Tina Turner years ago explained her decision to relocate to Europe in the mid-90s was spurred by the comeback she experienced in the 80s – one of the biggest resurgences in the history of music.

Achieved in 1984 with hits like What’s Love Got to Do With It and her seminal Private Dancer album, the late, legendary singer’s revival came after a number of torrid years in the late 70s, and an first abusive marriage to ex-bandmate Ike Turner.

It was Ike, who died in 2007 of a drug overdose, who is credited with helping Turner find success in the first phase of her career – with hits like ‘River Deep Mountain High’ and ‘Nutbush City Limits’ propelling the couple to powerhouse status in the 60s.

The ensuing decade-and-a-half – as well as the couple’s relationship – would be riddled with well-known instances of abuse and drug addiction, that eventually brought both their marriage and Turner’s budding career to an abrupt end.

Forced to take a cleaning job in order to afford rent, a newly divorced Turner at first took to cabaret shows in Vegas before finding success in the UK with a cover of Al Green’s Let’s Stay Together – a surprise hit and her ticket back to mainstream fame.

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In 2013, she took it a step further – by fully renouncing her US citizenship. At that point, she was living in the same Swiss suburb where she died Wednesday, but still a few years away from moving to the $76million compound where fans are still leaving wreaths in tribute of Turner

The next year, while touring overseas, she would meet the man who become her next husband, German music exec Erwin Bach, and blossom into one the world’s most iconic stars. 

It was this success, Turner said in a resurface 1997 interview, that spurred her to  relocate to Switzerland two years before. 

In 2013, still a few years away from moving to the $76million compound where fans are still leaving wreaths , she took it a step further – by fully renouncing her US citizenship and devoting herself totally to her new home across the Atlantic.

‘Europe has been very supportive of me,’ Turner, who passed away from an unknown illness at her sprawling manse in an obscure Zurich suburb Wednesday, told the station in 1997 of what influenced her decision to live across the pond full time.

Grinning ear to ear, the singer, then 60, joked: ‘I’m as big as Madonna in Europe.’

She added: ‘I’m as big – in some places – as The Rolling Stones.’

The revelation regarding Turner’s decision to move to a Swiss town that most have never heard of, set on the coast of placid Lake Zurich, comes as an array of old interviews continue to resurface after her death – which itself was predated by years of health woes, like a bout with cancer and kidney failure, experienced by the singer.

Despite these maladies – which began roughly a decade ago – Turner managed to make the most of her years in the peaceful lake town called Kuesnacht, where she had lived for the past 26 years.

That said, she would not move to 260,00-square foot, 10-building behemoth where she passed until 2021 – when she purchased it with Bach, 67, for an eyewatering $76million.

The astronomical price, as well as the mass of flowers currently swelling at the property’s gates, serves as indicative of the legacy Turner has left behind – a reputation that likely would never have been garnered if not for Turner’s musical presence in other countries.

A then-60-year-old Turner made the comments to Larry King back in 1997, two years after permanently taking up digs in the obscure town near Lake Zurich, and more than a decade after a career revival largely credited to success in countries like the UK

Turner – who succumbed to an unknown illness at the 260,00-square foot, 10-building home she bought two years ago – couldn’t help but smile when joking about her success overseas: ‘I’m as big as Madonna in Europe,’ she said. ‘I’m as big – in some places – as The Rolling Stones’

The revelation regarding Turner’s decision to move to Kuesnacht, a town that most have never heard of, comes as an array of old interviews continue to resurface after her death. She moved to this estate – where she passed – just two years ago, and lived with her second husband

Turner and her husband Erwin Bach purchased the massive 260,000 square foot several years ago for a whopping $76million, after living in the town for the better part of three decades

The astronomical price, as well as the mass of flowers currently swelling at the property’s gates, serves as indicative of the legacy Turner has left behind. Pictured is a Turner fan deep in prayer after paying tribute to the star on Thursday

The songstress’ reputation overseas – which likely would never have been garnered if not for Turner’s resurgence in the 80s after a speedbump the decade before – was on full display Thursday with the procession of mourners and bouquets outside her estate’s gates

A person gestures as tributes are laid outside the home of late singer, who was widely referred to as the ‘Queen of Rock’

Flowers and candles at the gate of the villa of late singer and stage performer Thursday

Groundskeepers were seen moving the mass of flowers at the estate on the day after her death

Mourners left heartfelt messages that paid tribute to the songstress’ illustrious song catalogue

In contrast to her much later success, Turner was born into the very quite rural Tennessee community of Nutbush in 1939.

Her father worked as an overseer on a farm and her mother left the family when the singer was 11 years old, according to the singer’s 2018 memoir ‘My Love Story.’ As a teenager, she moved to St. Louis to rejoin her mom.

First husband Ike then discovered her when she was 17 after she grabbed the mic to sing at his club show in St. Louis in 1957.

The band leader later recorded a hit song, ‘A Fool In Love,’ with the young singer and gave her the stage name Tina Turner, before the two married in Tijuana, Mexico.

The ensemble, called the Ike and Tina Turner Revue, immediately thrust her into the spotlight.

The group collaborated with members of rock royalty, including The Who and Phil Spector, in the 1960s and 1970s and appeared on the cover of issue two of Rolling Stone magazine in 1967.

Ike and Tina Turner bounced between record labels, owing much of their commercial success to a relentless touring schedule. Their biggest hit was a cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Proud Mary, which hit top four on Billboard’s pop chart and sold more than one million copies worldwide.

Ike and Tina Turner performing ‘Nutbush City Limits’ on the German television program Musikladen, Bremen, West Germany, 1973

Then-husband-and-wife R&B duo Ike and Tina Turner perform onstage with a Fender Stratocaster electric guitar in 1964 in Dallas Fort Worth, Texas

Ike Turner discovered the singer when she was 17 after she grabbed the mic to sing at his club show in St. Louis in 1957. They are pictured in 1963

Tina – The Tina Turner Musical became a hit first in London’s West End in 2018 (pictured), and later on Broadway, and is still running

Turner left her husband one night in 1976 on a tour stop in Dallas, after he pummeled her during a car ride and she struck back, according to her memoir. Their divorce was finalized in 1978.

After leaving her husband, Turner spent years struggling to regain the limelight, releasing solo albums and singles that flopped and gigging at corporate conferences.

In 1980, she met new manager Roger Davies, an Australian music executive who went on to manage her for three decades. That led to a solo No. 1 – ‘What’s Love Got to Do With It’ – and then in 1984 her album ‘Private Dancer’ landed her at the top of the charts again.

‘Private Dancer’ went on to become Turner’s biggest album, the capstone of a career in which she sold more than 200 million records in total.

Turner also had sporadic appearances on the big screen, appearing in Tommy (1975), Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985) and Last Action Hero (1993).

The apocalyptic action film Mad Max saw her star alongside Mel Gibson and provide the song We Don’t Need Another Hero – adding to her already extensive commercial success.

In 1985 Turner met German music executive Erwin Bach, who became her long-term partner, and in 1988 she moved to London, beginning a decades-long residency in Europe. 

Turner officially retired from live performing in 2009 after a sold-out concert in England. Her last performance was in Sheffield, Yorkshire

Tina Turner won eight Grammy’s from 25 nominations and three lifetime Grammy Awards. Pictured: Turner, center, speaks on stage with actors Daniel J. Watts, left, and Adrienne Warren on the opening night of the Broadway show

Turner and Bach shopping in Milan, Italy, April 5, 2008, shortly before her retirement. The pair began dating after meeting in a German airport in the mid 80s – beginning Turner’s love affair with the continent

She released two studio albums in the 1990s that sold well, especially in Europe, recorded the theme song for 1995 Bond movie ‘GoldenEye,’ and staged a successful world tour in 2008 and 2009.

After that, she retired from show business. She married Bach, relinquishing her U.S. citizenship and becoming a citizen of Switzerland.

In 2021, eight years after wedding Bach and more than three decades into their relationship, the two splashed out the aforementioned ten-building estate where she passed away Wednesday.

Her agent confirmed to Dailymail.com she died from natural causes at her home in Switzerland.