Tina Turner bids US goodbye, takes up Swiss citizenship

Tina Turner is renouncing her American citizenship to become a fully-fledge Swiss citizen.The 'Proud Mary' singer, who was born in Nutbush, Tennessee, has been living in the Swiss city of Zurich for close to twenty years now and decided that it is time to make things official as she has handed her US Passport in and picked up a shiny new Swiss one instead. The American rock diva has lived in the Zurich suburb of Kuesnacht since the mid-1990s and speaks fluent German. The local Zuerichsee-Zeitung newspaper said on its website the local council announced its decision to grant the 73-year-old Turner citizenship in an official notice published in Friday’s edition. The decision still requires formal approval from state and federal authorities. The Proud Mary singer told a local German newspaper: ‘I’m very happy in Switzerland and I feel at home here. I cannot imagine a better place to live.’ Turner’s agent told Zuerichsee-Zeitung the singer wanted to ‘clarify her situation’. ‘Tina Turner will therefore also give back her US citizenship,’ she said. Tina’s move has sparked rumors she is following in the footsteps of Depardieu and Facebook’s Eduardo Saverin, who now calls Singapore, with its 18 per cent tax rate, home. Wealthy socialite Denise Rich, born Denise Eisenberg, renounced her U.S. last year. She was married to billionaire commodities trader Marc Rich, controversially pardoned by Bill Clinton his last day in office. Denise has written songs for Aretha Franklin, Mary J. Blige and Jessica Simpson. But Forbes says of the singer’s move: ‘There’s little to suggest taxes motivate the decision, and Swiss rates are high.’ The mayor of Tina’s hometown in Brownsville, Tennessee, said he was surprised at the news. ‘Tina Turner – as she has gotten worldwide fame – has never forgotten her roots,’ Mayor Jo Matherne told Fox. ’We’ve been in recent contact with some of her people talking about some projects we have in Brownsville.’ Matherne said she was unsure how residents would react to the news of Turner’s citizenship swap. ‘I think anytime a person, whether they’re world-renowned or the most meek and mild, makes the decision to change their citizenship we need to step back and think what causes that decision,’ Matherne said. Although Turner has yet to make any official declaration of her new citizenship, local newspaper Zuerichsee-Zeitung has said that the singer has been granted citizenship in the country already and that it is only a matter of time now until things become official. One source close to Tina told the paper, "She appreciates the beautiful scenery, the friendly people, the game of the four seasons," adding, "She is happy, as it was included here, as they are treated in a friendly and unobtrusive." Beautiful scenery, mountains of chocolate, friendly people and of course, tax benefits on an unprecedented scale, what’s not to like? The singer, who has sold 200 million records, first came to Zurich with her longtime partner, German music manager Erwin Bach. They live in a lake house called Chateau Algonquin