Ike Turner

1931-2007

Who Was Ike Turner?

R&B legend Ike Turner grew up playing the blues. In 1956, he met a teenager and singer named Anna Mae Bullock. He married her and helped create her stage persona, Tina Turner. The two became the Ike & Tina Turner Revue and created several hits, including “A Fool In Love,” “Baby Get It On,” and “Nutbush City Limits.” The duo’s cover of “Proud Mary” earned them their only Grammy Award together in 1971, and 20 years later, they were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Their marriage was much less successful, ending in divorce in 1978 after Ike physically abused Tina for years. As a solo artist, Ike found success in the blues genre once more, earning a second Grammy in 2006. Turner died of a cocaine overdose in 2007 at age 76.

Quick Facts

FULL NAME: Ike Wister Turner
BORN: November 5, 1931
DIED: December 12, 2007
BIRTHPLACE: Clarksdale, Mississippi
SPOUSES: Tina Turner (1962-1978), Margaret Ann Thomas (1981-1990), Jeanette Bazzell Turner (1995-2000), and Audrey Madison Turner (2006)
CHILDREN: Ike Jr., Michael, Twanna, Craig, Ronnie, and Mia
ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Scorpio

An Early Musical Start

Ike Wister Turner was born on November 5, 1931, in Clarksdale, Mississippi. Although his full, legal name was Ike Wister Turner, he spent much of his early life believing his full name was Izear Luster Turner Jr., after his father. Izear was a minister and the target of a white mob who nearly beat him to death. Later, he did die, leaving young Ike to be raised by his mother, Beatrice Cushenberry.

As a child, Ike initially played a style of blues known as boogie woogie on the piano, which he learned from Pinetop Perkins. He later learned to play guitar.

In the late 1940s, Turner started a group called the Kings of Rhythm. In 1951, he and his band went to Memphis to record at the legendary Sun Studios run by recording legend Sam Phillips. Their song, “Rocket 88,” is considered by many to be the first rock ’n’ roll recording. It was released under the name of Jackie Brenston & His Delta Cats and became a No. 1 hit on the Billboard R&B chart.

Brenston was the lead vocalist of Turner’s group who eventually left to go solo. Turner and his band stayed in Memphis, often working in recording sessions with such blues legends as Elmore James and Buddy Guy. In addition to working as a musician, he was a talent scout for Modern Records for a time and helped discover B.B. King and Howlin’ Wolf. Turner relocated to St. Louis in the mid-1950s.

Ike and Tina Turner

Tina and Ike Turner, seen here in a circa 1974 photo, spent the better part of two decades performing together.

Things really began to change for Turner in 1956, when he met a teenager named Anna Mae Bullock. The young singer joined the band, and Ike helped transform her into Tina Turner by changing her name. They were soon performing as the Ike & Tina Turner Revue, and Ike wrote their first major hit “A Fool In Love,” released 1960. Others followed, including “I Idolize You,” “Poor Fool,” and “It’s Going to Work Out Fine,” which earned them their first Grammy nomination.

Offstage, they developed a romantic relationship and had a son, Ronnie. Ike and Tina then married in 1962 in Tijuana, Mexico. Although Ronnie was their only son together, they shared three others—Ike Jr. and Michael from a previous relationship of Ike’s, as well as Craig from Tina’s previous relationship—by adoption.

Ike and Tina were invited to open for the Rolling Stones in the late 1960s, which introduced their bold style of soul-infused rock music to a new audience. They found crossover success with a cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Proud Mary,” which made it on Billboard’s pop and R&B charts. This song also earned them their first and only Grammy Award together, in 1971, for Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Group.

Their last hit together was “Nutbush City Limits,” written by Tina and released in 1973. One of their final albums together, The Gospel According To Ike and Tina earned them their final Grammy nod for Best Soul Gospel Performance.

Abuse Allegations

Although they had been a successful stage act for years, Ike and Tina had a very different life behind the scenes. Ike had developed a cocaine addiction, and Tina finally left him in 1976 after enduring years of physical abuse and Ike’s infidelity. After 16 years of marriage, their divorce was finalized in 1978, with Ike retaining most of their assets.

Tina later revealed the details of the abuse in her 1986 autobiography, I, Tina. Her book was the basis for 1993 film What’s Love Got To Do with It that starred Angela Bassett as Tina and Laurence Fishburne as Ike. The movie showed Ike as a wife-beating musical talent who was often under the influence of drugs. Both Bassett and Fishburne received Academy Award nominations for their performances.

Ike repeatedly denied the accusations made in I, Tina and vehemently objected to the portrayal of him onscreen. He did, however, admit to hitting her in his own 1999 autobiography, Takin’ Back My Name.

Drug Addiction and Prison Sentence

While Tina’s solo career flourished in the 1980s and 1990s, Ike struggled professionally and personally. His studio burned down in 1982, and his drug addiction to cocaine spiraled out of control, as he was arrested multiple times. He once estimated he spent more than $35,000 a month on drugs.

Ultimately, his drug use led to an 18-month prison sentence for cocaine possession, starting in 1989. He was still serving time in a San Luis Obispo, California, facility when the Ike & Tina Turner Revue was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1991, and he had to miss the ceremony.

But Turner wasn’t bitter about his prison time. “I think prison may have been one of the best things that ever happened to me,” he told The Los Angeles Times after his release. “You see, I got in deep with drugs, and jail has a way of putting things back into their proper perspective. It teaches you to appreciate life.”

Later Professional Success

Ike Turner won his second Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album for Risin’ with the Blues.

Newly drug-free, Turner had a career renaissance. In 2001, he released his first commercial record in 23 years, entitled Here and Now. It was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album. The following year, Turner received the 2002 Comeback Album of the Year Award at the W.C. Handy Blues Awards. He went on to win a Grammy for Best Traditional Blues Album for his next original recording, Risin’ with the Blues, released in 2006.

Wives and Children

A well-known ladies’ man, Turner claimed to have been married as many as 14 times. Details are available for four of his wives. From his various relationships, Turner had six children: Ike Jr., Michael, Twanna, Craig, Ronnie, and Mia.

In the late 1950s, Turner fathered two sons, Ike Jr. and Michael, with then-girlfriend Lorraine Taylor. Around this time, he and Pat Richard had a daughter, Twanna, though they didn’t form a relationship until later in life.

Ike and Tina Turner with their sons. Ike Jr. and Ronnie stand on either side of Ike, and Michael and Craig are seated next to Tina.

Ike was married to Tina Turner for 16 years. They tied the knot in 1962 in Tijuana, Mexico, after welcoming a son, Ronnie, in October 1960. After their wedding, Ike adopted Tina’s son Craig, who she had shortly before beginning her relationship with Ike. Tina also adopted Ike’s older sons, Ike Jr. and Michael. Tina left their troubled marriage in 1976, and their divorce was finalized two years later.

In 1981, Ike wed Margaret Ann Thomas, a back-up singer who performed as one of the Ikettes. Their romantic involvement dated back to Ike’s marriage to Tina. In 1969, Ike and Thomas had a daughter named Mia.

Next, Ike was married to Jeanette Bazzell Turner, from 1995 until 2000. They maintained a non-romantic relationship following the split.

In 2006, Ike had a brief marriage to Audrey Madison Turner, his girlfriend of many years. They were married in October, but by December of that year, Ike filed for divorce. The couple managed to salvage a relationship once the proceedings were final.

Death

Near the end of his life, Turner was pulled back into his drug addiction. On December 12, 2007, Turner died of a cocaine overdose in his San Marcos, California, home. Contributing conditions to his death included high blood pressure and emphysema. He was 76.

Quotes

• What I love is to play guitar and piano and create music from my heart.
• Jail has a way of putting things back into their proper perspective. It teaches you to appreciate life.
• Everybody who goes through cocaine wants to quit, but stopping is harder than you think.
• It didn’t feel like I hurt her. It ain’t like I walk around trying to hurt people. I don’t feel that I’m to be condemned.
• I’m a very dominant type. When you’ve got 26 people, you’ve got a lot of opinions. You go talk to anybody that’s a leader. They say what they, and they’re not asking. People don’t respect that, but they respect what it accomplishes.

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