Tina Turner married Erwin Bach on July 4, 2013. Before tying the knot, the couple were over three decades old. During her wedding, the “What Love Has To Do With” singer let go of several wedding traditions. In her memoir, My Love Story, she explained why her wedding ceremony did not include bridesmaids.
Tina Turner with husband Erwin Bach | Peter Bischoff / Getty Images
Tina Turner and Erwin Bach met after she divorced Ike Turner
Turner began her music career in the 1960s. A native of Tennessee, Nutbush found her big break when she met Ike Turner. After he convinced him to let her perform with his band Kings of Rhythm, the two became friends. However, in My Love Story, Turner wrote that the relationship changed when Ike knew he could control her. In 1960 the couple had a son, Ronnie Turner. Two years later they were married in Tijuana, which she hated.
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During their marriage, Ike was reportedly physically, mentally, and emotionally abusive towards Turner. Although she had success with her band, the Ike and Tina Turner Revue, she soon got tired of Ike’s actions. After 16 years of marriage, Turner filed for divorce in 1978. Her ex-husband left her two cars and her stage name.
After her divorce from Ike, Turner met Bach in Germany. At the time, he was 30 and she was 46. Even so, Turner said in her HBO documentary Tina that she instantly fell in love with the former music manager.
“It was like crazy,” said Turner of meeting Bach. “[I thought], ‘Where is he from?’ He really looked that good. My heart [was beating fast] and it means that a soul met and my hands were shaking. “
Tina Turner didn’t want bridesmaids during her wedding to Erwin Bach because of Ike Turner
After they met, Turner and Bach stayed up to date for several years. Throughout their relationship, the “I don’t want to fight” singer didn’t want to remarry. However, she accepted his proposal in the 2010s. After accepting Bach’s proposal, the two planned a wedding at their home in Switzerland.
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In My Love Story, Turner said that she didn’t want bridesmaids on her “fairytale wedding”. She said being surrounded by women on her wedding day sparked negative memories on Ike.
“Although I have several close friends, I didn’t want to be surrounded by women on my wedding day,” Turner wrote. “Somehow that thought took me back to the past, back to Ike and all the women he always had with him, the girlfriends and the one-night stands.”
A fan of Ike and Tina was the singer’s maid of honor
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Ultimately, Turner found a way to avoid bridesmaids at her and Bach’s wedding. She wrote in her memoir that the couple decided to have only one groomsman and maid of honor next to them. Bach’s brother Jürgen Bach was the groom’s best man.
Turner asked her longtime friend and former manager Rhonda Graam to be next to the singer. Graam died in January 2021.
“For my maid of honor, I turned to one of the constants of my life, Rhonda Graam,” she said. “When I first met Rhonda in 1964, she was a young fan of Ike and Tina – a Californian girl who was interested in music. She had stayed with me in so many roles for nearly fifty years – friend, confidante, assistant, street manager – and we had supported each other in all sorts of situations. ”
