Tina Turner proves age is just a number

They met at an industry party in London shortly after she established herself as one the world’s most successful solo artists – now, some 25-years later, Tina Turner is said to be keen on exchanging vows with German record producer Erwin Bach. Rumours are currently swirling over the possibility of a summer wedding following widespread reports of an engagement last April. With the couple currently residing in Zurich, Switzerland – their home for more than 15-years – sources claim they’re planning an intimate ceremony at their sprawling Chateau Algonquin property this summer. ‘According to reports, Turner and Bach will tie the knot at their home on Lake Zurich on July 21,’ writes the New York Post. While the date is yet to be officially confirmed by Turner and Bach, other potential wedding destinations have been mooted. These include their second home on the French Riviera – where sources claim the couple are planning an extravagant bash for close friends and family members. A practicing Buddhist since the early-seventies, Tina is understood to have requested her guests – of whom designer Giorgio Armani is rumoured to be one – wear white during what is believed to be a Buddhist ceremony. Armani is also said to be designing the Grammy award winner’s dress for what will be her second wedding – her first being a volatile 14-year marriage to the late Ike Turner, with whom she found fame in the 1960’s. Following their divorce in 1978 Tina recounted the domestic abuse she suffered at the hands of her first husband in bestselling 1986 memoir I, Tina – the inspiration for big-screen biopic What’s Love Got to Do with it starring Angela Bassett as Turner and Laurence Fishburne as Ike. The singer first met Bach at an EMI record label bash in 1985, although their relationship remained platonic for more than a year before they started dating. Despite the wide age gap – Turner is now 73, while Bach is 57 – the pair have enjoyed a blissfully happy romance, something she referred to during a 2006 interview with talk show host Oprah Winfrey, in which she shot down any notion of marriage. ‘People often ask me why don’t I marry,’ she said. ‘I have love. I have a good life. I don’t need to interfere with that. For some people, marriage means “You’re mine now.” That can be the beginning of the failure of a relationship.’ She added: ‘Psychologically, something happens when someone says, “You’re my husband or wife. You can’t do this or that.” It’s about ownership. That freedom that two people loving each other and wanting to be together – and being able to leave if anything is wrong – is gone. ‘Neither Erwin nor I feel the need to get married. We’ve been together for 18 years. What would marriage give me that I don’t already have? Marriage would be about pleasing the public. Why do I need to please the public if I’m already pleased?’ The singer has two children, sons Craig, from a relationship with late saxophonist Raymond Hill in 1958 and Ronald – her only child with Ike.