Erwin Bach, a German music producer and actor, is best known for his marriage to the iconic queen of rock and roll, Tina Turner. Their love story began in 1985, when they first met after Turner’s tumultuous divorce from her abusive ex-husband. Despite initial hesitation, Bach quickly fell for Turner, and their relationship grew stronger over the years. Bach became a pillar of support for Turner and her children, eventually proposing to her multiple times before they finally tied the knot in July 2013. They now reside in Zurich, Switzerland.
Quick Facts
- German Celebrities Born In January Age: 67 Years, 67 Year Old Males
- Family: Spouse/Ex-: Tina Turner (m. 2013), children: Craig, Ronnie (stepchildren)
- Actors
- Height: 1.73 m
- City: Cologne, Germany
Early Life
Bach was born on January 24, 1956, in Cologne, a 2,000-year-old city spanning the Rhine River in western Germany. Little is known about his family or childhood.
Relationship with Turner
There is some confusion about how Bach and Turner met. According to most sources, they met at an EMI record label party in 1985. However, according to Turner herself, they met earlier than that. She landed at Heathrow Airport and he was there to pick her up. He stretched his arms out and said, “Hello.” As she did not know who he was, she took a few steps back. Then the introductions were made and Turner found herself attracted to this “unusually handsome” man. She has since stated that as they got into the car together, her heart was beating rapidly. It was love at first sight.
From 1962 to 1978, Turner (whose real name is Anna Mae Bullock), was married to American singer, musician, and record producer Ike Turner. They met while she was in a relationship with tenor Raymond Hill, who was the father of her first child, Craig (born 1958). Initially, the relationship between Bullock and Ike was a platonic one. In fact, they used to consider each other as siblings.
By 1959, their relationship had turned sexual. Tina later told Rolling Stones that the first time they had sex, she was escaping another musician who wanted to have intercourse with her. She ran to Ike’s bedroom, hoping that he would “protect her.” She became pregnant with Ike’s child and Ronnie Turner was born on October 27, 1960. They had a complicated partnership. In their later years, both of them would admit that they were never legally married.
The first account of physical abuse was committed when Tina told Ike that she wanted out of their confounding relationship. He responded by hitting her with a wooden shoe stretcher. In her autobiography, ‘I, Tina’, Turner revealed that this was the first time Ike had “instilled fear” in her. In a conversation with Spin, Ike would later say that “Yeah, I hit her, but I didn’t hit her more than the average guy beats his wife… if she says I abused her, maybe I did.”
Bach has never read ‘I, Tina’. He told Winfrey that it was hard to hear or read about the past of a person you love. He thought someday Turner would erase it and finally be done with it.
Bach is 16 years younger than Turner. The age difference has never been one of the important things in their relationship. When she turned 50, he proposed to her twice, believing that he needed to show her his commitment. He got down on one knee and as his English was not quite fluent back then, he said, “Will you marry with me?”
Although Turner did not really believe him, she did not say no. She loved him and feared that he would end the relationship if she rejected the proposal. Eventually, on July 4, 2013, Bach and Turner got married on the picturesque shores of Lake Zurich in Switzerland in a private ceremony attended by about 120 guests. She wore a gown designed by Italian designer Giorgio Armani and asked the guests to wear white to the wedding. Two weeks later, the marriage was cemented in a Buddhist ceremony.
Career
Erwin Bach had been a divisional managing director of EMI Germany and later became the managing director of EMI Recorded Music Switzerland. In 1999, he appeared in the Mexican family romance film ‘Maldito amor: Demasiado tarde’.