Ike Turner
Encyclopedia
Isaac Wister Turner (November 5, 1931 – December 12, 2007) was an American
musician
, bandleader
, songwriter
, arranger
, talent scout
, and record producer
. In a career that lasted more than half a century, his repertoire included blues, soul
, rock
, and funk. He is most popularly known for his 1960s work with his then wife Tina Turner
in the Ike & Tina Turner
revue.
Growing up in Clarksdale, Mississippi
, he began playing piano and guitar when he was eight, forming his group, the Kings of Rhythm
as a teenager at high school. He employed the group as his backing band for the rest of his life. His first recording, "Rocket 88
" with the Kings of Rhythm credited as "Jackie Brenston
and his Delta Cats", in 1951, has been considered a possible contender for "first rock and roll song". Relocating to St. Louis, Missouri
in 1954, he built the Kings into one of the most renowned acts on the local club
circuit. It was there he met singer Anna Mae Bullock, whom he married and renamed Tina Turner, forming the Ike & Tina Turner
Revue, which over the course of the sixties became a soul/rock crossover success.
In the 1950s, Turner was employed by Sun Studios and Modern Records
as an arranger and talent scout for blues artists.
Turner recorded for many of the key R&B record label
s of the 1950s and 1960s, including Chess
, Modern, Trumpet
, Flair
and Sue
. With the Ike & Tina Revue he graduated to larger labels Blue Thumb and United Artists
. Throughout his career Turner won two Grammy Awards and was nominated for three others. Alongside his former wife, Turner was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
in 1991 and in 2001 was inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame
.
Revelations by Tina Turner in her autobiography
of her abusive relationship with Turner and the film adaptation of this coupled with his cocaine
addiction
damaged Turner's career in the 1980s and 1990s. His name became a synonym
for wifebeater
, which overshadowed his contributions to music. Addicted to cocaine and crack
for at least fifteen years, Turner served over a year in prison
in 1991. He spent the rest of the 1990s free of his addiction, but relapse
d in 2004. Near the end of his life, he returned to live performance as a frontman and produced two albums returning to his blues roots, which were critically well received and award-winning. Turner has frequently been referred to as a 'great innovator' of Rock and Roll by contemporaries such as Little Richard
and Johnny Otis
. Phil Alexander (then editor-in-chief of Mojo
magazine) described Turner as 'the cornerstone of modern day rock 'n' roll'.
, on November 5, 1931, to Beatrice Cushenberry (1909–195?), a seamstress, and Izear Luster Turner, a Baptist
minister. The younger of two siblings, Turner had an elder sister, named Ethel May. Turner believed for many years that he was named Izear Luster Turner, Jr. after his father, until he discovered his name was registered as Isaac Wister Turner while applying for his first passport. He never got to discover the origin of his name, as by the time he discovered it, his parents were both dead.
Turner claimed when he was very young, he witnessed his father beaten and left for dead by a white mob. His father lived for 3 years as an invalid in a tent in the family's yard before succumbing to his injuries. Writer and blues
historian
Ted Drozdowski has told a different version of the story, stating that Turner's father died in an industrial accident. His mother remarried to a man called Philip Reeves. Turner said his stepfather was a violent alcoholic and they often argued and fought, after one fight Turner knocked out his stepfather with a piece of wood. He then ran away to Memphis where he lived rough for a few days before returning to his mother. He later reconciled with his stepfather years later, buying a house for him in the 1950s around the time Turner's mother died.
Turner was inspired to learn the piano
on a visit to his friend Ernest Lane's house, where he heard Pinetop Perkins
playing Lane's fathers' piano. Turner convinced his mother to pay for him to have piano lessons with a teacher; however he did not take to the formal style of playing, instead spending the money at the pool hall, then learning from Perkins. boogie-woogie
. He taught himself to play guitar by playing along to old blues records.
At some point in the 1940s, Turner moved into Clarksdale’s Riverside Hotel, run by Mrs. Z.L. Ratliff. The Riverside played host to a great number of touring musicians, including Sonny Boy Williamson II
and Duke Ellington
. Turner associated and played music with many of these guests.
This led to Turner being offered a job by the station manager as the DJ on the late-afternoon shift. The job meant he had access to all the new releases. On his show he played a diverse range of music, playing Louis Jordan alongside early rockabilly
records.
Around the time he was starting out with The Kings of Rhythm
, Turner and Ernest Lane became unofficial roadies for blues singer Robert Nighthawk, who often played live on WROX. The pair sat in playing drums and piano on radio sessions and supported Nighthawk at blues dates around Clarksdale. Playing with Nighthawk allowed Turner to gig regularly and build up playing experience.
He would also provide backup for Sonny Boy Williamson II
, playing gigs alongside other local blues artists such as Howlin' Wolf
, Rice Miller, Charley Booker
, Elmore James
, Muddy Waters
and Little Walter
. Performance
s typically lasted for about twelve hours, from early evening to dawn the next day. Turner described the scenario to an interviewer:
. Members of the band were taken from Clarksdale musicians, and included Turner's school friends Raymond Hill, Eugene Fox and Clayton Love.
The Tophatters played big-band arrangements from sheet music
. Turner, who was trained by ear and could not sight read music, would learn the pieces by listening to a recording of the piece at home, pretending to be reading the music during the rehearsals.
At one point, the Tophatters had over 30 members, and eventually split into two, with one act who wanted to carry on playing dance-band jazz
calling themselves The Dukes of Swing and the other, led by Turner becoming the Kings of Rhythm. Said Turner: "We wanted to play blues
, boogie-woogie and Roy Brown
, Jimmy Liggins
, Roy Milton
."
Turner would keep the name of the band throughout his career, although it went considerable lineup changes over time. Their early stage performances consisted largely of covers of popular jukebox
hits. They were helped by B. B. King
, who helped them to get a steady weekend gig and recommended them to Sam Phillips
at Sun Studio
. In the 50s, Turner's group got regular airplay from live sessions on WROX-Am, at the behest of DJ Early Wright. The band would sometimes play a session that lasted an hour.
".
The song was written as the group drove down to Memphis to record at Sam Phillips' Sun Studios. Turner came up with the introduction and first verse, the band collaborated on the rest with Brenston, the band's saxophonist, on vocals. Phillips sent the recording to Chess who released it under the name "Jackie Brenston
and His Delta Cats". The record sold approximately half a million copies. In Turner's account book he recorded that he was paid $20 for the record.
The success of Rocket 88 caused tensions and ego clashes in the band, causing Jackie Brenston to leave to pursue a solo career, taking some of the original members with him. Turner, without a band and disappointed at not getting recognition for his hit, put the Kings of Rhythm on hold for a few years.
, commuting to Memphis from Clarksdale. He began by contributing piano to a B. B. King track "You Know I Love You
", which brought him to the attention of Modern Records
's, Joe Bihari, who requested Turner's services on another King track 3 O'Clock Blues. It became King's first hit.
Wishing to utilise Turner's Delta
music connections, Bihari contracted him as a talent scout, paying him to search out southern musicians who might be worth recording. Turner also wrote new material for the artists to perform, which, unknown to him the Bihari Brothers
registered the copyright on. Turner estimated he "wrote 78 hit records for the Biharis." Artists Turner sourced for Modern included Bobby Bland
, Howlin' Wolf
and Rosco Gordon
. He played piano on sessions with them and others including Elmore James
and lesser known artists such as The Prisonaires
, Ben Burton Orchestra, Little Milton
, Matt Cockrell and Dennis Binder.
Turner was contracted to the Bihari Brothers, but he continued to work for Sam Philips at Sun Studios, where he was effectively the in-house producer. This created some conflicts of interest. Turner cut two Howlin' Wolf tracks, "How Many More Years" and "Moanin' at Midnight," which Phillips sent to Chess Records
. Turner then took Wolf across the state border, re-recorded the tracks without Phillips or Chess's knowledge, and sent the results to Modern/RPM. Turner also attempted to poach Elmore James
from Trumpet Records
and recording him for Modern. Trumpet found out and Modern had to cancel the record. However James did eventually sign for Modern, with Turner playing piano on many of his recordings.
,including Kizart, Sims, O'Neal, Jessie Knight Jnr and Turner's third wife Annie Mae Wilson Turner on piano and vocals. It was at this time that Turner moved over to playing guitar to accommodate Annie Mae, taking lessons from Willie Kizart to improve.
Turner maintained strict discipline over the band, insisting they lived in a large house with him so he could conduct early morning rehearsals at a moment's notice. He would fire anyone he suspected of drinking or taking drugs, and would fine or physically assault band-members if they played a wrong note. He controlled everything from the arrangements down to the suits the band wore onstage. Starting off playing at a club called Kingsbury's in Madison, Illinois
, within a year Turner had built up a full gig schedule, establishing his group as one of the most highly rated on the St. Louis club circuit, vying for popularity with their main competition, Sir John's Trio
featuring Chuck Berry
. The bands would play all-nighters in St. Louis, then cross the river to the clubs of East St. Louis, Illinois
, and continue playing until dawn. In St. Louis for the first time Turner, was exposed to a developing white teenage audience who were excited by R&B. Clubs Turner played in St. Louis included Club Imperial, which was popular with white teenagers, The Dynaflow, The Moonlight Lounge, Club Riviera and the West End Walters. In East St. Louis, his group played Kingsbury's, Club Manhattan and The Sportsman.
In between live dates, Turner took the band to Cincinnati
to record for Federal
in 1956 and Chicago
for Cobra/Artistic
in 1958, as well as fulfilling his contract as a session musician back at Sun. He befriended St. Louis R&B fan Bill Stevens, who in 1958 set up the short-lived record label, Stevens, financed by his father Fred. Turner recorded numerous sessions for Stevens with various vocalists and musician lineups, of which seven singles were released (these are collected on the Red Lightnin' compilation "Hey Hey- The Legendary Ike Turner and the Kings of Rhythm"/RL0047). Turner was not credited on any of the Stevens releases as he still had months to run on his Sun contract and did not want to cause friction with Sam Philips. He recorded a solo rockabilly country single under the anagrammatical name Icky Renaut. None of the Stevens records had wide distribution and the operation ceased after a year.
Turner used Bullock's voice on a recording of his self-penned song, "A Fool In Love
", to lay down a guide track for a male singer who did not attend the recording. He sent the recording to Sue Records
in New York, where label owner Juggy Murray
insisted on putting out the track with Bullock's vocal. Murray offered a $25,000 advance for the song, convinced it was a hit. The song was released in 1960 under the name Ike & Tina Turner and became a national hit in early 1960, reaching number 2 in the R&B charts and becoming a top thirty pop hit in the process.
Turner married Bullock and changed her name to Tina Turner (naming her after Sheena, Queen of the Jungle
) and the name of the band from The Kings of Rhythm to the Ike & Tina Turner Review. The creation of the revue was in a large part the birth of the soul revues of the 1960s. The band and Tina were joined on stage by the Ikettes who contributed backing vocals and choreographed dance moves.
The duo had five substantial hits on Sue, in particular a cover of Rose Marie McCoy
's "It's Gonna Work Out Fine
" reached number 2 in the R&B charts and number 14 on the national charts, gaining the duo a Grammy Award nomination.
Turner would move the band around to different labels looking for the best deal, and between 1964 and 1969 they recorded on Sonja, Warner Bros., Kent, Loma, Modern, Philles, Innis, Blue Thumb, Minit, and A&M.
The Phil Spector
produced "River Deep - Mountain High
" was not a success in the States, causing Spector's retreat from the music industry, but was a big hit in Europe, reaching number 3 in the UK singles chart. This brought the duo to the attention of Mick Jagger, who in 1966 invited them to tour with and open for The Rolling Stones
, which brought them to the attention of a larger audience.
Other notable records the duo released were covers of Sly & the Family Stone
's "I Want To Take You Higher
", Creedence Clearwater Revival
's "Proud Mary", and the Tina Turner
-penned "Nutbush City Limits
".
The partnership ended abruptly in 1976 with Tina leaving after the last in a series of violent altercations with Turner.
s to create his own recording studio
, the Los Angeles
-based Bolic Sounds next door to his mansion in Inglewood
. The studio name was a reference to Tina's maiden name, Bullock. Turner had two sixteen track
studios built, a large one to rent out and a smaller one for his personal recordings. He fitted them out with the most state-of-the-art equipment, two 24 input 16 output mixing desks,custom built by John Stephens and Daniel Flickinger
, IBM
mix memorizers, an early Even-tide
digital delay. The studios were opened for public hire in March 1972. Artists who recorded there included Paul McCartney
, George Harrison
, Duane Allman
and Little Richard
and Gayle McCormick
Frank Zappa
recorded the Ruben and the Jets
album For Real!
at Bolic in 1973. Ike and Tina's last hit, the Tina written Nutbush City Limits
was also recorded there. In 1980 Turner tried to sell the property
to raise funds to avoid foreclosure
. The studio burnt down in a fire
in January 1981, on the day Turner was due to show it to a party interested in purchasing it.
In 1993, Salt-n-Pepa
sampled the Turner-penned Ikettes hit "I'm Blue (The Gong Gong Song)" for their single Shoop. The track went to number 4 in the Billboard Hot 100
, earning Turner around half a million dollars in royalties. He re-recorded the song in a duet style with Singer, Billy Rogers. Produced by Billy Rogers, the remake received favourable reviews.
Turner credited Joe Louis Walker
with encouraging him to return to his roots in blues music. Turner played guitar and assisted in production on Walker's 1997 album Great Guitars
and toured internationally with him. Walker paid him $5,000 a night for six songs. The positive response to the tour encouraged Turner to reform the Kings of Rhythm, taking them on a US tour in 2001. The group headlined a showcase at South by Southwest
. His new wife Jeanette was Ike's lead singer. Turner's work on the tour led to him recording and releasing the 2001 Grammy-nominated Here & Now
album.
In September 2003, the PBS documentary series, Martin Scorsese
's The Blues
featured interviews and performances by Turner. Turner featured in the episodes "The Road to Memphis" and "Godfathers and Sons". He was awarded in 2004 with a Heroes Award from the Memphis
charter of NARAS
.
In 2005, he appeared on the Gorillaz
' album, Demon Days
, playing piano on the track, "Every Planet We Reach Is Dead". Turner also performed the track at the live show at the Machester Opera House from 1–5 November 2005, his performance was released on the DVD "Demon Days: Live at the Manchester Opera House.
"
Turner won his first solo Grammy in the Best Traditional Blues Album
category for the album, Risin' With the Blues which was mixed at Future Sound Studios by Rene Van Verseveld. The album was also nominated for the 7th Annual Independent Music Awards
for Blues Album of the year. Jerry D'Souza wrote of the album: "Turner has it all in the palm of his hand, his phrasing breathing life into the words. He still has the power to turn the blues into an unforgettable experience."
Before his death, a collaboration between Turner and the rock band, The Black Keys
, by Gorillaz' producer Danger Mouse
was planned in 2007. The Black Keys recorded tracks in preparation for Turner to work with, which they used on their album Attack & Release
. Although Turner does not appear on the album, Pitchfork noted elements of his influence in the production.
. Though primarily known as a guitarist, Turner began his career playing piano, and personally considered it his main instrument.
Turner decided he was not meant to be a frontman when at twelve years old he was coerced into giving a piano recital at high school. He found the experience terrifying, and from then on preferred to be in the background of his bands, controlling every aspect of the music and choreography, but not being the focus of attention. At most times in the Ike & Tina Turner Review he would play with his back to the audience.
According to Donald Fagen: " talented as he was, there wasn't anything really supernatural about Ike's skills as a musician...What Ike excelled at was leadership: conceptualization, organization, and execution."
Turner's guitar style is distinguished by heavy use of the whammy bar to achieve a strong reverby vibrato
, string bending, hammer ons and triplets in his blues phrasing.
Turner was an early adopter of the Fender Stratocaster
electric guitar, buying one from O.K. Houk's Piano Co. store in Memphis the year of its release in 1954. Unaware that the guitar’s tremolo arm
could be used to subtle effect, Turner used it to play screaming, swooping and diving solos that predated artists such as Jimi Hendrix
and Jeff Beck
by a decade. In The Stratocaster Chronicles, Tom Wheeler maintains that Turner's “inventive style is a classic example of an artist discovering the Stratocaster, adapting to its features and fashioning something remarkable.” Turner himself said of his tremolo technique: “I thought it was to make the guitar scream—people got so excited when I used that thing.”
Dave Rubin wrote in Premier Guitar magazine:
In 1951 Turner's Kings of Rhythm recorded one of the first instances of use of amplifier distortion. Rocket 88 is notable amongst other things for Willie Kizart's distorted guitar sound.
In February 2005, Fender manufactured a limited edition Ike Turner Tribute Stratocaster. The model was an alder
body in Sonic Blue with Ike Turner signature in gold ink on body under finish,, with a maple
neck in a 60s "C" shape with a rosewood
fingerboard, with 21 vintage frets. It had three custom single coil 60s Stat pickups. Only 100 instruments were made, retailing at $3,399.99.
Turner was also a big influence on contemporary Little Richard, who said in the introduction to Turner's autobiography; "Before all these people Ike Turner was doing his thing. He is the innovator." Richard was inspired to learn to play the piano by hearing Rocket 88 and borrowed the introduction for his hit Good Golly Miss Molly
Johnny Otis
said "Ike Turner is a very important man in American music. The texture and flavor of R&B owe a lot to him. He defined how to put the Fender
bass into that music. He was a great innovator."
Phil Alexander said:
Paul Gambaccini
, broadcaster said:
Nigel Cawthorne, Ike Turner biographer said:
Turner's songs began to be sampled
by hip hop
artists, most notably Salt-n-Pepa
sampling I'm Blue (Gong Gong Song) for use in their 1994 hit "Shoop" and Jurassic 5
used "Getting Nasty" from A Black Man's Soul
on the 1997 track Concrete Schoolyard. Main Source
also sampled "Getting Nasty" on track "Snake Eyes" as well as Ike & Tina's "Bold Soul Sister" on "Just Hanging Out", both featured on their 1991 album Breaking Atoms
.
The track Funky Mule
, also from A Black Man's Soul has been sampled extensively by jungle DJs, with the drum introduction being a very popular break. It has been sampled by producer Goldie
for his 1994 hit "Inner City Life
", in the same year by Krome & Time on "The License" and by Paradox in 2002 on track "Funky Mule".
. Turner stated he had mistakenly signed papers waiving the right to sue Touchstone Pictures for his depiction after accepting a $50,000 payment in exchange for the right for them to depict him in any way they saw fit. Ike was played in the movie by Lawrence Fishburne. Tina Turner commenting on the historical accuracy of the film said "I would have liked then to have more truth, but according to Disney, they said it's impossible, the people would not have believed the truth." Phil Spector speaking at Turner's eulogy
, called the film a "piece of trash".
However Robert Palmer noted that:"Long before Tina Turner cast him as the devil incarnate ...that was Ike Turner's show business persona."
After the release of the film and Turner's drug conviction, the fictionalized version of Turner from the movie was seized on by comedian
s, who reused it in sketches. On the 1990s sketch comedy
show In Living Color
, Turner was parodied by David Alan Grier
. In one skit, he sang a parody of Tina's song "What's Love Got To Do With It," in which he sings proudly of his abusive personality. The video also parodies Tina's video; whereas in her video Tina walks around stopping couples who are fighting, Ike walks around to couples and gives the men weapons.
He was also portrayed on Saturday Night Live
's Weekend Update
,by Tim Meadows in a pageboy wig. This incarnation of Turner is played as desperate, and would make verbally derisive remarks to Kevin Nealon
; he would later try to win back Kevin's "love" with gifts and a cake, later shoving Kevin's face into the cake.
On the John Boy and Billy
radio show, cast member Jeff Pillars
regularly performed an impersonation of Turner in a segment called "Ax/Ask Ike." He offered advice on interpersonal relationship
s, which always resulted in him giving inappropriate and humorous advice. These sketches were collected in a 2008 comedy album
Ike At The Mike.
In 1999, Turner's autobiography was published, entitled Taking Back My Name. It was written with Nigel Cawthorne
with a foreword by Little Richard. In part the memoir was a rebuttal in response to the public image presented of him in Tina Turner's memoir and the film.
by two other women before he was twelve.
Turner was married at least five times. He sometimes claimed to have been married thirteen times. Turner's first marriage was to an Edna Dean Taylor from Ruleville, Mississippi
, while he was still in his teens. He then married a woman called Rosa Lee Sane. The marriage took place in West Memphis. In 1953 he married pianist and singer Bonnie Mae Wilson, who was part of the Kings of Rhythm, but after two years she left him for another man. After Bonnie he became involved with Anna Mae Wilson, another female pianist in the band, whom he married in the mid 1950s. His next marriage was to Lorraine Taylor, who had two sons with Ike.
The facts surrounding his marriage to Anna Mae Bullock (Tina Turner
), have been very publicly debated, along with the accusations of abuse of his wife by Turner. Tina left the relationship after another violent argument on the way to a concert in 1976. Their divorce was finalized in 1978.
In Tina Turner's 1986 autobiography
, she accused Ike of violent spousal abuse. In a 1985 interview Turner admitted, "Yeah I hit her, but I didn't hit her more than the average guy beats his wife...If she says I abused her, maybe I did." In his 2001 autobiography he worded this slightly differently; "Sure, I've slapped Tina... There have been times when I punched her to the ground without thinking. But I have never beat her."
Turner claimed on more than one occasion he had never been officially married to Bullock. In an 1985 interview with Spin Magazine, Turner stated "As God is my judge, of all my wives, Tina is the only one I was never legally married to." He stated that she took his name in order to discourage a former lover from returning to her. In his autobiography Turner wrote "We didn't recognize marriages", which Margaret Moser believes "is true by the rural Southern standards of the times"
Turner married former Ikette Margaret Ann Thomas in the early 1980s. After his release from prison Ike was met at the prison gate by blues singer Jeanette Bazzell who later became his wife. With Jeanette's support, Ike enjoyed a long period of sobriety. In 1995, they were married after years of courtship. Ike and Jeanette divorced in 2001 but remained friends. In 2006, he married long-time music collaborator Audrey Madison. She divorced him but reconciled with him before his death.
He has six known children: sons Ike Jr. and Michael (with Lorraine Taylor) and Ronald/"Ronnie" (with Tina Turner), and daughter Mia (with Ann Thomas). Mia Turner was conceived and born during Ike's marriage to Tina in the late 1960s. Tina's son Craig (fathered by saxophonist Raymond Hill) carries the Turner name. Ike Turner also has two other daughters: Linda Trippeter, who is the eldest; and Twanna Turner Melby, who took him in after he was released from prison.
In 1974, Turner was arrested for using illegal 'blue box
es' installed at his recording studio to make long-distance phone calls without the phone companies permission. He was eventually cleared of the charges. After this the police began surveillance on the studio, believing other illegal activities were taking place inside. In 1980, a SWAT
team raided the studio, finding a live hand grenade and Turner in possession of seven grams of cocaine. Turner was found guilty of possession of cocaine and sentenced to thirty days in the L.A. county jail, with three years probation. This was Turner's first conviction.
In April 1981, Turner was arrested for shooting a 49-year-old newspaper delivery man who he accused of being physically and verbally abusive to his then wife, Ann Thomas and kicking his dog. Turner said he never injured the man, only firing a shot to scare him off, with the man injuring himself when he climbed over the fence to get away. The jury trial in 1982 found him not guilty of assault.
In 1985, Turner owed the state of California $12,802 in back taxes for the period 1975-79. He later settled his account.
In January 1987, Turner was arrested for trying to sell 10 ounces of cocaine to an undercover police officer. He pleaded guilty to conspiring to sell the drug, but not guilty to counts of possessing cocaine for sale, conspiring to sell the drug and maintaining a residence for the purpose of selling cocaine. On 16 February 1990, he was sentenced to four years in a California prison for cocaine possession offences. He was incarcerated at California Men's Colony
, San Luis Obispo. Turner completed 17 months of his sentence before being released on parole. In prison he claimed to have earned $500 a day and saved up $13,000 by selling cigarettes, candy bars and coffee to other inmates.
While he was still in prison, Ike and Tina Turner were inducted to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1991, which Phil Spector
accepted on their behalf.
, and in his last years was extremely weak, having to use an oxygen tank. His daughter Mia Turner said "He was too weak from the emphysema to do anything. He'd go in the studio for a couple of minutes and play a couple of bars and say he had to go lay down."
In the year leading up to his death, Turner had a couple of bad falls
at his house and was hospital
ized several times.
After his death, Turner's autopsy and toxicology report showed he was taking Seroquel at the time of his death. The medicine is most commonly used as treatment for bi-polar disorder, Alzheimer's disease
and schizophrenia
. Ex-wife Audrey Madison claims Turner was bi-polar, and that she was helping him with his illness, a claim supported by Turner's personal assistant and caretaker Falina Rasool. Rasool says she talked about his bi-polar disorder with Turner many times, and witnessed its effects:
However Turner's daughter Mia Turner refuted this diagnosis, saying that the medication
was unnecessary: "Daddy is not bipolar ... He was so heavily medicated. He could hardly speak. He was double stepping and walking sideways.
Turner claimed he was first introduced to cocaine around 1960, when he was given some to try by "two very famous people I'd been working with in Las Vegas at the same hotel". Daughter Twanna Turner and son Ronnie expressed the opinion that Turner's introduction to drugs was "a set-up", an attempt to undermine him by those in the industry jealous of his success, who wanted to make use of Tina Turner's talents themselves.
By 1970 Turner was heavily addicted to the drug, buying it in large quantities. He claimed that in the early seventies he spent $56,000 a month buying cocaine (although not all for his personal use). In a 2001 interview with Caroline Graham of the Mail on Sunday, Turner estimated he had spent $11 million on cocaine. In 1986, he acknowledged that he had been addicted to cocaine for 15 years.
His heavy usage meant he had worn a large hole through his nasal septum
. This hole caused him pain which he relieved with further hits of cocaine. He then began freebasing crack cocaine
.
While in prison in 1991, Turner managed to break his dependency on cocaine. He remained clean for ten years, with the help of family members. However in 2004, while trying to help rescue a crack
addict acquaintance from his addiction, Turner entered a crack house
, smelt cocaine fumes and had a relapse
.
.
Turner died on December 12, 2007, at 76 years of age, at his home in San Marcos, California
, near San Diego. He was found dying by his ex-wife Ann Thomas. Rasool was also in the house and administered CPR. Turner was pronounced dead at 11:38am.
The funeral was held on 22 December 2007 at the City of Refuge Church in Gardena, California
. Among those who spoke at the funeral were Little Richard, Solomon Burke
and Phil Spector. Hundreds of friends, family members and fans attended the service. The Kings of Rhythm played versions of "Rocket 88" and "Proud Mary". In his eulogy Spector said that "Ike made Tina the jewel she was".
On January 16, 2008, it was reported by the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office that Turner had died from a cocaine
overdose
. "The cause of death for Ike Turner is cocaine toxicity with other significant conditions, such as hypertensive cardiovascular disease
and pulmonary emphysema," Supervising Medical Examiner Investigator Paul Parker told CNN. His daughter Mia Turner was said to be surprised at the coroner's assessment, believing his advanced stage emphysema would have been a bigger factor in his death.
On August 5, 2010, Ike Turner was posthumously recognized by his Mississippi hometown. Clarksdale officials and music fans gathered to unveil two markers honoring Turner and his musical legacy. The unveilings coincided with the 23rd annual Sunflower River Blues and Gospel Festival, dedicated that year to "Rocket 88".
Uncredited recordings
With Howlin' Wolf
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
, bandleader
Bandleader
A bandleader is the leader of a band of musicians. The term is most commonly, though not exclusively, used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhythm and blues or rock and roll music....
, songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
, arranger
Arranger
In investment banking, an arranger is a provider of funds in the syndication of a debt. They are entitled to syndicate the loan or bond issue, and may be referred to as the "lead underwriter". This is because this entity bears the risk of being able to sell the underlying securities/debt or the...
, talent scout
A&R
Artists and repertoire is the division of a record label that is responsible for talent scouting and overseeing the artistic development of recording artists. It also acts as a liaison between artists and the record label.- Finding talent :...
, and record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
. In a career that lasted more than half a century, his repertoire included blues, soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
, rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
, and funk. He is most popularly known for his 1960s work with his then wife Tina Turner
Tina Turner
Tina Turner is an American singer and actress whose career has spanned more than 50 years. She has won numerous awards and her achievements in the rock music genre have led many to call her the "Queen of Rock 'n' Roll".Turner started out her music career with husband Ike Turner as a member of the...
in the Ike & Tina Turner
Ike & Tina Turner
Ike & Tina Turner were an American rock & roll and soul duo, made of the husband-and-wife team of Ike Turner and Tina Turner in the 1960s and 1970s. Spanning sixteen years together as a recording group, the duo's repertoire included rock & roll, soul, blues and funk...
revue.
Growing up in Clarksdale, Mississippi
Clarksdale, Mississippi
Clarksdale is a city in Coahoma County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 20,645 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Coahoma County....
, he began playing piano and guitar when he was eight, forming his group, the Kings of Rhythm
Kings of Rhythm
The Kings of Rhythm are a American rhythm & blues and soul group formed in the late 1940s in Clarksdale, Mississippi and led by Ike Turner through to his death in 2007. Turner would retain the name of the band throughout his career, although the group has undergone considerable lineup changes...
as a teenager at high school. He employed the group as his backing band for the rest of his life. His first recording, "Rocket 88
Rocket 88
"Rocket 88" is a rhythm and blues song that was first recorded at Sam Phillips' recording studio in Memphis, Tennessee, on 3 March or 5 March 1951...
" with the Kings of Rhythm credited as "Jackie Brenston
Jackie Brenston
Jackie Brenston was an African American R&B singer and saxophonist, who recorded, with Ike Turner's band, the first version of the proto-rock and roll song "Rocket 88".-Biography:...
and his Delta Cats", in 1951, has been considered a possible contender for "first rock and roll song". Relocating to St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
in 1954, he built the Kings into one of the most renowned acts on the local club
Club
A club is an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal. A service club, for example, exists for voluntary or charitable activities; there are clubs devoted to hobbies and sports, social activities clubs, political and religious clubs, and so forth.- History...
circuit. It was there he met singer Anna Mae Bullock, whom he married and renamed Tina Turner, forming the Ike & Tina Turner
Ike & Tina Turner
Ike & Tina Turner were an American rock & roll and soul duo, made of the husband-and-wife team of Ike Turner and Tina Turner in the 1960s and 1970s. Spanning sixteen years together as a recording group, the duo's repertoire included rock & roll, soul, blues and funk...
Revue, which over the course of the sixties became a soul/rock crossover success.
In the 1950s, Turner was employed by Sun Studios and Modern Records
Modern Records
Modern Records was an American record label formed in 1945 in Los Angeles by the Bihari brothers. In the 1960s, Modern Records went bankrupt and ceased operations, but the catalogue went with the management into what became Kent Records. This back catalogue was eventually licensed to the UK label...
as an arranger and talent scout for blues artists.
Turner recorded for many of the key R&B record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
s of the 1950s and 1960s, including Chess
Chess Records
Chess Records was an American record label based in Chicago, Illinois. It specialized in blues, R&B, soul, gospel music, early rock and roll, and occasional jazz releases....
, Modern, Trumpet
Trumpet Records
Trumpet Records was a recording company started by Henry and Lillian McMurry in Jackson, Mississippi in 1951.-History of Trumpet Records:The goal of Trumpet Records was to provide a means of recording some of the most popular combos in the Mississippi Delta region that were going unrecorded because...
, Flair
Flair Records
Flair Records was an American record label owned by the Bihari brothers, launched in the early 1950s. It was a subsidiary of Modern Records. Its most famous artist was Elmore James, who released ten singles with this label .-Singles:...
and Sue
Sue Records
Sue Records was founded in 1957 by Henry 'Juggy' Murray in New York City.Also within the group was Symbol Records and Sue also financed and distributed A.F.O.Records owned by Harold Battiste in New Orleans....
. With the Ike & Tina Revue he graduated to larger labels Blue Thumb and United Artists
United Artists Records
United Artists Records was a record label founded by Max E. Youngstein of United Artists in 1957 initially to distribute records of its movie soundtracks, though it soon branched out into recording music of a number of different genres.-History:...
. Throughout his career Turner won two Grammy Awards and was nominated for three others. Alongside his former wife, Turner was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...
in 1991 and in 2001 was inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame
St. Louis Walk of Fame
The St. Louis Walk of Fame honors well-known people from St. Louis, Missouri, who made contributions to culture of the United States. All inductees were either born in the Greater St. Louis area or spent their formative or creative years there...
.
Revelations by Tina Turner in her autobiography
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
of her abusive relationship with Turner and the film adaptation of this coupled with his cocaine
Cocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...
addiction
Addiction
Historically, addiction has been defined as physical and psychological dependence on psychoactive substances which cross the blood-brain barrier once ingested, temporarily altering the chemical milieu of the brain.Addiction can also be viewed as a continued involvement with a substance or activity...
damaged Turner's career in the 1980s and 1990s. His name became a synonym
Synonym
Synonyms are different words with almost identical or similar meanings. Words that are synonyms are said to be synonymous, and the state of being a synonym is called synonymy. The word comes from Ancient Greek syn and onoma . The words car and automobile are synonyms...
for wifebeater
Domestic violence
Domestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, and intimate partner violence , is broadly defined as a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both partners in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, or cohabitation...
, which overshadowed his contributions to music. Addicted to cocaine and crack
Crack cocaine
Crack cocaine is the freebase form of cocaine that can be smoked. It may also be termed rock, hard, iron, cavvy, base, or just crack; it is the most addictive form of cocaine. Crack rocks offer a short but intense high to smokers...
for at least fifteen years, Turner served over a year in prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
in 1991. He spent the rest of the 1990s free of his addiction, but relapse
Relapse
Relapse, in relation to drug misuse, is resuming the use of a drug or a dependent substance after one or more periods of abstinence. The term is a landmark feature of both substance dependence and substance abuse, which are learned behaviors, and is maintained by neuronal adaptations that mediate...
d in 2004. Near the end of his life, he returned to live performance as a frontman and produced two albums returning to his blues roots, which were critically well received and award-winning. Turner has frequently been referred to as a 'great innovator' of Rock and Roll by contemporaries such as Little Richard
Little Richard
Richard Wayne Penniman , known by the stage name Little Richard, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist, and actor, considered key in the transition from rhythm and blues to rock and roll in the 1950s. He was also the first artist to put the funk in the rock and roll beat and...
and Johnny Otis
Johnny Otis
Johnny Otis is an American singer, musician, talent scout, disc jockey, composer, arranger, recording artist, record producer, vibraphonist, drummer, percussionist, bandleader, and impresario.He is commonly referred to as The Godfather Of Rhythm And Blues.-Personal life:Otis, the son of Alexander...
. Phil Alexander (then editor-in-chief of Mojo
Mojo (magazine)
MOJO is a popular music magazine published initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music...
magazine) described Turner as 'the cornerstone of modern day rock 'n' roll'.
Early life
Turner was born in Clarksdale, MississippiClarksdale, Mississippi
Clarksdale is a city in Coahoma County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 20,645 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Coahoma County....
, on November 5, 1931, to Beatrice Cushenberry (1909–195?), a seamstress, and Izear Luster Turner, a Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
minister. The younger of two siblings, Turner had an elder sister, named Ethel May. Turner believed for many years that he was named Izear Luster Turner, Jr. after his father, until he discovered his name was registered as Isaac Wister Turner while applying for his first passport. He never got to discover the origin of his name, as by the time he discovered it, his parents were both dead.
Turner claimed when he was very young, he witnessed his father beaten and left for dead by a white mob. His father lived for 3 years as an invalid in a tent in the family's yard before succumbing to his injuries. Writer and blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
Ted Drozdowski has told a different version of the story, stating that Turner's father died in an industrial accident. His mother remarried to a man called Philip Reeves. Turner said his stepfather was a violent alcoholic and they often argued and fought, after one fight Turner knocked out his stepfather with a piece of wood. He then ran away to Memphis where he lived rough for a few days before returning to his mother. He later reconciled with his stepfather years later, buying a house for him in the 1950s around the time Turner's mother died.
Turner was inspired to learn the piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
on a visit to his friend Ernest Lane's house, where he heard Pinetop Perkins
Pinetop Perkins
Joseph William Perkins , known by the stage name Pinetop Perkins, was an American blues musician, specializing in piano music...
playing Lane's fathers' piano. Turner convinced his mother to pay for him to have piano lessons with a teacher; however he did not take to the formal style of playing, instead spending the money at the pool hall, then learning from Perkins. boogie-woogie
Boogie-woogie
Boogie-woogie has the following meanings:*Boogie-woogie, a piano-based music style*Boogie-woogie , a swing dance or a dance that imitates the rock-n-roll dance of the 1950s*"Boogie Woogie" , a song by EuroGroove and Dannii Minogue...
. He taught himself to play guitar by playing along to old blues records.
At some point in the 1940s, Turner moved into Clarksdale’s Riverside Hotel, run by Mrs. Z.L. Ratliff. The Riverside played host to a great number of touring musicians, including Sonny Boy Williamson II
Sonny Boy Williamson II
Willie "Sonny Boy" Williamson was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, from Mississippi. He is acknowledged as one of the most charismatic and influential blues musicians, with considerable prowess on the harmonica and highly creative songwriting skills...
and Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
. Turner associated and played music with many of these guests.
Early career
Around his eighth year Turner also began frequenting the local Clarksdale radio station, WROX, located in the Alcazar Hotel in downtown Clarksdale. WROX was notable as one of the first radio stations to employ a black DJ, Early Wright, to play blues records. DJ John Frisella put Turner to work as he watched the record turntables. Soon he was left to play records while the DJ went across the street for coffee. Turner described this as "the beginning of my thing with music."This led to Turner being offered a job by the station manager as the DJ on the late-afternoon shift. The job meant he had access to all the new releases. On his show he played a diverse range of music, playing Louis Jordan alongside early rockabilly
Rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating to the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a portmanteau of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development...
records.
Around the time he was starting out with The Kings of Rhythm
Kings of Rhythm
The Kings of Rhythm are a American rhythm & blues and soul group formed in the late 1940s in Clarksdale, Mississippi and led by Ike Turner through to his death in 2007. Turner would retain the name of the band throughout his career, although the group has undergone considerable lineup changes...
, Turner and Ernest Lane became unofficial roadies for blues singer Robert Nighthawk, who often played live on WROX. The pair sat in playing drums and piano on radio sessions and supported Nighthawk at blues dates around Clarksdale. Playing with Nighthawk allowed Turner to gig regularly and build up playing experience.
He would also provide backup for Sonny Boy Williamson II
Sonny Boy Williamson II
Willie "Sonny Boy" Williamson was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, from Mississippi. He is acknowledged as one of the most charismatic and influential blues musicians, with considerable prowess on the harmonica and highly creative songwriting skills...
, playing gigs alongside other local blues artists such as Howlin' Wolf
Howlin' Wolf
Chester Arthur Burnett , known as Howlin' Wolf, was an influential American blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player....
, Rice Miller, Charley Booker
Charley Booker
Charley Booker was a blues singer and guitarist from the Mississippi Delta, who recorded in the early 1950s for Modern Records.-Early life and career:...
, Elmore James
Elmore James
Elmore James was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter and band leader. He was known as "the King of the Slide Guitar" and had a unique guitar style, noted for his use of loud amplification and his stirring voice.-Biography:James was born Elmore Brooks in the old Richland community in...
, Muddy Waters
Muddy Waters
McKinley Morganfield , known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician, generally considered the "father of modern Chicago blues"...
and Little Walter
Little Walter
Little Walter, born Marion Walter Jacobs , was an American blues harmonica player, whose revolutionary approach to his instrument has earned him comparisons to Charlie Parker and Jimi Hendrix, for innovation and impact on succeeding generations...
. Performance
Performance
A performance, in performing arts, generally comprises an event in which a performer or group of performers behave in a particular way for another group of people, the audience. Choral music and ballet are examples. Usually the performers participate in rehearsals beforehand. Afterwards audience...
s typically lasted for about twelve hours, from early evening to dawn the next day. Turner described the scenario to an interviewer:
Late 1940s: Formation of the Kings of Rhythm
In high school, a teenage Turner joined a huge local rhythm ensemble called The Tophatters, who played dances around Clarksdale, MississippiClarksdale, Mississippi
Clarksdale is a city in Coahoma County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 20,645 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Coahoma County....
. Members of the band were taken from Clarksdale musicians, and included Turner's school friends Raymond Hill, Eugene Fox and Clayton Love.
The Tophatters played big-band arrangements from sheet music
Sheet music
Sheet music is a hand-written or printed form of music notation that uses modern musical symbols; like its analogs—books, pamphlets, etc.—the medium of sheet music typically is paper , although the access to musical notation in recent years includes also presentation on computer screens...
. Turner, who was trained by ear and could not sight read music, would learn the pieces by listening to a recording of the piece at home, pretending to be reading the music during the rehearsals.
At one point, the Tophatters had over 30 members, and eventually split into two, with one act who wanted to carry on playing dance-band jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
calling themselves The Dukes of Swing and the other, led by Turner becoming the Kings of Rhythm. Said Turner: "We wanted to play blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
, boogie-woogie and Roy Brown
Roy Brown (blues musician)
Roy James Brown was an American R&B singer, songwriter and musician, who had an influence on the early development of rock and roll music. His "Good Rocking Tonight" was covered by Wynonie Harris, Elvis Presley, Ricky Nelson, Jerry Lee Lewis, Pat Boone, and the rock group Montrose. In addition,...
, Jimmy Liggins
Jimmy Liggins
Jimmy Liggins was an American R&B guitarist and bandleader.-Career:Liggins was born in Newby, Oklahoma, United States. He started out as a professional boxer at age 18 under the name of Kid Zulu, then he quit boxing and took up driving his brother Joe's outfit around on tour...
, Roy Milton
Roy Milton
Roy Milton was an American R&B and jump blues singer, drummer and bandleader.-Career:Milton's grandmother was a Chickasaw. He was born in Wynnewood, Oklahoma, United States, and grew up on an Indian reservation before moving to Tulsa, Oklahoma...
."
Turner would keep the name of the band throughout his career, although it went considerable lineup changes over time. Their early stage performances consisted largely of covers of popular jukebox
Jukebox
A jukebox is a partially automated music-playing device, usually a coin-operated machine, that will play a patron's selection from self-contained media...
hits. They were helped by B. B. King
B. B. King
Riley B. King , known by the stage name B.B. King, is an American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter.Rolling Stone magazine ranked him at No.3 on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. According to Edward M...
, who helped them to get a steady weekend gig and recommended them to Sam Phillips
Sam Phillips
Samuel Cornelius Phillips , better known as Sam Phillips, was an American businessman, record executive, record producer and DJ who played an important role in the emergence of rock and roll as the major form of popular music in the 1950s...
at Sun Studio
Sun Studio
Sun Studio is a recording studio opened by rock pioneer Sam Phillips at 706 Union Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee, on January 3, 1950. It was originally called Memphis Recording Service, sharing the same building with the Sun Records label business...
. In the 50s, Turner's group got regular airplay from live sessions on WROX-Am, at the behest of DJ Early Wright. The band would sometimes play a session that lasted an hour.
"Rocket 88"
In 1951, Turner and the band recorded what some historians have called "the first rock and roll record", "Rocket 88Rocket 88
"Rocket 88" is a rhythm and blues song that was first recorded at Sam Phillips' recording studio in Memphis, Tennessee, on 3 March or 5 March 1951...
".
The song was written as the group drove down to Memphis to record at Sam Phillips' Sun Studios. Turner came up with the introduction and first verse, the band collaborated on the rest with Brenston, the band's saxophonist, on vocals. Phillips sent the recording to Chess who released it under the name "Jackie Brenston
Jackie Brenston
Jackie Brenston was an African American R&B singer and saxophonist, who recorded, with Ike Turner's band, the first version of the proto-rock and roll song "Rocket 88".-Biography:...
and His Delta Cats". The record sold approximately half a million copies. In Turner's account book he recorded that he was paid $20 for the record.
The success of Rocket 88 caused tensions and ego clashes in the band, causing Jackie Brenston to leave to pursue a solo career, taking some of the original members with him. Turner, without a band and disappointed at not getting recognition for his hit, put the Kings of Rhythm on hold for a few years.
1951-1956: Session and talent scout work
After the breakup of the Kings of Rhythm after Rocket 88, Turner for a few years became a session musician and production assistant for Sam Philips and the Bihari BrothersBihari brothers
The Bihari Brothers, Lester, Jules, Saul and Joe, were American music entrepreneurs and the founders of Modern Records in Los Angeles and its subsidiaries such as Meteor Records based in Memphis.-Origins:...
, commuting to Memphis from Clarksdale. He began by contributing piano to a B. B. King track "You Know I Love You
You Know I Love You (B.B. King song)
"You Know I Love You" is a 1952 song by B.B. King and His Orchestra. The single was B.B. King's second release to reach the U.S. R&B chart and second number one....
", which brought him to the attention of Modern Records
Modern Records
Modern Records was an American record label formed in 1945 in Los Angeles by the Bihari brothers. In the 1960s, Modern Records went bankrupt and ceased operations, but the catalogue went with the management into what became Kent Records. This back catalogue was eventually licensed to the UK label...
's, Joe Bihari, who requested Turner's services on another King track 3 O'Clock Blues. It became King's first hit.
Wishing to utilise Turner's Delta
Mississippi Delta
The Mississippi Delta is the distinctive northwest section of the U.S. state of Mississippi that lies between the Mississippi and Yazoo Rivers. The region has been called "The Most Southern Place on Earth" because of its unique racial, cultural, and economic history...
music connections, Bihari contracted him as a talent scout, paying him to search out southern musicians who might be worth recording. Turner also wrote new material for the artists to perform, which, unknown to him the Bihari Brothers
Bihari brothers
The Bihari Brothers, Lester, Jules, Saul and Joe, were American music entrepreneurs and the founders of Modern Records in Los Angeles and its subsidiaries such as Meteor Records based in Memphis.-Origins:...
registered the copyright on. Turner estimated he "wrote 78 hit records for the Biharis." Artists Turner sourced for Modern included Bobby Bland
Bobby Bland
Robert Calvin Bland better known as Bobby "Blue" Bland, is an American singer of blues and soul. He is an original member of the Beale Streeters, and is sometimes referred to as the "Lion of the Blues"...
, Howlin' Wolf
Howlin' Wolf
Chester Arthur Burnett , known as Howlin' Wolf, was an influential American blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player....
and Rosco Gordon
Rosco Gordon
Rosco Gordon was an American blues singer and songwriter. He is best known for his 1952 #1 R&B hit single, "Booted", and two #2 singles "No More Doggin'" and "Just a Little Bit" .-Biography:...
. He played piano on sessions with them and others including Elmore James
Elmore James
Elmore James was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter and band leader. He was known as "the King of the Slide Guitar" and had a unique guitar style, noted for his use of loud amplification and his stirring voice.-Biography:James was born Elmore Brooks in the old Richland community in...
and lesser known artists such as The Prisonaires
The Prisonaires
The Prisonaires were an African-American blues group whose hit, "Just Walkin' in the Rain", was released on Sun Records in 1953, while the group was incarcerated in the Tennessee State Penitentiary in Nashville. The group was led by Johnny Bragg, who had been a penitentiary inmate since 1943 when,...
, Ben Burton Orchestra, Little Milton
Little Milton
James Milton Campbell, Jr. , better known as Little Milton, was an American electric blues, rhythm and blues, and soul singer and guitarist, best known for his hit records "Grits Ain't Groceries" and "We're Gonna Make It."-Biography:Milton was born James Milton Campbell, Jr., in the Mississippi...
, Matt Cockrell and Dennis Binder.
Turner was contracted to the Bihari Brothers, but he continued to work for Sam Philips at Sun Studios, where he was effectively the in-house producer. This created some conflicts of interest. Turner cut two Howlin' Wolf tracks, "How Many More Years" and "Moanin' at Midnight," which Phillips sent to Chess Records
Chess Records
Chess Records was an American record label based in Chicago, Illinois. It specialized in blues, R&B, soul, gospel music, early rock and roll, and occasional jazz releases....
. Turner then took Wolf across the state border, re-recorded the tracks without Phillips or Chess's knowledge, and sent the results to Modern/RPM. Turner also attempted to poach Elmore James
Elmore James
Elmore James was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter and band leader. He was known as "the King of the Slide Guitar" and had a unique guitar style, noted for his use of loud amplification and his stirring voice.-Biography:James was born Elmore Brooks in the old Richland community in...
from Trumpet Records
Trumpet Records
Trumpet Records was a recording company started by Henry and Lillian McMurry in Jackson, Mississippi in 1951.-History of Trumpet Records:The goal of Trumpet Records was to provide a means of recording some of the most popular combos in the Mississippi Delta region that were going unrecorded because...
and recording him for Modern. Trumpet found out and Modern had to cancel the record. However James did eventually sign for Modern, with Turner playing piano on many of his recordings.
1956-59: St. Louis
In 1956, Turner took a reformed version of the Kings of Rhythm north to St. LouisSt. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
,including Kizart, Sims, O'Neal, Jessie Knight Jnr and Turner's third wife Annie Mae Wilson Turner on piano and vocals. It was at this time that Turner moved over to playing guitar to accommodate Annie Mae, taking lessons from Willie Kizart to improve.
Turner maintained strict discipline over the band, insisting they lived in a large house with him so he could conduct early morning rehearsals at a moment's notice. He would fire anyone he suspected of drinking or taking drugs, and would fine or physically assault band-members if they played a wrong note. He controlled everything from the arrangements down to the suits the band wore onstage. Starting off playing at a club called Kingsbury's in Madison, Illinois
Madison, Illinois
Madison is a city in Madison County and partially in St. Clair County, Illinois, United States. The population was 4,545 at the 2000 census. It is home to Gateway International Raceway and the first Bulgarian Orthodox church in the United States.-Geography:...
, within a year Turner had built up a full gig schedule, establishing his group as one of the most highly rated on the St. Louis club circuit, vying for popularity with their main competition, Sir John's Trio
Johnnie Johnson (musician)
Johnnie Johnson was an American pianist and blues musician. His work with Chuck Berry led to his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.-Career:...
featuring Chuck Berry
Chuck Berry
Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter, and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. With songs such as "Maybellene" , "Roll Over Beethoven" , "Rock and Roll Music" and "Johnny B...
. The bands would play all-nighters in St. Louis, then cross the river to the clubs of East St. Louis, Illinois
East St. Louis, Illinois
East St. Louis is a city located in St. Clair County, Illinois, USA, directly across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, Missouri in the Metro-East region of Southern Illinois. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 27,006, less than one-third of its peak of 82,366 in 1950...
, and continue playing until dawn. In St. Louis for the first time Turner, was exposed to a developing white teenage audience who were excited by R&B. Clubs Turner played in St. Louis included Club Imperial, which was popular with white teenagers, The Dynaflow, The Moonlight Lounge, Club Riviera and the West End Walters. In East St. Louis, his group played Kingsbury's, Club Manhattan and The Sportsman.
In between live dates, Turner took the band to Cincinnati
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...
to record for Federal
Federal Records
Federal Records was an American record label founded in 1950 as a subsidiary of Syd Nathan's King Records and based in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was run by famed record producer Ralph Bass and was mainly devoted to Rhythm & Blues releases. But also hillbilly and rockabilly recordings were released,...
in 1956 and Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
for Cobra/Artistic
Cobra Records
Cobra Records was an independent record label that operated from 1956 to 1959. The label was important for launching the recording careers of Chicago blues artists Otis Rush, Magic Sam, and Buddy Guy and "signaled the arrival of a new generation of [blues] artists and a new sound .....
in 1958, as well as fulfilling his contract as a session musician back at Sun. He befriended St. Louis R&B fan Bill Stevens, who in 1958 set up the short-lived record label, Stevens, financed by his father Fred. Turner recorded numerous sessions for Stevens with various vocalists and musician lineups, of which seven singles were released (these are collected on the Red Lightnin' compilation "Hey Hey- The Legendary Ike Turner and the Kings of Rhythm"/RL0047). Turner was not credited on any of the Stevens releases as he still had months to run on his Sun contract and did not want to cause friction with Sam Philips. He recorded a solo rockabilly country single under the anagrammatical name Icky Renaut. None of the Stevens records had wide distribution and the operation ceased after a year.
1960-1976: The Ike & Tina Turner Review
By the mid 1950s, Turner and the Kings of Rhythm held a regular night spot at Club Manhattan in St Louis. A young girl called Anna Mae Bullock became a regular at the club and would sing along with all the songs the band played. Turner initially ignored her, but was eventually suitably impressed that he allowed her to sing backup vocals with the band. Thus, Bullock became an occasional vocalist in Ike's shows at the age of 18. Going by the name "Little Ann", Bullock became the spotlight of a soul revue led by Ike Turner and his Kings of Rhythm band.Turner used Bullock's voice on a recording of his self-penned song, "A Fool In Love
A Fool in Love
" A Fool in Love" is a soul single released as the debuting single for Ike & Tina Turner, released in 1960 on the Sue Records label.-Production history:...
", to lay down a guide track for a male singer who did not attend the recording. He sent the recording to Sue Records
Sue Records
Sue Records was founded in 1957 by Henry 'Juggy' Murray in New York City.Also within the group was Symbol Records and Sue also financed and distributed A.F.O.Records owned by Harold Battiste in New Orleans....
in New York, where label owner Juggy Murray
Juggy Murray
Henry 'Juggy' Murray Jr. was an influential rhythm and blues music producer....
insisted on putting out the track with Bullock's vocal. Murray offered a $25,000 advance for the song, convinced it was a hit. The song was released in 1960 under the name Ike & Tina Turner and became a national hit in early 1960, reaching number 2 in the R&B charts and becoming a top thirty pop hit in the process.
Turner married Bullock and changed her name to Tina Turner (naming her after Sheena, Queen of the Jungle
Sheena, Queen of the Jungle
Sheena, Queen of the Jungle is a fictional, American comic book jungle girl heroine, published originally by Fiction House. The female counterpart to Tarzan, Sheena had two things in common with Edgar Rice Burrough's Jungle Lord: Both possessed the ability to communicate with wild animals and were...
) and the name of the band from The Kings of Rhythm to the Ike & Tina Turner Review. The creation of the revue was in a large part the birth of the soul revues of the 1960s. The band and Tina were joined on stage by the Ikettes who contributed backing vocals and choreographed dance moves.
The duo had five substantial hits on Sue, in particular a cover of Rose Marie McCoy
Rose Marie McCoy
Rose Marie McCoy was one of the most influential and prolific songwriters of the 1950s and 1960s.McCoy moved to New York City in 1942, pursuing a singing career...
's "It's Gonna Work Out Fine
It's Gonna Work Out Fine
"It's Gonna Work Out Fine" is a "rock-ish" soul song issued by the team of Ike & Tina Turner, released in 1961.The single, which featured support from another popular duo, Mickey & Sylvia, became another popular single by Ike & Tina, who were still supporting themselves off the success of their...
" reached number 2 in the R&B charts and number 14 on the national charts, gaining the duo a Grammy Award nomination.
Turner would move the band around to different labels looking for the best deal, and between 1964 and 1969 they recorded on Sonja, Warner Bros., Kent, Loma, Modern, Philles, Innis, Blue Thumb, Minit, and A&M.
The Phil Spector
Phil Spector
Phillip Harvey "Phil" Spector is an American record producer and songwriter, later known for his conviction in the murder of actress Lana Clarkson....
produced "River Deep - Mountain High
River Deep - Mountain High
"River Deep – Mountain High" is a 1966 single by Ike & Tina Turner. Considered by producer Phil Spector to be his best work, the single was successful in Europe, peaking at #3 in the United Kingdom, though it flopped on its original release in the United States...
" was not a success in the States, causing Spector's retreat from the music industry, but was a big hit in Europe, reaching number 3 in the UK singles chart. This brought the duo to the attention of Mick Jagger, who in 1966 invited them to tour with and open for The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
, which brought them to the attention of a larger audience.
Other notable records the duo released were covers of Sly & the Family Stone
Sly & the Family Stone
Sly and the Family Stone were an American rock, funk, and soul band from San Francisco, California. Active from 1966 to 1983, the band was pivotal in the development of soul, funk, and psychedelic music...
's "I Want To Take You Higher
I Want to Take You Higher
"I Want to Take You Higher" is a 1969 song by the soul/rock/funk band Sly & the Family Stone, the B-side to their Top 30 hit Stand!". Unlike most of the other tracks on the Stand! album, "I Want to Take You Higher" is not a message song; instead, it is simply dedicated to music and the feeling one...
", Creedence Clearwater Revival
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Creedence Clearwater Revival was an American rock band that gained popularity in the late 1960s and early 1970s with a number of successful singles drawn from various albums....
's "Proud Mary", and the Tina Turner
Tina Turner
Tina Turner is an American singer and actress whose career has spanned more than 50 years. She has won numerous awards and her achievements in the rock music genre have led many to call her the "Queen of Rock 'n' Roll".Turner started out her music career with husband Ike Turner as a member of the...
-penned "Nutbush City Limits
Nutbush City Limits
"Nutbush City Limits" is a semi-autobiographical rock and roll song written and originally performed by Tina Turner in which she commemorates her rural hometown of Nutbush, Tennessee. Released June 1973, shortly before her separation from then-husband and musical partner Ike Turner, "Nutbush City...
".
The partnership ended abruptly in 1976 with Tina leaving after the last in a series of violent altercations with Turner.
Bolic Sounds
The success of the Ike and Tina Turner Revue gave Turner the financeFinance
"Finance" is often defined simply as the management of money or “funds” management Modern finance, however, is a family of business activity that includes the origination, marketing, and management of cash and money surrogates through a variety of capital accounts, instruments, and markets created...
s to create his own recording studio
Recording studio
A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...
, the Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
-based Bolic Sounds next door to his mansion in Inglewood
Inglewood, California
Inglewood is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, southwest of downtown Los Angeles. It was incorporated on February 14, 1908. Its population stood at 109,673 as of the 2010 Census...
. The studio name was a reference to Tina's maiden name, Bullock. Turner had two sixteen track
Multitrack recording
Multitrack recording is a method of sound recording that allows for the separate recording of multiple sound sources to create a cohesive whole...
studios built, a large one to rent out and a smaller one for his personal recordings. He fitted them out with the most state-of-the-art equipment, two 24 input 16 output mixing desks,custom built by John Stephens and Daniel Flickinger
Daniel Flickinger
Daniel N. Flickinger was an audio engineer in the late 1960s and 1970s, who designed and manufactured some of the era's most important music recording consoles...
, IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
mix memorizers, an early Even-tide
Eventide, Inc
Eventide is an audio & broadcast, communications, and avionics company in the United States whose audio division manufactures digital audio processors and DSP software, and guitar effects...
digital delay. The studios were opened for public hire in March 1972. Artists who recorded there included Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
, George Harrison
George Harrison
George Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...
, Duane Allman
Duane Allman
Howard Duane Allman was an American guitarist, session musician and the primary co-founder of the southern rock group The Allman Brothers Band...
and Little Richard
Little Richard
Richard Wayne Penniman , known by the stage name Little Richard, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist, and actor, considered key in the transition from rhythm and blues to rock and roll in the 1950s. He was also the first artist to put the funk in the rock and roll beat and...
and Gayle McCormick
Gayle McCormick
Gayle McCormick was born in St. Louis in 1949 and her recording and performing career stretched from 1965 to 1976. McCormick had started her career singing songs by Tina Turner and Etta James.-Smith:...
Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
recorded the Ruben and the Jets
Ruben and the Jets
For the celebrity photographer go to Tony Duran Ruben and the Jets was a Los Angeles-based doo-wop, rhythm and blues and rock and roll band active between 1972 and 1974. Led by Ruben Guevara, band members included Tony Duran, Robert "Frog" Camarena, Johhny Martinez, Robert "Buffalo" Roberts, Bill...
album For Real!
For Real!
For Real! is the debut album of Ruben and the Jets. Released in 1973, the album was produced by Frank Zappa, whose Cruising with Ruben & the Jets album was the source of the band's name...
at Bolic in 1973. Ike and Tina's last hit, the Tina written Nutbush City Limits
Nutbush City Limits
"Nutbush City Limits" is a semi-autobiographical rock and roll song written and originally performed by Tina Turner in which she commemorates her rural hometown of Nutbush, Tennessee. Released June 1973, shortly before her separation from then-husband and musical partner Ike Turner, "Nutbush City...
was also recorded there. In 1980 Turner tried to sell the property
Property
Property is any physical or intangible entity that is owned by a person or jointly by a group of people or a legal entity like a corporation...
to raise funds to avoid foreclosure
Foreclosure
Foreclosure is the legal process by which a mortgage lender , or other lien holder, obtains a termination of a mortgage borrower 's equitable right of redemption, either by court order or by operation of law...
. The studio burnt down in a fire
Fire
Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material in the chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products. Slower oxidative processes like rusting or digestion are not included by this definition....
in January 1981, on the day Turner was due to show it to a party interested in purchasing it.
1976-2007: Later work
After the breakup of the Ike and Tina Turner Review, Turner struggled to find success as a solo artist for many years. Speaking of this time in a New York Times interview in 1996, he saidIn 1993, Salt-n-Pepa
Salt-N-Pepa
Salt-N-Pepa is an American hip hop trio from Queens and Brooklyn, New York, that was formed in 1985. The group, consisting of Cheryl "Salt" Renee James, Sandra "Pepa" Denton, and Deidra "DJ Spinderella" Roper, was one of the first all-female rap crews....
sampled the Turner-penned Ikettes hit "I'm Blue (The Gong Gong Song)" for their single Shoop. The track went to number 4 in the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
, earning Turner around half a million dollars in royalties. He re-recorded the song in a duet style with Singer, Billy Rogers. Produced by Billy Rogers, the remake received favourable reviews.
Turner credited Joe Louis Walker
Joe Louis Walker
Joe Louis Walker, also known as JLW is an American musician, best known as a electric blues guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer. A feature of his work is his recourse to older material or playing styles, which revealed his knowledge of blues history.-Career:Joe Louis Walker was born in San...
with encouraging him to return to his roots in blues music. Turner played guitar and assisted in production on Walker's 1997 album Great Guitars
Great Guitars
Great Guitars is a music album released by blues guitarist Joe Louis Walker in 1997. It was issued on the Polygram label as catalogue number 537141.Many of the songs on the album are duets with other artists...
and toured internationally with him. Walker paid him $5,000 a night for six songs. The positive response to the tour encouraged Turner to reform the Kings of Rhythm, taking them on a US tour in 2001. The group headlined a showcase at South by Southwest
South by Southwest
South by Southwest is an Austin, Texas based company dedicated to planning conferences, trade shows, festivals and other events. Their current roster of annual events include: SXSW Music, SXSW Film, SXSW Interactive, SXSWedu, and SXSWeco and take place every spring in Austin, Texas, United States...
. His new wife Jeanette was Ike's lead singer. Turner's work on the tour led to him recording and releasing the 2001 Grammy-nominated Here & Now
Here and Now (Ike Turner album)
Here and Now, is a solo album released by Ike Turner & The Kings of Rhythm in 2001 by IKON Records. The album was produced by Ike Turner, mastered by Scott Hull and engineered by Ike Turner, Lucha Phillips, Benjamin Wright, Lamont Dozier, Leonard Jackson, Bill Dashell and William Brown.Here and...
album.
In September 2003, the PBS documentary series, Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
's The Blues
The Blues (film)
The Blues is a 2003 documentary film series produced by Martin Scorsese, dedicated to the history of blues music. In each of the seven episodes, a different director explores a stage in the development of the blues...
featured interviews and performances by Turner. Turner featured in the episodes "The Road to Memphis" and "Godfathers and Sons". He was awarded in 2004 with a Heroes Award from the Memphis
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
charter of NARAS
National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
The National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Inc., known variously as The Recording Academy or NARAS, is a U.S. organization of musicians, producers, recording engineers and other recording professionals dedicated to improving the quality of life and cultural condition for music and its...
.
In 2005, he appeared on the Gorillaz
Gorillaz
Gorillaz is an English musical project created in 1998 by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett. This project consists of Gorillaz music itself and an extensive fictional universe depicting a "virtual band" of cartoon characters...
' album, Demon Days
Demon Days
Demon Days is the second studio album by British virtual band Gorillaz, released in May 2005. The album features contributions from De La Soul, Neneh Cherry, Martina Topley-Bird, Roots Manuva, MF DOOM, Ike Turner, Bootie Brown of the Pharcyde, Shaun Ryder, Dennis Hopper, the London Community Gospel...
, playing piano on the track, "Every Planet We Reach Is Dead". Turner also performed the track at the live show at the Machester Opera House from 1–5 November 2005, his performance was released on the DVD "Demon Days: Live at the Manchester Opera House.
Demon Days Live
Demon Days: Live at the Manchester Opera House is a Grammy Award nominated live DVD by Gorillaz, released 27 March 2006 in the UK...
"
Turner won his first solo Grammy in the Best Traditional Blues Album
Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album
The Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album was awarded from 1983 to 2011. From 2001 to 2003 the award recipients included the producers and engineers as well as the artists...
category for the album, Risin' With the Blues which was mixed at Future Sound Studios by Rene Van Verseveld. The album was also nominated for the 7th Annual Independent Music Awards
The Independent Music Awards
The Independent Music Awards is an international program that honors top-ranked independent artists and releases in more than 50 Album, Song, Music Video and Design categories....
for Blues Album of the year. Jerry D'Souza wrote of the album: "Turner has it all in the palm of his hand, his phrasing breathing life into the words. He still has the power to turn the blues into an unforgettable experience."
Before his death, a collaboration between Turner and the rock band, The Black Keys
The Black Keys
The Black Keys are an American rock duo consisting of vocalist/guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer/producer Patrick Carney. The band was formed in Akron, Ohio, in 2001. As of October 2011, the band has sold over 2 million albums in the U.S....
, by Gorillaz' producer Danger Mouse
Danger Mouse
Brian Joseph Burton , better known by his stage name Danger Mouse, is an American musician, songwriter and producer. He came to prominence in 2004 when he released The Grey Album, which combined vocal performances from Jay-Z's The Black Album with instrumentals from The Beatles' White Album.He...
was planned in 2007. The Black Keys recorded tracks in preparation for Turner to work with, which they used on their album Attack & Release
Attack & Release
- Notes :* "Things Ain't Like They Used to Be" features a duet between Dan Auerbach and then 17-year-old bluegrass/country singer Jessica Lea Mayfield.* "Strange Times" is featured in the 2008 video game Grand Theft Auto IV as well as NASCAR 09....
. Although Turner does not appear on the album, Pitchfork noted elements of his influence in the production.
Musical style
Turner grew up playing boogie woogie piano, which he learned from Pinetop Perkins. In his professional career, he originally worked in the style of 1950s R'n'B, or post-jump bluesJump blues
Jump blues is an up-tempo blues usually played by small groups and featuring horns. It was very popular in the 1940s, and the movement was a precursor to the arrival of rhythm and blues and rock and roll...
. Though primarily known as a guitarist, Turner began his career playing piano, and personally considered it his main instrument.
Turner decided he was not meant to be a frontman when at twelve years old he was coerced into giving a piano recital at high school. He found the experience terrifying, and from then on preferred to be in the background of his bands, controlling every aspect of the music and choreography, but not being the focus of attention. At most times in the Ike & Tina Turner Review he would play with his back to the audience.
According to Donald Fagen: " talented as he was, there wasn't anything really supernatural about Ike's skills as a musician...What Ike excelled at was leadership: conceptualization, organization, and execution."
Turner's guitar style is distinguished by heavy use of the whammy bar to achieve a strong reverby vibrato
Vibrato
Vibrato is a musical effect consisting of a regular, pulsating change of pitch. It is used to add expression to vocal and instrumental music. Vibrato is typically characterised in terms of two factors: the amount of pitch variation and the speed with which the pitch is varied .-Vibrato and...
, string bending, hammer ons and triplets in his blues phrasing.
Turner was an early adopter of the Fender Stratocaster
Fender Stratocaster
The Fender Stratocaster, often referred to as "Strat", is a model of electric guitar designed by Leo Fender, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares in 1954, and manufactured continuously by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation to the present. It is a double-cutaway guitar, with an extended top...
electric guitar, buying one from O.K. Houk's Piano Co. store in Memphis the year of its release in 1954. Unaware that the guitar’s tremolo arm
Tremolo arm
A whammy bar, tremolo arm/bar, or vibrato arm/bar is a component of a guitar, used to add vibrato to the sound by changing the tension of the strings, typically at the bridge or tailpiece...
could be used to subtle effect, Turner used it to play screaming, swooping and diving solos that predated artists such as Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
and Jeff Beck
Jeff Beck
Geoffrey Arnold "Jeff" Beck is an English rock guitarist. He is one of three noted guitarists to have played with The Yardbirds...
by a decade. In The Stratocaster Chronicles, Tom Wheeler maintains that Turner's “inventive style is a classic example of an artist discovering the Stratocaster, adapting to its features and fashioning something remarkable.” Turner himself said of his tremolo technique: “I thought it was to make the guitar scream—people got so excited when I used that thing.”
Dave Rubin wrote in Premier Guitar magazine:
In 1951 Turner's Kings of Rhythm recorded one of the first instances of use of amplifier distortion. Rocket 88 is notable amongst other things for Willie Kizart's distorted guitar sound.
In February 2005, Fender manufactured a limited edition Ike Turner Tribute Stratocaster. The model was an alder
Alder
Alder is the common name of a genus of flowering plants belonging to the birch family . The genus comprises about 30 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, few reaching large size, distributed throughout the North Temperate Zone and in the Americas along the Andes southwards to...
body in Sonic Blue with Ike Turner signature in gold ink on body under finish,, with a maple
Maple
Acer is a genus of trees or shrubs commonly known as maple.Maples are variously classified in a family of their own, the Aceraceae, or together with the Hippocastanaceae included in the family Sapindaceae. Modern classifications, including the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group system, favour inclusion in...
neck in a 60s "C" shape with a rosewood
Rosewood
Rosewood refers to any of a number of richly hued timbers, often brownish with darker veining, but found in many different hues. All rosewoods are strong and heavy, taking an excellent polish, being suitable for guitars, marimbas, turnery , handles, furniture, luxury flooring, etc.In general,...
fingerboard, with 21 vintage frets. It had three custom single coil 60s Stat pickups. Only 100 instruments were made, retailing at $3,399.99.
Legacy
B.B. King was a great admirer of Turner, describing him as "The best bandleader I've ever seen"Turner was also a big influence on contemporary Little Richard, who said in the introduction to Turner's autobiography; "Before all these people Ike Turner was doing his thing. He is the innovator." Richard was inspired to learn to play the piano by hearing Rocket 88 and borrowed the introduction for his hit Good Golly Miss Molly
Johnny Otis
Johnny Otis
Johnny Otis is an American singer, musician, talent scout, disc jockey, composer, arranger, recording artist, record producer, vibraphonist, drummer, percussionist, bandleader, and impresario.He is commonly referred to as The Godfather Of Rhythm And Blues.-Personal life:Otis, the son of Alexander...
said "Ike Turner is a very important man in American music. The texture and flavor of R&B owe a lot to him. He defined how to put the Fender
Fender
Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, commonly referred to as simply Fender, of Scottsdale, Arizona is a manufacturer of stringed instruments and amplifiers, such as solid-body electric guitars, including the Stratocaster and the Telecaster...
bass into that music. He was a great innovator."
Phil Alexander said:
Paul Gambaccini
Paul Gambaccini
Paul Matthew Gambaccini is a radio and television presenter in the United Kingdom...
, broadcaster said:
Nigel Cawthorne, Ike Turner biographer said:
Turner's songs began to be sampled
Sampling
Sampling may refer to:*Sampling , converting a continuous signal into a discrete signal*Sampling , converting continuous colors into discrete color components*Sampling , re-using portions of sound recordings in a piece...
by hip hop
Hip hop
Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...
artists, most notably Salt-n-Pepa
Salt-N-Pepa
Salt-N-Pepa is an American hip hop trio from Queens and Brooklyn, New York, that was formed in 1985. The group, consisting of Cheryl "Salt" Renee James, Sandra "Pepa" Denton, and Deidra "DJ Spinderella" Roper, was one of the first all-female rap crews....
sampling I'm Blue (Gong Gong Song) for use in their 1994 hit "Shoop" and Jurassic 5
Jurassic 5
Jurassic 5 was an American alternative hip hop group formed in 1993 from members of two previous groups, Rebels of Rhythm and Unity Committee by rappers Charles Stewart , Dante Givens , Courtenay Henderson , Marc Stuart , and disc jockeys Mark Potsic and Lucas Macfadden...
used "Getting Nasty" from A Black Man's Soul
A Black Man's Soul
A Black Man's Soul is an instrumental funk and soul album released by Ike Turner & The Kings of Rhythm in 1969 on Pompeii Rocords. The album was recorded while Turner was touring with then-wife Tina Turner during his free time. The album featured a performance by keyboard legend Billy Preston on...
on the 1997 track Concrete Schoolyard. Main Source
Main Source
Main Source was an innovative, acclaimed Toronto and New York-based hip hop group comprising Toronto natives Sir Scratch, K-Cut, and Queens native Large Professor...
also sampled "Getting Nasty" on track "Snake Eyes" as well as Ike & Tina's "Bold Soul Sister" on "Just Hanging Out", both featured on their 1991 album Breaking Atoms
Breaking Atoms
Breaking Atoms is the debut album of American hip hop group Main Source, released July 23, 1991 on Wild Pitch Records. Production for was handled by the group and took place during 1990 to 1991 at Homeboy Studio, Power Play Studios, and Libra Digital in New York City...
.
The track Funky Mule
A Black Man's Soul
A Black Man's Soul is an instrumental funk and soul album released by Ike Turner & The Kings of Rhythm in 1969 on Pompeii Rocords. The album was recorded while Turner was touring with then-wife Tina Turner during his free time. The album featured a performance by keyboard legend Billy Preston on...
, also from A Black Man's Soul has been sampled extensively by jungle DJs, with the drum introduction being a very popular break. It has been sampled by producer Goldie
Goldie
Clifford Joseph Price, better known as Goldie is an English electronic music artist, disc jockey, visual artist and actor. He is well known for his innovations in the jungle and drum and bass music genres, having previously gained exposure for his work as a graffiti artist...
for his 1994 hit "Inner City Life
Timeless (Goldie album)
Timeless is the 1995 debut album from Goldie and is a groundbreaking release in the history of drum and bass music. The album blended the complex, chopped and layered breakbeats and deep basslines of jungle and drum and bass with expansive, symphonic strings and atmospherics, and female vocals,...
", in the same year by Krome & Time on "The License" and by Paradox in 2002 on track "Funky Mule".
Portrayal in popular culture
Tina Turner's accounts of her abuse at the hands of Ike were published in her 1986 biography I, Tina. Ike received intensely negative publicity from this, exacerbated in 1993 autobiographical by the release the film adaptation What's Love Got to Do with It. The film rights to the book were acquired by Disney's Touchstone PicturesTouchstone Pictures
Touchstone Pictures is an American film production label and is one of several film labels of the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group. Established in 1984, its releases typically feature more mature themes and darker tones than those that are released under the Walt Disney Pictures banner.Touchstone...
. Turner stated he had mistakenly signed papers waiving the right to sue Touchstone Pictures for his depiction after accepting a $50,000 payment in exchange for the right for them to depict him in any way they saw fit. Ike was played in the movie by Lawrence Fishburne. Tina Turner commenting on the historical accuracy of the film said "I would have liked then to have more truth, but according to Disney, they said it's impossible, the people would not have believed the truth." Phil Spector speaking at Turner's eulogy
Eulogy
A eulogy is a speech or writing in praise of a person or thing, especially one recently deceased or retired. Eulogies may be given as part of funeral services. However, some denominations either discourage or do not permit eulogies at services to maintain respect for traditions...
, called the film a "piece of trash".
However Robert Palmer noted that:"Long before Tina Turner cast him as the devil incarnate ...that was Ike Turner's show business persona."
After the release of the film and Turner's drug conviction, the fictionalized version of Turner from the movie was seized on by comedian
Comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
s, who reused it in sketches. On the 1990s sketch comedy
Sketch comedy
A sketch comedy consists of a series of short comedy scenes or vignettes, called "sketches," commonly between one and ten minutes long. Such sketches are performed by a group of comic actors or comedians, either on stage or through an audio and/or visual medium such as broadcasting...
show In Living Color
In Living Color
In Living Color is an American sketch comedy television series, which originally ran on the Fox Network from April 15, 1990 to May 19, 1994. Brothers Keenen and Damon Wayans created, wrote, and starred in the program. The show was produced by Ivory Way Productions in association with 20th Century...
, Turner was parodied by David Alan Grier
David Alan Grier
David Alan Grier , also known as "D.A.G." , is an American actor and comedian known for his work on the sketch comedy television show In Living Color.-Early life:...
. In one skit, he sang a parody of Tina's song "What's Love Got To Do With It," in which he sings proudly of his abusive personality. The video also parodies Tina's video; whereas in her video Tina walks around stopping couples who are fighting, Ike walks around to couples and gives the men weapons.
He was also portrayed on Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
's Weekend Update
Weekend Update
Weekend Update is a Saturday Night Live sketch that comments on and parodies current events. It is the show's longest running recurring sketch, having been on since the show's first broadcast, and is typically presented in the middle of the show immediately after the first musical performance...
,by Tim Meadows in a pageboy wig. This incarnation of Turner is played as desperate, and would make verbally derisive remarks to Kevin Nealon
Kevin Nealon
Kevin Nealon is an American actor and comedian, best known as a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1986 to 1995, acting in several of the Happy Madison films, for playing Doug Wilson on the Showtime series Weeds, and providing the voice of the title character, Glenn Martin on Glenn Martin,...
; he would later try to win back Kevin's "love" with gifts and a cake, later shoving Kevin's face into the cake.
On the John Boy and Billy
John Boy and Billy
John Isley and Billy James, known as John Boy & Billy, named after "John-Boy Harris and brother Bross Harris", are American radio hosts based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Their comedic morning program The John Boy & Billy Big Show broadcasts from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m...
radio show, cast member Jeff Pillars
Jeff Pillars
Jeff Pillars is an American actor and screenplay writer. Pillars is originally from Kalamazoo, Michigan. He currently writes and performs for the breakfast radio programme, the John Boy and Billy Big Show in Charlotte, North Carolina...
regularly performed an impersonation of Turner in a segment called "Ax/Ask Ike." He offered advice on interpersonal relationship
Interpersonal relationship
An interpersonal relationship is an association between two or more people that may range from fleeting to enduring. This association may be based on limerence, love, solidarity, regular business interactions, or some other type of social commitment. Interpersonal relationships are formed in the...
s, which always resulted in him giving inappropriate and humorous advice. These sketches were collected in a 2008 comedy album
Comedy album
A comedy album is an audio recording of comedic material from a comedian or group of comedians, usually performed either live or in a studio. Comedy albums may feature skits, humorous songs, and/or live recording of stand-up comedy performances, but the most common type of comedy albums are stand...
Ike At The Mike.
In 1999, Turner's autobiography was published, entitled Taking Back My Name. It was written with Nigel Cawthorne
Nigel Cawthorne
Nigel Cawthorne is an Anglo-American writer of fiction and non-fiction, and an editor.He has written more than 80 books on a wide range of subjects and has contributed to The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph Daily Mail and The New York Times...
with a foreword by Little Richard. In part the memoir was a rebuttal in response to the public image presented of him in Tina Turner's memoir and the film.
Relationships
Turner claimed to have first been introduced to sex at the age of six by a middle-aged lady called Miss Boozie. Walking past her house to school, she would invite him to help feed her chickens, and then take him to bed. This continued for some years. Turner claimed to not be traumatised by this, commenting that "in those days they didn't call it abuse, they called it fun". He was also sexually molestedChild sexual abuse
Child sexual abuse is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include asking or pressuring a child to engage in sexual activities , indecent exposure with intent to gratify their own sexual desires or to...
by two other women before he was twelve.
Turner was married at least five times. He sometimes claimed to have been married thirteen times. Turner's first marriage was to an Edna Dean Taylor from Ruleville, Mississippi
Ruleville, Mississippi
Ruleville is a small city in the fertile Mississippi Delta region in Sunflower County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 3,234 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Ruleville is located at ....
, while he was still in his teens. He then married a woman called Rosa Lee Sane. The marriage took place in West Memphis. In 1953 he married pianist and singer Bonnie Mae Wilson, who was part of the Kings of Rhythm, but after two years she left him for another man. After Bonnie he became involved with Anna Mae Wilson, another female pianist in the band, whom he married in the mid 1950s. His next marriage was to Lorraine Taylor, who had two sons with Ike.
The facts surrounding his marriage to Anna Mae Bullock (Tina Turner
Tina Turner
Tina Turner is an American singer and actress whose career has spanned more than 50 years. She has won numerous awards and her achievements in the rock music genre have led many to call her the "Queen of Rock 'n' Roll".Turner started out her music career with husband Ike Turner as a member of the...
), have been very publicly debated, along with the accusations of abuse of his wife by Turner. Tina left the relationship after another violent argument on the way to a concert in 1976. Their divorce was finalized in 1978.
In Tina Turner's 1986 autobiography
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
, she accused Ike of violent spousal abuse. In a 1985 interview Turner admitted, "Yeah I hit her, but I didn't hit her more than the average guy beats his wife...If she says I abused her, maybe I did." In his 2001 autobiography he worded this slightly differently; "Sure, I've slapped Tina... There have been times when I punched her to the ground without thinking. But I have never beat her."
Turner claimed on more than one occasion he had never been officially married to Bullock. In an 1985 interview with Spin Magazine, Turner stated "As God is my judge, of all my wives, Tina is the only one I was never legally married to." He stated that she took his name in order to discourage a former lover from returning to her. In his autobiography Turner wrote "We didn't recognize marriages", which Margaret Moser believes "is true by the rural Southern standards of the times"
Turner married former Ikette Margaret Ann Thomas in the early 1980s. After his release from prison Ike was met at the prison gate by blues singer Jeanette Bazzell who later became his wife. With Jeanette's support, Ike enjoyed a long period of sobriety. In 1995, they were married after years of courtship. Ike and Jeanette divorced in 2001 but remained friends. In 2006, he married long-time music collaborator Audrey Madison. She divorced him but reconciled with him before his death.
He has six known children: sons Ike Jr. and Michael (with Lorraine Taylor) and Ronald/"Ronnie" (with Tina Turner), and daughter Mia (with Ann Thomas). Mia Turner was conceived and born during Ike's marriage to Tina in the late 1960s. Tina's son Craig (fathered by saxophonist Raymond Hill) carries the Turner name. Ike Turner also has two other daughters: Linda Trippeter, who is the eldest; and Twanna Turner Melby, who took him in after he was released from prison.
Illegal activities and legal proceedings
In 1959 Turner was charged with what he described as "interstate transportation of forged cheques and conspiracy", and was forced to stand trial in St. Louis. At the first trial the jury failed to reach verdict, and at the retrial a year later Turner was found not guilty.In 1974, Turner was arrested for using illegal 'blue box
Blue box
An early phreaking tool, the blue box is an electronic device that simulates a telephone operator's dialing console. It functioned by replicating the tones used to switch long-distance calls and using them to route the user's own call, bypassing the normal switching mechanism...
es' installed at his recording studio to make long-distance phone calls without the phone companies permission. He was eventually cleared of the charges. After this the police began surveillance on the studio, believing other illegal activities were taking place inside. In 1980, a SWAT
SWAT
A SWAT team is an elite tactical unit in various national law enforcement departments. They are trained to perform high-risk operations that fall outside of the abilities of regular officers...
team raided the studio, finding a live hand grenade and Turner in possession of seven grams of cocaine. Turner was found guilty of possession of cocaine and sentenced to thirty days in the L.A. county jail, with three years probation. This was Turner's first conviction.
In April 1981, Turner was arrested for shooting a 49-year-old newspaper delivery man who he accused of being physically and verbally abusive to his then wife, Ann Thomas and kicking his dog. Turner said he never injured the man, only firing a shot to scare him off, with the man injuring himself when he climbed over the fence to get away. The jury trial in 1982 found him not guilty of assault.
In 1985, Turner owed the state of California $12,802 in back taxes for the period 1975-79. He later settled his account.
In January 1987, Turner was arrested for trying to sell 10 ounces of cocaine to an undercover police officer. He pleaded guilty to conspiring to sell the drug, but not guilty to counts of possessing cocaine for sale, conspiring to sell the drug and maintaining a residence for the purpose of selling cocaine. On 16 February 1990, he was sentenced to four years in a California prison for cocaine possession offences. He was incarcerated at California Men's Colony
California Men's Colony
California Men's Colony is a male-only state prison located northwest of the city of San Luis Obispo, San Luis Obispo County, California, along the central California coast approximately halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco.-Facilities:...
, San Luis Obispo. Turner completed 17 months of his sentence before being released on parole. In prison he claimed to have earned $500 a day and saved up $13,000 by selling cigarettes, candy bars and coffee to other inmates.
While he was still in prison, Ike and Tina Turner were inducted to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1991, which Phil Spector
Phil Spector
Phillip Harvey "Phil" Spector is an American record producer and songwriter, later known for his conviction in the murder of actress Lana Clarkson....
accepted on their behalf.
Health
In 2005, Turner revealed he had been diagnosed with emphysemaEmphysema
Emphysema is a long-term, progressive disease of the lungs that primarily causes shortness of breath. In people with emphysema, the tissues necessary to support the physical shape and function of the lungs are destroyed. It is included in a group of diseases called chronic obstructive pulmonary...
, and in his last years was extremely weak, having to use an oxygen tank. His daughter Mia Turner said "He was too weak from the emphysema to do anything. He'd go in the studio for a couple of minutes and play a couple of bars and say he had to go lay down."
In the year leading up to his death, Turner had a couple of bad falls
Falling (accident)
Falling is a major cause of personal injury, especially for the elderly. Builders, electricians, miners, and painters represent worker categories representing high rates of fall injuries. The WHO estimate that 392,000 people die in falls every year...
at his house and was hospital
Hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....
ized several times.
After his death, Turner's autopsy and toxicology report showed he was taking Seroquel at the time of his death. The medicine is most commonly used as treatment for bi-polar disorder, Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for the disease, which worsens as it progresses, and eventually leads to death...
and schizophrenia
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by a disintegration of thought processes and of emotional responsiveness. It most commonly manifests itself as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social...
. Ex-wife Audrey Madison claims Turner was bi-polar, and that she was helping him with his illness, a claim supported by Turner's personal assistant and caretaker Falina Rasool. Rasool says she talked about his bi-polar disorder with Turner many times, and witnessed its effects:
However Turner's daughter Mia Turner refuted this diagnosis, saying that the medication
Medication
A pharmaceutical drug, also referred to as medicine, medication or medicament, can be loosely defined as any chemical substance intended for use in the medical diagnosis, cure, treatment, or prevention of disease.- Classification :...
was unnecessary: "Daddy is not bipolar ... He was so heavily medicated. He could hardly speak. He was double stepping and walking sideways.
Drug addiction
Up until the age of 30, Turner was teetotal and had never taken drugs. He insisted all members of his band also adopt this policy, and would fire anyone he even suspected of breaking the rules.Turner claimed he was first introduced to cocaine around 1960, when he was given some to try by "two very famous people I'd been working with in Las Vegas at the same hotel". Daughter Twanna Turner and son Ronnie expressed the opinion that Turner's introduction to drugs was "a set-up", an attempt to undermine him by those in the industry jealous of his success, who wanted to make use of Tina Turner's talents themselves.
By 1970 Turner was heavily addicted to the drug, buying it in large quantities. He claimed that in the early seventies he spent $56,000 a month buying cocaine (although not all for his personal use). In a 2001 interview with Caroline Graham of the Mail on Sunday, Turner estimated he had spent $11 million on cocaine. In 1986, he acknowledged that he had been addicted to cocaine for 15 years.
His heavy usage meant he had worn a large hole through his nasal septum
Nasal septum
The nasal septum separates the left and right airways in the nose, dividing the two nostrils.It is depressed by the Depressor septi nasi muscle.-Composition:The fleshy external end of the nasal septum is sometimes also called columella....
. This hole caused him pain which he relieved with further hits of cocaine. He then began freebasing crack cocaine
Crack cocaine
Crack cocaine is the freebase form of cocaine that can be smoked. It may also be termed rock, hard, iron, cavvy, base, or just crack; it is the most addictive form of cocaine. Crack rocks offer a short but intense high to smokers...
.
While in prison in 1991, Turner managed to break his dependency on cocaine. He remained clean for ten years, with the help of family members. However in 2004, while trying to help rescue a crack
Crack cocaine
Crack cocaine is the freebase form of cocaine that can be smoked. It may also be termed rock, hard, iron, cavvy, base, or just crack; it is the most addictive form of cocaine. Crack rocks offer a short but intense high to smokers...
addict acquaintance from his addiction, Turner entered a crack house
Crack house
Crack house is a term mainly used in the United States used to describe an old, often abandoned or burnt-out building often in an inner-city neighborhood where drug dealers and drug users buy, sell, produce, and use illegal drugs, including, but not limited to, crack cocaine.In the 1980s, inner...
, smelt cocaine fumes and had a relapse
Relapse
Relapse, in relation to drug misuse, is resuming the use of a drug or a dependent substance after one or more periods of abstinence. The term is a landmark feature of both substance dependence and substance abuse, which are learned behaviors, and is maintained by neuronal adaptations that mediate...
.
Death
In the weeks leading up to his death, Turner became reclusive, in contrast to his normal gregarious personality. On December 10th 2007, He told his personal assistant Falina Rasool that he believed he was dying, and would not make it to ChristmasChristmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
.
Turner died on December 12, 2007, at 76 years of age, at his home in San Marcos, California
San Marcos, California
San Marcos is a suburb of San Diego in the North County section of San Diego County, California. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 83,781. Outside the San Diego region, it is best known as the home of California State University, San Marcos...
, near San Diego. He was found dying by his ex-wife Ann Thomas. Rasool was also in the house and administered CPR. Turner was pronounced dead at 11:38am.
The funeral was held on 22 December 2007 at the City of Refuge Church in Gardena, California
Gardena, California
Gardena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 58,829 at the 2010 census, up from 57,746 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Gardena is located at ....
. Among those who spoke at the funeral were Little Richard, Solomon Burke
Solomon Burke
Solomon Burke was an American singer-songwriter, entrepreneur, mortician, and an archbishop of the United House of Prayer For All People. Burke was known as "King Solomon", the "King of Rock 'n' Soul", and as the "Bishop of Soul", and described as "the Muhammad Ali of soul", and as "the most...
and Phil Spector. Hundreds of friends, family members and fans attended the service. The Kings of Rhythm played versions of "Rocket 88" and "Proud Mary". In his eulogy Spector said that "Ike made Tina the jewel she was".
On January 16, 2008, it was reported by the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office that Turner had died from a cocaine
Cocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...
overdose
Drug overdose
The term drug overdose describes the ingestion or application of a drug or other substance in quantities greater than are recommended or generally practiced...
. "The cause of death for Ike Turner is cocaine toxicity with other significant conditions, such as hypertensive cardiovascular disease
Cardiovascular disease
Heart disease or cardiovascular disease are the class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels . While the term technically refers to any disease that affects the cardiovascular system , it is usually used to refer to those related to atherosclerosis...
and pulmonary emphysema," Supervising Medical Examiner Investigator Paul Parker told CNN. His daughter Mia Turner was said to be surprised at the coroner's assessment, believing his advanced stage emphysema would have been a bigger factor in his death.
On August 5, 2010, Ike Turner was posthumously recognized by his Mississippi hometown. Clarksdale officials and music fans gathered to unveil two markers honoring Turner and his musical legacy. The unveilings coincided with the 23rd annual Sunflower River Blues and Gospel Festival, dedicated that year to "Rocket 88".
Albums
- 1969: Ike Turner & the Kings of Rhythm: A Black Man's SoulA Black Man's SoulA Black Man's Soul is an instrumental funk and soul album released by Ike Turner & The Kings of Rhythm in 1969 on Pompeii Rocords. The album was recorded while Turner was touring with then-wife Tina Turner during his free time. The album featured a performance by keyboard legend Billy Preston on...
- 1972: Ike Turner & the Family Vibes: Strange Fruit
- 1972: Blues Roots
- 1973: Bad Dreams
- 1975: Funky Mule
- 1980: The Edge (Featuring Tina Turner and Home Grown Funk)
- 1996: My Blues Country
- 2001: Here and NowHere and Now (Ike Turner album)Here and Now, is a solo album released by Ike Turner & The Kings of Rhythm in 2001 by IKON Records. The album was produced by Ike Turner, mastered by Scott Hull and engineered by Ike Turner, Lucha Phillips, Benjamin Wright, Lamont Dozier, Leonard Jackson, Bill Dashell and William Brown.Here and...
- 2002: His Woman, Her Man, Volume 1 (previously unreleased tracks from circa 1970)
- 2002: His Woman, Her Man, Volume 2 (previously unreleased tracks from circa 1970)
- 2006: Rising with the Blues
Compilations
- 1984: The Legendary Ike Turner and the Kings of Rhythm-Hey Hey Red Lightin', RL0047
Singles
Credited as Ike Turner- 1951 : Heartbroken and Worried / I'm Lonesome Baby - with His Kings of RhythmKings of RhythmThe Kings of Rhythm are a American rhythm & blues and soul group formed in the late 1940s in Clarksdale, Mississippi and led by Ike Turner through to his death in 2007. Turner would retain the name of the band throughout his career, although the group has undergone considerable lineup changes...
, Chess 1458 - 1955 : Cuban Getaway / Go To It - as Ike Turner & His Orchestra, Flair 1059
- 1957 : Do You Mean It / She Made My Blood Run Cold - as Ike Turner & His Orchestra, Federal 12297
- 1957 : The Big Question / Rock-A-Bucket as Ike Turner & His Orchestra, Federal 12304
- 1957 : You've Changed My Love/ Trail Blazer as Ike Turner & His Orchestra, Federal 12307
- 1958 : Box Top / Chalypso Love Cry with Carlson Oliver, Little AnnTina TurnerTina Turner is an American singer and actress whose career has spanned more than 50 years. She has won numerous awards and her achievements in the rock music genre have led many to call her the "Queen of Rock 'n' Roll".Turner started out her music career with husband Ike Turner as a member of the...
and Ike Turner Orchestra, Tune Town 501 - 1961 : She Made My Blood Run Cold / Do You Think That I should Change) The Big Question King 45-5553 reissues of Federal 12297 B-side and Federal 12304 A-Side
- 1971 : River Deep Mountain High / Na Na - United Artists 50866
- 1972 : Right On / Tacks In My Shoes - United Artists 50900
- 1972 : Think / Lawdy Miss Clawdy
- 1973 : Dust My Broom / You Won't Let Me Go United Artists 51102
- 1973 : El-Burrito / Garbage Man - United Artists 278
- 1974 : Take My Hand, Precious Lord / Farther Along - United Artists 460
- 1975 : New Breed(Pt.1) / New Breed(Pt.2) - as Ike Turner & Kings Of Rhythm, Fleetville FV-303
- 1994: I'm Blue (Gong Gong Song) (Ike Turner & Billy Rogers version)
Uncredited recordings
- 1951: Rocket "88"/b.w. Come Back To Where You Belong, recorded at Sam Phillips' studio in Memphis, Tennessee, on 3 or 5 March 1951 (Ike Turner and his band, the Kings of Rhythm; with Jackie Brenston, saxophonist and occasional singer, credited as writer)
With Howlin' Wolf
- 1951: How Many More Years - Chess 1479
- 1951: Riding In the Moonlight - RPM 333
Awards
- 1962: Grammy nomination (Category Best Rock and Roll RecordingGrammy Award for Best Contemporary SongThe Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Song was awarded between 1960 and 1971. The award had several minor name changes:*In 1960 the award was known as Best Performance by a "Top 40" Artist...
, for It's Gonna Work Out Fine, with Tina Turner) - 1972: Grammy winner (Category Best Rhythm & Blues Performance - Duo or Group (Vocal or InstrumentalGrammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with VocalsThe Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal was awarded between 1970 and 2011. From 1967 to 1969 and in 1971 the award included instrumental performances...
) for Proud Mary with Tina Turner) - 1975: Grammy nomination (Category Best Soul Gospel PerformanceGrammy Award for Best Soul Gospel PerformanceThe Grammy Award for Best Soul Gospel Performance was awarded from 1969 to 1977. In 1978 the award was divided into two new awards, the Grammy Awards for Grammy Award for Best Soul Gospel Performance, Traditional and Grammy Award for Best Soul Gospel Performance, Contemporary.Years reflect the year...
, for Father Alone (solo) and The Gospel According to Ike & Tina (with Tina Turner) - 1991: Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee (with Tina Turner)
- 1999: Grammy Hall of Fame AwardGrammy Hall of Fame AwardThe Grammy Hall of Fame Award is a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least twenty-five years old and that have "qualitative or historical significance"...
River Deep / Mountain High (with Tina Turner) - 2001: Grammy nomination (for the album Here and Now)
- 2002: W.C. Handy Award comeback album of the year (for Here and Now)
- 2003: Grammy Hall of Fame Award for Proud Mary (with Tina Turner)
- 2004: NARAS Memphis Chapter Heroes Award
- 2005: Inducted into Guitar Center's RockWalk
- 2007: Grammy winner (Best Traditional Blues AlbumGrammy Award for Best Traditional Blues AlbumThe Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album was awarded from 1983 to 2011. From 2001 to 2003 the award recipients included the producers and engineers as well as the artists...
for the album Risin' With the Blues)
External links
- Obituary (14 December 2007) at timesonline.co.ukThe TimesThe Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
- Obituary by Donald Fagen in Slate
- information on Ike Turner's 1950s recordings.
- interview with a 1950s aquaintance of Turner