Tina Turner becomes a Swiss citizen

The Daily Star – AFP, April 24, 2013

Talk show host Oprah Winfrey is shown with guests (L-R) Stevie Wonder,
 John Travolta, Gayle King and Tina Turner from the Oprah's 50th Birthday Party
 episode of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" that originally aired on January 29, 2004,
 in this publicity photograph released to Reuters on May 24, 2011.
REUTERS/George Burns/(C) Harpo, Inc./Handout

                              

GENEVA: Tina Turner, the US-born singer famed for hits such as "Private Dancer" and "What's Love Got to Do With It", has become a Swiss citizen, the Swiss newspaper Blick reported.

The 73-year-old retired entertainer, who has lived in Switzerland for nearly two decades, received her red Swiss passport with its distinctive white cross on it on Monday, the publication said.

Swiss media reported in January that Turner was to hand in her US passport when she got her Swiss one. She was quoted as saying that "I cannot imagine a better place to live" than in the European Alpine state, where privacy laws are strictly enforced.

Turner, who was born Anna Mae Bullock, lives in the picturesque town of Kuesnacht, on the shores of Lake Zurich in northern Switzerland. She had to learn German, pass a local civics test and interview to get her new citizenship.

She moved to Switzerland in 1995 when her longtime partner, German record executive Erwin Bach, was transferred here. The couple is expected to marry in a few months' time, Blick reported.

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