Friend recalls introducing Tina Turner to husband

Tina Turner and Erwin Bach lived together in Zurich, Switzerland

The man who introduced Tina Turner to her second husband has shared his memories of their blossoming romance, following the singer's death on Wednesday.

John Briley, from Lewes, East Sussex, was touring with Turner in the mid-1980s when he introduced the pop star to his friend and EMI colleague Erwin Bach in Germany.

"You could immediately see the spark between the two of them," Mr Briley, who is originally from Woodthorpe, Nottinghamshire, told BBC Radio Sussex.

Tina Turner and her manager Roger Davies later met Mr Bach and Mr Briley in Los Angeles.

The four went out for dinner and Mr Briley recalled asking Turner why she had not brought a boyfriend.

"She said to me: 'John, I'm Tina Turner. Nobody asks me out.'

"I said: 'Why not?'

"She said: 'They're all frightened of me. Nobody asks me out.'"

According to Mr Briley, Mr Bach - who was 16 years her junior - seized this opportunity to pop the question.

"'Well, I'll ask you out,' he said.

"She said: 'OK, let's go,'" John remembered.

They finished the dinner and Mr Bach and Turner went on to a club.

John Briley worked with Tina Turner in the 1980s

The following day Mr Bach received a call at work to tell him they had something for him.

"We went down," said Mr Briley, "and she'd bought him a black Mercedes G-Wagon."

Turner moved to Switzerland to live with Mr Bach and they stayed together until her death.

"They were a very loving couple," said Mr Briley.

They married in 2013 and when her health deteriorated in 2016, Mr Bach donated one of his kidneys to his wife.

The couple celebrated Turner's 50th birthday in 1989