Rich, free and in control: the 'foreign affairs' of Tina Turner

Ebony, Nov, 1989 by Lynn Norment

Rich, Free And In Control

TINA Turner is 50 years old, but you can't tell her age by looking at her clear, wrinkle-free complexion or her famous high-stepping legs. You get no indication of age from her energetic performances. Of from the sensuous, husky, honey voice that fires the imagination of young rock 'n' roll fans and their conservative fathers as well.

Rock music's queen diva defies age, nature and the odds by looking as good as ever and continuing to turn out hit songs. Her newest album, Foreign Affair, marks Tina's return to the limelight after a 12-month retreat from the public view. Most of that time was spent in Europe, where she has a new home in London, a new German boyfriend who is almost 20 years younger, and ahost of loyal fans who treat her like royalty.

Finally, she is rich, free and in control of her life and career, having made a remarkable comeback from being the penniless, battered wife of musician Ike Turner to a solo success, a wealthy woman who must be reckoned with on her own terms.

To her credit are four successful solo albums, four Grammy Awards and a string of worldwide concert tours that literally had her performing on every single continent to sold-out crowds. In addition, Tina now appears in TV ads for Chrysler Corp.'s 1990 Plymouth line of automobiles. It is her first time doing a national advertising campaign. "I'm much more secure, more in charge of my career," she now says with confidence.

On the Foreign Affairs LP, tina also takes her first production and arranging credit for work on "The Best," the album's first single, and "Look Me In The Heart." "I've always selected my songs, but this is the first time that I've had any control in the recording studio," she says, adding that the album also includes a couple of down-home blues songs for those fans who have complained that she has deserted her blues roots for the more racy rock 'n' roll crossover hits.

The album, which was recorded in New York, London and Paris earlier this year, was truly a foreign affair, especially since it reflects the works of several British producers and writers. But the title could speak to other aspects of this superstar's life as well. Her manager and good friend, Roger Davies, is Australian, and she credits her loyal European fans with helping her get her life and career back on track after the breakup of her long-time marriage.

But more than any of these references, Foreign Affair could allude to her three-year-old relationship with record company executive Erwin Bach, who works for EMI Germany.

She says she had known the 32-year-old Bach (who is not much older than her adult sons, Craig and Ron) for two years and "felt I seriously like this person" before she invited him to her house in London for dinner. "Some kind of way, the chemistry just happened and we have been together for three years," she says. "He's young. He's European. He's very adult for his age. And the relationship is a very healthy one. It's not restricting; it's not demanding, and we still live our own lives."

For the past year, life for Tina has focused on sharing time with Bach while house-hunting all over Europe and finally settling, though only temporarily, in a fashionable townhouse that covers six floors in London's ritzy Notting Hill Gate district. She eventually wants to find the right estate--with a large house and spacious grounds -- in Germany. In the meantime, she has been taveling the world, taking in the sights of Cairo, Paris and Brazil. She also has spent time working in Bach's garden and making changes to the bachelor's London home.

Is this the same Tina Turner whose stage performances over the past 30 years have defined shaking and shimmying for successive generations? As Tina herself admits, there is another side to her sexy stage persona: the down-to-earth woman who would rather be identified with elegance and class rather than raunch and sex.

"In a strange kind of way," she says, "I've always been embarrassed about sex. I guess no one would ever think of me as shy. I rarely use profanity. Sometimes I'm shocked by what people say. I don't want to say raunchy things because I think, psychologically, I really don't want that as an image. Raunchiness is what I do best, I suppose, and I enjoy it, but I have limitations."

Throughout her life and career, the dynamic entertainer has proven that she can stretch the bounds of her limitations.

From 1958 to 1976, Tina and her career were controlled by her former husband, Ike. Starting with the chittlin' circuit and working their way to grand concert halls, the Ike and Tina Turner Revue gained considerable acclaim with such hits as "Proud Mary," "River Deep," "I Want To Take You Higher" and "Come Together." She was 16, naive and had recently moved from a Nutbush, Tenn., farm to St. Louis, Mo., when she first met Ike in the mid '50s. According to her autobiography, after years of physical and emotional abuse, Tina broke away from ike in 1976, after he beat her for what would be the last time and fell asleep. Tina says she literally ran for her life with only 36 cents in her pocket, leaving behind all her personal belongings.