The tributes and awards have been non-stop ever since Tina Turner died on May 24 at her home in Küsnacht, Switzerland, near Zurich, after a long illness at the age of 83.
The Queen Of Rock And Roll spent the last 28 years of her life with her second husband of 10 years, Erwin Bach, who, among other things, enjoyed the spoils of her success in their $76 million mansion known as Villa Algonquin.
And while fans and celebrities alike share their respects and condolences for the Simply The Best singer, her passing has seemingly opened another deep wound within her family.
Many in the family are still mourning the loss of the singer’s two biological sons, Craig Turner and Ronnie Turner, as of 2018, including the singer’s two adoptive sons, Ike Turner Jr. and Michael Turner.
As it turns out, the iconic singer, along with her beloved husband and sons Ike Jr. and Michael, whom she adopted as her own when she married Ike Turner, leaves behind two grandchildren and five great-grandchildren—all of whom she never met. during her lifetime, according to Page six.
Family grief: Tina Turner, who passed away on May 24 at the age of 83, has not been able to meet her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, according to Page Six
Some members of the family are still in shock over her death, claiming they never heard how ill she was in her final years.
“No one had heard from Tina in a while, it happened so suddenly,” said Twanna Turner, 63, Ike Turner’s daughter from his relationship with Tina’s high school boyfriend, Pat Richard.
“It’s time to heal,” Twanna told an interviewer, adding, “The family really wants and needs to heal, they’ve been through so much and they continue to go through so much.”
Tina’s death has also made all the headlines about her first marriage to Ike, which was rife with allegations of violence and abuse from Tina after their 16-year union.
“When Tina passed away all I could think was, now the floodgates are open for my dad. I couldn’t even grieve Tina,” she admitted, after not meeting Ike until she was 28 in 1987. “Since I met him, I’ve had a protective attitude towards Dad.”
Twanna would go on to tell how her father always denied abusing Tina and that he never spoke negatively about her.
The marriage was depicted on the big screen in What’s Love Got To Do With It (1993), with Angela Bassett giving an Oscar-nominated turn as Tina, alongside Laurence Fishburne as Ike.
The singer wrote about his continued abuse during their relationship in her 1986 biography, I, Tina, on which the biopics were based several years later.
Family tragedy: The iconic singer had two biological sons, both of whom have passed away since 2018, and two sons she adopted as her own and were Ike’s from a previous relationship; clockwise from bottom left: Michael Turner (son of Ike & Lorraine Taylor), Ike Turner, Jr. (son of Ike & Lorraine Taylor), Ike Turner, Craig Hill (son of Tina & Raymond Hill), Ronnie Turner (son of Ike & Tina) (1960 – 2022)
Tragic: Ike and Tina Turner had one biological son together, Ronnie, who died of colon cancer at age 62 in December; the former couple were married for 16 years and are seen in 1960
Referring to her father, who died in December 2007 at the age of 76, Twanna went on to say, “These two powerhouses were such an entity – there will never be another Ike and Tina.”
Tina’s (Anna Mae Bullock) first son Raymond Craig, whom she had with saxophonist Raymond Hill, was born when she was just 18. Raymond, whose name was Craig, took his own life in July 2018 at the age of 59, after a long history of struggling with drugs.
Tragedy would strike Tina again when her son Ronnie, her only biological child with ex-husband and famed musician Ike Turner, died of colon cancer at the age of 62. Ronnie’s passing left his widow, Afida Turner, to raise their two children as a single mother. .
Family sources revealed that Tina was unable to make it to his funeral in Los Angeles, which is believed to be due to her poor health in the last years of her life.
In her memoir My Love Story (2018), the Simply The Best singer had multiple life-threatening illnesses, including kidney failure, largely due to untreated high blood pressure since 1978, a stroke in 2013, and being diagnosed with colon cancer in 2016.
While Craig and Ike Jr. never had children, Michael has a daughter, Tiffany Turner-Dukes, who in turn has three children, daughter Marli, and sons, Amari and Gianni, with her husband.
And while none of Tina’s three great-grandchildren have met their great-grandmother through Michael, the family claims they all seem to have inherited the musical gene.
Ronnie also had children, Randy and Raquel, who never met their famous grandmother, along with Raquel’s little boys, Tyson and Tyrese.
In addition to her health problems, distance probably also played a role in not meeting the grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Between moving to Küsnacht. Switzerland in 1995, and as she suffered from a number of illnesses in her later years, traveling became very difficult for Tina; she was seen in NYC in November 2019
Estate: A relative claims that Tina’s husband, Erwin Bach, will inherit nearly half of her estimated $250 million fortune, but added that it is still unclear who would inherit the rest of her estate as both of her biological sons were both deceased
Tina Turner moved to Küsnacht in 1995 when Bach took a job as head of EMI Music’s Swiss offices in nearby Zurich.
They married in 2013, the same year Tina acquired Swiss citizenship and gave up her US passport.
She reportedly spent her final days relaxing and strolling through the picturesque lakeside village with her husband, 67, who donated one of his kidneys to Tina when she needed a transplant in 2017.
Tina’s son Ronnie’s wife, Afida, claims Bach will inherit nearly half of her estimated $250 million fortune, but added that it’s still unclear who would inherit the rest of her estate, as both of her biological sons were both deceased.