"Do not dare to bother Tina Turner before the afternoon." This is written in German by the inscription outside the imposing tower of the "Grandmother of Rock", near Zurich. There, in the tower of her dreams, in Switzerland, the famous singer lives a calm and happy life, next to her younger husband, Erwin Bach.
In her 80s today, the Tina Turner she has left it all behind: a career, publicity, America and especially the nightmarish life she had with her first husband, Ike Turner. In fact, as she confessed in a recent interview with "The New York Times", for the last 10 years, she has decided to leave the music scene, she does not sing, she does not dance, she does not wear expensive toilets, she does not even paint.
Soon, will go up on Broadway, the show "Tina", which concerns the life and journey of the ageless singer. A life that had it all, a nightmarish scenario with extreme domestic violence, but also an optimistic message: what does not kill you, makes you stronger. And after Turner literally escaped the hands of her first husband, she not only got up and remained strong, but managed to build a second career that brought her to the top of the world music scene with record sales exceeding 200 million copies.
The acquaintance with Ike Turner
He was just 17 years old when Anna May Bullock met Ike Turner, the highly successful band of the time, "Kings of Rythm". The teenage girl soon fell in love with the musician and the two of them came close enough.
The beginning of his acquaintance seemed ideal. At first their relationship was something like a brotherhood, but it did not take long for them to feel attracted to each other, mainly because of their love for music and not so much because of love. She was enchanted by his talent and success, feeling safe next to him and he was captivated by her melodic voice.
But this ideal setting did not last long. After all, Turner was an aggressive person and soon became one with Tina. The first violent outburst against her occurred when she told him she wanted to end the collaboration. He hit her badly with a shoe sole, making it clear that she would not easily untangle with him.
After all, for him it had already begun to be his "property". He changed its name and then registered it, thus making it his property. She was seizing her profits, she wanted and she had all the control of her career, but also of her life. In fact, as she had previously confessed, he may have promoted her as an artist but got to the point where she almost hated music.
The violence in their marriage and the escape from the nightmare
In fact, Tina did not want to marry him, but with four children she had no choice. Finally, their wedding - in which her mother was an ardent ally - took place in 1962, in Mexico, and as she describes with creepy details in her autobiography, "My Love Story", the first wedding night was nightmarish. He abused her under the influence of cocaine, while this scenario continued throughout their married life.
"For me, sex with Aik was an expression of hostility - a kind of rape - especially when it started or ended with a beating. "What was already ugly, the hatred between us became worse with each passing nose", she describes in her autobiography.
But he did not stay there. Incidents of violence took place on an almost daily basis and Turner spiraled out of control. "He used me as a boxing bag so many times that I almost sang with the taste of blood filling my throat. He broke my jaw. "I could not remember what it was like not to have bruises from punches to the eye," the singer describes elsewhere in her book.
In fact, Ike Turner initially hit her in the ribs so that the blow could be covered. Later, he was not interested in that either. On the contrary, she felt "good" when her blows were visible to the world. Tina felt that she had bottomed out, she was ashamed and now she was afraid for her life. So he decided to take a risk and literally escape through the back door of a hotel where they were staying. She walked away with only 36 cents in her pocket, but with a powerful weapon in her quiver: her voice.
Freedom and new life in Switzerland
So at 30, she decided to take life into her own hands. Even today, she is ashamed to speak openly and in great detail about what she went through next to her violent husband. And then, ashamed and afraid, however, he decided to move towards freedom, knowing that something good would happen below.
And it happened. She started a solo career and like Phoenix she was reborn from her ashes. It was a huge success, it sold millions of records, sold out concerts, remained in everyone's consciousness as the absolute star of the world music scene, the "Grandmother of Rock".
But she also met love in the face of her much younger German producer Erwin Bach. And the press may ironically call him her "toy boy", but he still tells her what Ike Turner violently deprived her of during their married life.
They have been together since the mid-90s, and in 1996 they moved to an imposing tower outside Zurich. They live there until today, far from everyone and everything. There, Turner has found her sanctuary. Although the truth is that life does not leave her alone.
A few years ago she was diagnosed with kidney cancer and Bach not only stood by her, but offered her his own. Last year, the singer lost her eldest son Grek (she committed suicide at the age of 59) whom she had acquired at the age of 18, from her relationship with saxophonist Raymond Hill and who was later adopted by her first husband Ike.
The "blow" was heavy, although she later stated that for her death in general is not a problem. "I honestly do not mind leaving," she told the BBC. However, the death of Ike Turner in 2007, after drug addiction, was different for her. He felt for the first time that he no longer had to worry.
Did she forgive him for what he did to her? "I do not think I can ever forgive him. But Ike is dead. "We should not worry about him," she told the New York Times in a recent interview.