A year ago, Tina Turner, one of the greatest icons in the music world, died. Many people are thinking about her legacy.
On May 24, 2023, Tina Turner (1939-2023) died after a long illness at the age of 83. Even though in her final years she had largely withdrawn from the public eye into a private life alongside her German husband Erwin Bach in her adopted Swiss home of Küsnacht on Lake Zurich, the gigantic sympathy of fans and colleagues from all over the world in the days following her death made it clear once again what a huge gap the rock diva left behind.
Although the singer, born in Brownsville, Tennessee in 1939, had created a gigantic monument to herself with her songs and her long career, many people have been thinking over the past twelve months about how to appropriately preserve her memory.
Chilly Gonzales calls for Tina-Turner-Straße in Cologne
The fact that this can sometimes take on bizarre forms is shown by a recent case from the Rhenish metropolis of Cologne, where Tina Turner and her husband Erwin resided in the posh villa suburb of Marienburg between 1985 and 1994. , the Canadian musician and Cologne resident Chilly Gonzales (52) launched a petition in March 2024 in which he called for the centrally located Richard-Wagner-Straße to be renamed Tina-Turner-Straße.
His justification in the petition: “Richard Wagner was a great composer, but a horrible person,” who in his essay “Judaism in Music” (1869) further fueled the anti-Semitism that already existed at the time. He was completely unsuitable as the namesake of a street in a cosmopolitan cultural metropolis. As soon as it has been possible to “remove Richard Wagner’s name from the street,” the next step would be to propose renaming it Tina-Turner-Straße.
Gonzales ended his appeal with the words: “Who would be better suited to this than an African-American composer and singer who made Cologne her home for nine years? Renaming the street to Tina Turner Street would be a worthy tribute to a world-famous and beloved Cologne resident who died in 2023.” So far, his petition has found almost 12,000 supporters.
Hometown of Brownsville plans “monumental” statue
At the same time, Tina Turner’s birthplace, Brownsville, is also working on creating a worthy monument to the city’s famous daughter. As the Brownsville City Council announced in April, the singer, who is only 1.63 meters tall, will be honored with a 1.80 meter tall bronze statue, which will be placed in a park near the school that Turner attended in the town.
Brownsville Mayor William Rawls had moving words to say about the decision: “We want to be sure that we continue to honor Tina Turner’s legacy in a monumental way. Being her hometown, saving her childhood school, and now being able to put a statue across the street from where she attended high school and played basketball is just another way for us to do our part to keep her legacy alive and tell more of her story.”
There is currently a competition for ideas for the iconic pose that the artist Fred “Ajano” Ajanogha (66), who was commissioned to create the monument, is to use to depict the rock diva. The ceremonial unveiling of the work, which is largely funded by donations, is expected to take place in autumn 2025.
Tina Turner museums planned in Switzerland
Of course, in the meantime, people in Tina Turner’s last adopted home were also thinking intensively about how to appropriately honor the singer, who took Swiss citizenship in 2013 and lived in a sophisticated villa in Küsnacht near Zurich from 1998 until her death.
It became known that the community of her last place of residence was considering the construction of a Tina Turner museum. In the picturesque little town on the shores of Lake Zurich, in addition to the city administration, the local support association “Art & Culture on Lake Zurich” is considering the construction of an “official site in honor of the deceased rock legend.”
“There must and will be a publicly accessible culture of remembrance for Tina Turner in Küsnacht,” emphasized association president Thomas Kain when asked by the newspaper. The only question will be in what form this fascinating personality of rock history will be commemorated. Kain is convinced that a Tina Turner museum would definitely “bring visitors from near and far in the long term” to the community.
Source: Stern
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
