I can’t remember a time in my life when Tina Turner was absent. In each of her incarnations, personal and musical, she was always there.
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Even his death this week at the age of 83 will not change that. Because Tina Turner, no one doubts it, is eternal.
A whole, avant-garde, courageous and determined woman. A unique artist and voice among the greatest. An irrepressible energy. And that smile, still sparkling deep in his eyes.
Until she left her first husband, Tina Turner was repeatedly beaten, humiliated and exploited by him. Behind the big scenes, she had to camouflage her bruised arms, her misaligned jaw or a shattered eye.
As with all abused women, famous or not, it will take strength and character to regain stolen control over her life. But Tina Turner didn’t stop there.
Once freed from her executioner, she told her story to the whole world with her head held high. We women have heard it. But she didn’t stop there either.
In the 1980s, in her mid-forties, with a new producer and a team of hell, she will experience the greatest renaissance in the history of modern music. Personal and professional.
An icon
Tina Turner was back…and for a long time. Stronger, more beautiful and freer than ever. His triumph over adversity was heartbreaking to watch. Ultimate survivor, she becomes an icon, in the noblest sense of the term.
This icon, I saw it for real. From memory, it was July 4, 1993. At the Montreal Forum, the queen of rock appeared to us in all her splendour. I know because I was there.
The atmosphere was electric. From his first notes, it was over. We were all conquered. To life, to death. Tina Turner For Ever. I saw her able to commune with us, her amazed audience, with the ardor of a resurrected heroine.
Her powerful voice, her magical smile, her endless legs and her fiery way of dancing as if the very fate of humanity depended on it, I will never forget them.
In full redemption, Tina Turner also meets love. Finally. The truth. It will be the young Erwin Bach. Until her last breath, it is with him that she will live her next 38 years.
A great love
In the documentary Tina, produced in 2021 for HBO, she tells how, before Erwin, she had never really known love. Never had a man even told her she was beautiful or treated her with dignity.
In Tina, she talks freely about her Erwin. How they fell in love in the whirlwind of a world tour. How she discovered in him a man of undeniable beauty, but above all a good, straight and very gentle being.
Moved, she describes him as a deeply loving and protective man. His admiration and respect for the one he will marry will never waver.
In 1993, the superb biographical film What’s love got to with it, told the first life of Tina Turner until her resounding return to solo. Film that she did not want to see since it reminded her of the sufferings of her first marriage.
However, I still have to make this film of my dreams. That of the inspiring story of his rebirth and his great love with Erwin Bach. A love as eternal as Tina Turner will remain so in our hearts.