 24, 2023, Tina Turner’s team announced her shocking death at age 83. Longtime fans of the “Proud Mary” singer were left devastated by her passing after watching her career flourish for more than six decades.
What Happened to Tina Turner?
Tina, born Anna Mae Bullock in 1939, began to take over the nightclub scene with her musical talent in St. Louis and East St. Louis in the late ‘50s. It was then that the Tennessee native met Ike Turner, whom she began a relationship with.
She was introduced to the public with Ike under her stage name with the 1960 single “A Fool in Love.” They worked together as a duo for many years, tying the knot in 1962. In 1976, Tina filed for divorce from the bandleader after years of physical altercations and his career-halting drug addiction.
Their divorce was finalized in 1978. Tina proceeded to make music as a solo artist, producing the 1984 hit “What’s Love Got to Do with It.” In addition to her Grammy-winning music career, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee also earned acting credits with appearances in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, Ally McBeal and more.
In her later years, Tina received the 2018 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and worked on Tina, a musical about her life. In October 2021, the performer sold the rights to her music catalog to BMG for a reported $50 million.
Did Tina Turner Have Kids?
Tina was a mom to four children. She first became a mother after welcoming her eldest son, Craig, with saxophonist Raymond Hill in 1958. Craig died by suicide in July 2018 at age 59.
“I think Craig was lonely, that’s what I think really got him more than anything else,” Tina told CBS News in July 2019. “I have pictures all around of him smiling, and I think I’m sensing that he’s in a good place. I really do.”
Following her marriage to Ike, Tina adopted his two sons from a previous relationship, Ike Jr. and Michael. The former couple also welcomed son Ronnie in 1960. In December 2022, Ronnie died at age 62 from complications of metastatic colon cancer.
Who Was Tina Turner’s Second Husband Erwin Bach?
In 1985, Tina met Erwin Bach, who was 16 years her junior, at an airport in Germany when he was tasked by her manager to pick her up. The German-born producer and the recording artist had an instant connection.
“I should have been too tired from my flight, too preoccupied with thoughts of my concert tour and in too much of a hurry to get to my hotel to pay much attention to the young music executive who came from my record company to welcome me,” she wrote in her 2020 book, Happiness Becomes You: A Guide to Changing Your Life for Good. “But I did notice him.”
The couple got married in 2013 after 27 years of dating. Three months after their wedding, she suffered a stroke, which led to a 10-day hospital stay. Three years later, she was diagnosed with intestinal cancer. In 2017, Erwin donated his kidney to his wife when she faced total kidney failure.
“I wondered if anyone would think that Erwin’s living donation was transactional in some way,” she wrote in her 2018 memoir, My Love Story. “Incredibly, considering how long we had been together, there were still people who wanted to believe that Erwin married me for my money and fame. What else would a younger man want with an older woman? Erwin always ignored the rumors.”
How Did Tina Turner Die?
Tina’s team announced her death in a statement shared on her official Instagram page in May 2023.
“It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Tina Turner,” the statement read. “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. All our heartfelt compassion goes out to her family. Tina, we will miss you dearly.”
The music icon died of natural causes after suffering from an undisclosed illness, per Us Weekly.
“I’m a happy person,” she reflected in the years before her death. “I had a very hard life. But I didn’t put blame on anything or anyone. I got through it.”
