MAY: TINA TURNER’s Swiss Bliss

As the poet soldier Rupert Brooke wrote “If I should die, think only this of me: That there’s some corner of a foreign field that is forever England”. There is corner in a bucolic town called Küsnacht in the northern shores of Lake Zürich - that is forever Tina Turner.

Küsnacht is bang in the middle of the so-called Gold Coast - prime residential area in Zürich, abundant with lakeside or hillside towering villas rising behind tall evergreen hedges.

2013 wedding to Erwin Bach: the bride wore a green/black Armani and asked her guests to wear white.

(R) Villa Algonquin - photo courtesy of AP News Michael Buholzer/Keystone

Tina moved to Zürich in 1995 when her partner Erwin Bach took over the running of the Swiss offices of EMI Music. They moved to Villa Algonquin in Küsnacht in 1998.

Küsnacht goes back to the Roman times. The town still has cobblestones with the imposing church at its centre. The street near the railway are lined with gnarled ancient chestnut trees. The narrow streets downtown are lined with one of a kind boutique shops. Cafés and restaurants have outdoor seating under a grapevine or wisteria canopy.

It is in Küsnacht that Tina lived a low key life. It is here that Tina felt safe enough to go out in public without security. She walked 10min up the hill to do her own shopping where she was a regular at Moreira delicatessen. Her favourite restaurant Rico’s was a 3-min walk. She stood in line at the Post Office or to vote. And queued for pastries at the Confiserie.

The locals went out of their way to help an overwhelmingly public figure enjoy a private life. Switzerland has long attracted celebrities like Charlie Chaplin, Audrey Hepburn and Freddie Mercury – because the formal Swiss tend to leave them alone. Methinks this is partly imbedded in the French and German language – the formal Vous and Sie. You have to be invited to address them in Tu or Du – which signals a more familiar relationship.

Moreira Gourmet House in Oberwachtstrasse and Rico’s at Seestrasse

Markus Ernst, the mayor of Küsnacht said “One of the reasons she came to Switzerland was to have a completely normal life. She could go to restaurants without being photographed all the time. In the street, people didn’t stare at her or ask for her autograph.” But he also said that Tina was engaged in the community – regularly lighting the annual Christmas tree in front of the church and once paid 250,000 Francs for the Christmas wreaths that decorated the village lampposts. Four were installed opposite the villa yesterday. She even inaugurated a municipal rescue boat that has been christened “Tina”.

Tina’s Christmas wreaths installed outside her villa

It is outside Villa Algonquin that residents of Küsnacht and fans of Tina came to lay their tributes. When they announced her death on Wednesday evening, the flowers, candles, cards and pall scarves began arriving. I came on Thursday morning and added my tribute. I was looking for a pinky coral rose similar to that named after her but there were none so white roses it is with white chrysanthemums and white baby’s breath.

I happened to pass by again in the evening and as the tributes piled up, the gardeners moved them on the driveway inside the gate. The people don’t stay long. There’s not much room. Plus the press are there. It’s muted. No singing of her songs, although a nearby Café where the press were holed up was playing her music. There are no planned mass vigils or flash mob dancing to Private Dancer, Proud Mary or Nutbush City Limits. (Yay US Embassy in Canberra!) A statement from her longtime manager, Bernhard Doherty said that a private funeral ceremony amongst close family and friends was planned. It is unlikely that that will be in the village church as Tina was a Buddhist.