Ike Turner

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Ike Turner album cover, 1963

Izear Luster Turner (born November 5, 1931) is an African American musician (piano, guitar), bandleader, talent scout and record producer, best known for his work with his former wife Tina Turner. He is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and in 2001 was inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame.

[edit] Personal

Turner, an was born in Clarksdale, Mississippi. "Ike" learned about pleasing crowds early. He got his first taste of an audience as an eight-year-old at radio station WROX, located in the Alcazar Hotel in downtown Clarksdale. That's where he found himself in charge of watching the turntables.

I got a job driving the elevator in the Alcazar and the radio station was on the second floor," says Turner by phone from his home in San Diego. "It was very exciting to me, a radio station. I'd run up to the second floor and look through the window at the guy spinning records. He saw me and told me to come in and showed me how to 'hold a record.' "I'd sit there and hold it until the one playing stopped, then I'd turn a knob and the one I was holding would play. Next thing I know, he was going across the street for coffee and leaving me in there alone. I was only eight. That was the beginning of my thing with music.

Hanging around the station led to Turner carrying amplifiers for Robert Nighthawk, a bluesman who played live on WROX. The youth was mesmerized by Nighthawk's playing, but nothing could equal the experience of hearing Pinetop Perkins on piano for the first time.

One day on the way home from school Turner passed by his childhood friend Ernest Lane's daddy's house. Pinetop Perkins himself was there, and later gave Turner lessons; Perkins taught Turner the boogie-woogie that he later transformed into early rock and roll. Besides Nighthawk and his beloved friend Pinetop Perkins, Turner quickly fell in with other local musicians whose names would one day inspire awe: Howlin' Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson (Rice Miller), Elmore James, Muddy Waters, Little Walter.^[1]

[edit] Marriages & Children

Turner was first married to Lorraine Taylor and had sons Ike Turner Jr and Michael Turner.

His second wife was Tina Turner from 1962-1978, with whom he has one child, Ronald Turner.

He also has a daughter named Twana Melby.^[2] She is a local R&B, Funk and Jazz musician in CA.

On July 4, 1995 he married a young blonde woman named Jeanette.^[3]

[edit] 2001 autobiography

His autobiography, Taking Back My Name (ISBN 1-85227-850-1) was published in 2001.

In her autobiography I, Tina, later filmed as What's Love Got to Do with It?, Tina accused Ike of violent spousal abuse, which Ike repeatedly denied for many years. However, in his 2001 autobiography Ike admitted,

Sure, I've slapped Tina... There have been times when I punched her to the ground without thinking. But I never beat her.

Turner's has attributed many problems off the stage were linked to his drug addiction and intense use of cocaine, resulting in his abusive behaviour and relationship with his wife and children.

Ike Turner was later convicted and served time in a California state prison for drug-related charges, while Tina went on to have a successful solo career beginning in the early 1980s, headlining stadiums and, according to the Guinnes Book of World Records, has sold more concert tickets than any female performer since her solo career's inception in 1984.

[edit] Musical Career

Turner's 1951 recording of "Rocket 88" is considered one of the earliest examples of rock and roll with a driving back beat and topped with electric guitar and wailing saxophone. The song's guitar distortion had an odd story behind it. The amp he used to record it was dropped in a parking lot before recording, he went inside to listen to the sound. He hated it, but the producer liked it. It was considered to be the first album in which guitar distortion was used. It was a sharp contrast from the relatively more jazzy and sophisticated jump blues or swing combo music that preceded it.

The record was released under the name of Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats, but was actually performed by Ike Turner and his Kings of Rhythm. Through music-business intrigue, Brenston, Turner's saxophone player, ended up with artist and co-author credit on Turner's tune.

Musically, Turner was known for an aggressive, hard-hitting lead guitar style. He was known to put the whammy bar of his Fender Stratocaster to frequent use. In addition to his bandleading and performing, Turner was a talent scout and informal A & R man for independent record companies, including Sun Records, and played guitar or piano as side man for many pioneer blues performers, including Robert Nighthawk, Sonny Boy Williamson II, Elmore James, and Otis Rush.

Turner is also noted for introducing the classic soul music show to general audiences with the Ike and Tina Turner Revue, featuring a full band, Tina Turner, and the Ikettes, a female trio of frantic singers and dancers. The Revue opened for the Rolling Stones on their American tours in 1966 and 1969.

In 2001, Turner released the Grammy-nominated Here and Now, and appeared at the Montreal Jazz Festival and North Sea Jazz Festival. In 2004 he was bestowed a "Heroes Award" by the Memphis chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS). Turner was featured in two installments of Martin Scorsese's "The Blues" films. In 2005, he appeared on Gorillaz' Demon Days release, performing the piano for the song Every Planet We Reach Is Dead also performing in the band's sold-out Demon Days Live shows. A documentary about Ike Turner's contributions to music is in production for 2006.

In 2006, the 75-year-old Ike Turner performed in the popular Night of the Proms shows in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. In 2007, Turner received the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album for his Risin' with the Blues.

A collaboration between Turner and the blues-rock band The Black Keys, produced by Gorillaz producer Danger Mouse, is expected to be released in 2007.

[edit] Ike & Tina Turner Singles Discography

For a Tina Turner solo discography, see the Tina Turner article.

[edit] Albums

• 1960: The Soul of Ike and Tina Turner (Collectables) #45
• 1962: Dance With Ike & Tina Turner & Their Kings of Rhythm Band (Sue)#23
• 1962: Festival of Live Performances (United)#36
• 1963: Don't Play Me Cheap (Collectables) #19
• 1963: Dynamite (Collectables)#56
• 1963: It's Gonna Work Out Fine (Collectables) #12
• 1963: Please Please Please (Kent) #74
• 1964: The Ike & Tina Turner Revue Live (Kent)#34
• 1965: Live! The Ike & Tina Turner Show (Warner Bros.)#45
• 1965: Ike & Tina Show 2 (Tomato)#156
• 1965: Ooh Poo Pah Doo (Harmony)#73
• 1966: River Deep - Mountain High (Philles/A&M) #23
• 1966: Ike & Tina Turner and the Raelettes (Tangerine) #35
• 1966: Live! The Ike & Tina Turner Show (Loma)#45
• 1966: Live! The Ike & Tina Turner Show, Vols. 1-2 -
• 1969: Outta Season (Blue Thumb)#11
• 1969: Ike & Tina Turner in Person (Minit)27
• 1969: Fantastic (Sunset)#45
• 1969: Get It Together (Pompeii) -
• 1969: Her Man His Woman (Capitol)-
• 1969: The Hunter (Blue Thumb)-
• 1969: "Ike Turner & The Kings of Rythm: A Black Man's Soul" (Tuff City)-
• 1970: On Stage (Valiant) #178
• 1970: Come Together (Liberty) #23
• 1971: Workin' Together (One Way) #24
• 1971: 'Nuff Said (United Artists) #8
• 1971: Something's Got a Hold on Me (Harmony)#24
• 1971: What You Hear Is What You Get (EMI) #29
• 1971: "Funkier Than a Mosquitos Tweeter" (United Artists)
• 1972: Feel Good (United Artists)-
• 1973: Let Me Touch Your Mind (United Artists)#198
• 1973: Nutbush City Limits (United Artists)#65
• 1973: The World of Ike and Tina Live (United Artists)#48
• 1974: Strange Fruit (United Artists)-
• 1974: Sweet Rhode Island Red (United Artists)-
• 1974: The Gospel According to Ike and Tina (United Artists)-
• 1974: The Great Album-
• 1975: Sixteen Great Performances (ABC)-
• 1977: Delilah's Power (United Artists)-

[edit] Notes

1. ^ http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid%3A80925
2. ^ http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CEFDB153EF936A3575AC0A967958260 New York Times
3. ^ http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:7FE4F66Zt4kJ:www.rockabilly.net/articles/iketurner.shtml+ike+turner%27s+wife&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=us Rockabilly.net

[edit] External Links

• Turner's Entry on the St. Louis Walk of Fame
• Ike's Homepage on the internet
• Ike Turner Article - by Dr. Frank Hoffmann
• http://www.geocities.com/shakin_stacks/iketurner.txt