Tina may refer to:

People[link]

• Tina (given name), people with the given name Tina

Fictional characters[link]

• Tina Branford, a fictional character from the Final Fantasy series; main character of Final Fantasy VI (6)
• Tina Hopkins, EastEnders character
• Tina McIntyre, a character from the popular British soap Coronation Street
• Tina McQueen, a fictional character from the channel 4 British soap Hollyoaks
• Tina Cohen-Chang, a character from Glee (TV series)
• Tina Teaspoon, part of the Spoon family from UK children's TV series Button Moon

Teena means healthy,strong

Other[link]

• Tina (plant), a genus in the family Sapindaceae
• TINA (software), an electronic design suite by DesignSoft
• TINA-TI, a circuit simulator based on SPICE; free from Texas Instruments
• Al-Tina, a former Palestinian Arab village
• Tina language, a Sambalic language
• There Is No Alternative, a political slogan
• This Is Not Art, Newcastle event
• Tina, gay slang word for methamphetamine, sometimes used specifically for the smokable form
• Tina, a village in Livezi Commune, Vâlcea County, Romania
• Tina (concept), a versatile exclamation or noun, often with negative connotations. Antithesis of but usage akin to Shyst.

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Ike Turner
Ike Turner at the Long Beach Blues Festival, 1997
Background information
Birth name	Ike Wister Turner
Also known as	Icky Renrut, Lover Boy
Born	(1931-11-05)November 5, 1931 Clarksdale, Mississippi, U.S.
Died	December 12, 2007(2007-12-12) (aged 76) San Marcos, California, U.S.
Genres	R&B, funk, soul-blues, Memphis blues, rock and roll
Occupations	Musician, songwriter, record producer
Instruments	Guitar, piano, vocals
Years active	1945–2007
Labels	Chess, Cobra, Flair, King, Modern/RPM, Sun, United Artists,
Associated acts	Tina Turner, The Ikettes, The Kings of Rhythm
Notable instruments
Fender Stratocaster piano

Ike Wister Turner (November 5, 1931^[1][2] – 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.^[3] 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, is 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.^[4] 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.^[5]

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 labels of the 1950s and 1960s, including Chess, Modern, Trumpet, Flair and Sue.^[6] 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.^[7] 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.^[8] His name became a synonym for wifebeater, which overshadowed his contributions to music.^[9] Addicted to cocaine and crack for at least 15 years, Turner was convicted of drugs offenses, serving seventeen months in prison between July 1989 and 1991.^[10] He spent the rest of the 1990s free of his addiction, but relapsed 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.^[11] Turner has frequently been referred to as a 'great innovator' of Rock and Roll by contemporaries such as Little Richard^[12] and Johnny Otis.^[13] Phil Alexander (then editor-in-chief of Mojo magazine) described Turner as 'the cornerstone of modern day rock 'n' roll'.^[14]

Early life (1931-45)[link]

Ike Turner's birthplace and childhood home at 304 Washington Avenue in the Riverton neighborhood of Clarksdale, Mississippi.^[15]

Turner was born in Clarksdale, Mississippi, on November 5, 1931, to Beatrice Cushenberry (1909–195?), a seamstress, and Isaiah (or Izear) Luster Turner, a Baptist minister. The younger of two siblings, Turner had an elder sister, named Ethel May.^[11] Turner believed for many years that he was named Izear Luster Turner, Jr. after his father, until he discovered his name was registered as Ike Wister Turner while applying for his first passport.^[11] He never got to discover the origin of his name, as by the time he discovered it, his parents were both dead.^[16]

Turner said 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.^[16][17] Writer and blues historian Ted Drozdowski has told a different version of the story, stating that Turner's father died in an industrial accident.^[18] His mother remarried to a man called Philip Reeves. Turner said his stepfather was a violent alcoholic^[11] 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 reconciled with his stepfather years later, buying a house for him in the 1950s around the time Turner's mother died.^[19]

Turner recounted how he was 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 traumatized by this, commenting that "in those days they didn't call it abuse, they called it fun".^[20] He was also sexually molested by two other women before he was twelve.^[11]

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.^[21] 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.^[22] Turner described this as "the beginning of my thing with music."^[23] 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.^[19]

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 in a pool hall, then learning boogie-woogie from Perkins. . He taught himself to play guitar by playing along to old blues records.^[24][25] At some point in the 1940s, Turner moved into Clarksdale’s Riverside Hotel, run by Mrs. Z.L. Ratliff.^[26] 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.^[18]

Music career[link]

Formation of the Kings of Rhythm (1946-1952)[link]

In high school, a teenage Turner joined a huge local rhythm ensemble called The Tophatters, who played dances around Clarksdale, Mississippi.^[3] Members of the band were taken from Clarksdale musicians, and included Turner's school friends Raymond Hill, Eugene Fox and Clayton Love.^[27][28] 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 version on record at home, pretending to be reading the music during rehearsals.^[3] At one point, the Tophatters had over 30 members, and eventually split into two,^[29] 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."^[3] Turner would keep the name of the band throughout his career, although it went through 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.^[30] In the 50s, Turner's group got regular airplay from live sessions on WROX-Am,^[21] and KFFA radio in Helena, Arkansas.^[31]

Sun Studio at 706 Union Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee, where in 1951 Turner and the Kings of Rhythm recorded Rocket 88, one of the first Rock and roll records. Turner would later work at the studio as in-house producer for Sam Phillips.

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.^[32] He would also provide backup for Sonny Boy Williamson II (Alex "Rice" Miller), playing gigs alongside other local blues artists such as Howlin' Wolf, Charley Booker, Elmore James, Muddy Waters and Little Walter.^[23] Performances typically lasted for about twelve hours, from early evening to dawn the next day. Turner described the scenario to an interviewer:

^[33] It was around this time that Turner and his band came up with the song, "Rocket 88". 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 sold the recording to Chess in Chicago, 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. 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 his hit record had not created more opportunities for him, disbanded the Kings of Rhythm for a few years.^[33]

Session musician and talent scout (1952-1956)[link]

After recording Rocket 88, Turner became a session musician and production assistant for Sam Philips and the Bihari Brothers, 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.^[4]

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.^[33] 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 other lesser known artists such as The Prisonaires, Ben Burton Orchestra, Little Milton, Matt Cockrell and Dennis Binder.^[4] Turner was contracted to the Bihari Brothers, but he continued to work for Sam Phillips at Sun Studios, where he was effectively the in-house producer. This sometimes created 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 record 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 a recording of James at Club Desire in Canton.^{[34] [4]}

St. Louis (1956-59)[link]

In 1956, Turner took a reformed version of the Kings of Rhythm north to St. Louis,^[35] 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.^[36][37]

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. 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.^[11] He would also fine or physically assault band-members if they played a wrong note and 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.^[36][37]

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 Renrut. None of the Stevens records had wide distribution and the operation ceased after a year.^[36][37]

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.^[38]

The Ike & Tina Turner Revue (1960-1976)[link]

Ike & Tina Turner, 1972

In 1956, Turner's shows at Club Manhattan began to be attended by two sisters, Aillene and Anna Mae Bullock. Aillene was a barmaid at the club and was dating a Kings of Rhythm band mate often bringing Anna Mae with her. After seeing Turner and the Kings of Rhythm perform, Anna pursued the bandleader asking him to let her sing. Though Turner at first was not enthusiastic, one night, the 17-year-old singer began singing along to a tune he was playing during the band's intermission. He was impressed by Bullock's singing and eventually allowed her in as a background singer,^[5] changing her name to Little Ann in the process.^[39] Her first professional recording with Ike Turner was singing background for him on Ike's record, "Box Top".

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.^[37] Around the time of the recording, Anna had been pursued by a former Kings of Rhythm musician, Raymond Hill, to join his band and leave Turner's. When Ike Turner asked her to use his last name as an attempt to discourage Hill, Anna took the offer.^[40] He then changed her first name to "Tina" and later had the name "Tina Turner" patented though he eventually lose rights to the name. In 1960, "A Fool in Love" was released under the billing, Ike & Tina Turner, and later became a national hit, selling a million copies, and making the duo national R&B stars. Ike Turner added a backing girl group he renamed The Ikettes, and this also led to the first name change of the Kings of Rhythm as they began performing as The Ike & Tina Turner Revue. Robert Palmer wrote "There was never any doubt that Tina Turner was the star...the electrifying performer audiences came to see. Ike kept his own stage presence deliberately low-key, avoiding flamboyant moves and directing the band with underplayed, economical gestures. His songwriting, production and musical direction were geared toward showcasing Tina."^[33]

The duo contributed five more substantial hit singles including "Poor Fool", "I Idolize You" and the Joe Seneca cover of "It's Gonna Work Out Fine", which gave the duo their second million-seller and their first Grammy nomination. After the duo's deal with Sue ended in 1964, Turner would move the band around to different labels looking for the best deal, and between that year and 1969 they recorded on Sonja, Warner Bros., Kent, Loma, Modern, Philles, Innis, Blue Thumb, Minit, and A&M.^[6] Phil Spector sought out the duo to work with on the 1965 "River Deep - Mountain High", but paid Turner $25,000 to have no creative input into the sessions for the song. The song 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.^[41] This brought the duo to the attention of Mick Jagger, who in 1966 invited them to tour with and open for The Rolling Stones,^[42] bringing them to a wider audience outside of soul. 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.^[37]

The success of the Ike and Tina Turner Revue gave Turner the finances 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.^[13] 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.^[43] 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^[13] Frank Zappa recorded the Ruben and the Jets album For Real! at Bolic in 1973.^[44] Ike and Tina's last hit, the Tina written Nutbush City Limits was also recorded there.

In 1974, Turner was arrested for using illegal blue boxes installed at Bolic to make long-distance phone calls without the phone company's permission. At the time of the arrest, police officers spent several hours breaking through the studio's heavy security measures, as Ike worked feverishly inside trying to finish work on various recordings before being taken to jail. He was eventually cleared of the charges. After this the police began surveillance on the studio, believing other illegal activities were taking place inside.^[13]

Legal problems and comeback (1976-2007)[link]

After the breakup of the Ike and Tina Turner Revue, Turner struggled to find success as a solo artist for many years, and by his own admission his behaviour became increasingly erratic.^[45] During the 1980s he was arrested 10 times for drugs and firearms offenses and was convicted on 2 occasions.^[46] In 1980, a SWAT team raided Bolic Sound, 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.^[13] In April 1981, he 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 only fired a shot to scare him off, the man injuring himself when he climbed over the fence to get away. The jury trial in 1982 found him not guilty of assault.^[13] By 1985, Turner's finances were in disarray and he owed the state of California $12,802 in back taxes for the period 1975-79. He later settled his account.^[13] He had tried to sell Bolic Sound in 1980 to raise funds to avoid foreclosure, but 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.^[13] Turner was arrested again on Friday 21 June 1985, by police acting on undercover information and charged with conspiracy to sell $16,000 of cocaine, possession and maintaining a residence for selling or using a controlled substance.^[47] The police took $1,000 of rock cocaine from his North Hollywood apartment. Also arrested and charged alongside him were Eddie Coleman Jr., 32, of Altadena, a record producer, and Richard Lee Griffin, 35, of Los Angeles, a music company writer. Turner paid a $5,000 bond and was released awaiting arraignment on 9 July.^[48] A further arrest came in 1986 for cocaine possession, concealed carry of a handgun and traffic violations. Turner was released on $2,671 bail.^[49] In January 1987, he 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.^[50] On 16 February 1990, he was sentenced to four years in a California prison for cocaine possession offences.^[51] He was incarcerated at the minimum security California Men's Colony, San Luis Obispo.^[46] Turner completed 18 months of his sentence before being released on parole in September 1991.^[52][53] Larry Kamien, associate warden of the California Men's Colony said Turner was a model inmate.^[52] In prison he became a trustee working in the library ^[53] and saved up $13,000 by selling cigarettes, candy bars and coffee to other inmates.^[54] He also played music with other inmates and wrote 15 new songs, which he was planning to record when he was released.^[52]

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. Released from prison Turner said he was nervous about returning to performing, but had plans to return to the studio. He sold 20 unreleased Ike & Tina Turner recordings to independent label Esquire Records.^[52] In 1993 Salt-n-Pepa sampled his Ikettes hit "I'm Blue (The Gong Gong Song)" for their 1993 single Shoop. The track went to number 4 in the Billboard Hot 100, earning him around half a million dollars in royalties.^[45] He re-recorded the song in a duet style with Singer, Billy Rogers. Produced by Billy Rogers, the remake received favourable reviews.^[55]

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.^[56] Walker paid him $5,000 a night for six songs.^[57] 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 and were hailed as one of the highlights of the conference.^[58] 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".^[59]

In 2005, Turner revealed he had been diagnosed with emphysema, 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."^[60] Despite his ill health, he managed to appear 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 Manchester Opera House from 1–5 November 2005, his performance was released on the DVD "Demon Days: Live at the Manchester Opera House."^[61] 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.^[62] Although Turner does not appear on the album, Pitchfork noted elements of his influence in the production.^[63]

In the year leading up to his death, Turner had a couple of bad falls at his house and was hospitalized 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 or 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.^[11]

Artistry and Legacy[link]

Musical style[link]

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 blues. Though primarily known as a guitarist, Turner began his career playing piano, and personally considered it his main instrument. He decided he was not meant to be a frontman when at 12 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.^[37] Donald Fagen has written: "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."^[64]

Turner's guitar style is distinguished by heavy use of the whammy bar to achieve a strong reverb-soaked vibrato, string bending, hammer ons and triplets in his blues phrasing.^[65] 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.^[66] 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.^[67] In The Stratocaster Chronicles, Tom Wheeler writes that Turner's “inventive style is a classic example of an artist discovering the Stratocaster, adapting to its features and fashioning something remarkable.”^[68] 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.”^[67]

Dave Rubin wrote in Premier Guitar magazine: All those years of playing piano and arranging taught him a considerable amount about harmony, as he could certainly navigate I-IV-V chord changes. Ike modestly terms what he does on the guitar as “tricks,” but make no mistake, he attacked his axe with the conviction of a man who knew precisely what he wanted to hear come out of it.^[65]

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.^[69] 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.

Influence[link]

Robert Palmer writes that "perhaps he [Turner] played the behind-the-scenes Svengali too seamlessly for his own good. To the fans who bought the records and concert tickets, his contribution was practically invisible. With his creative work of the '50s largely forgotten and his more recent efforts overshadowed by Tina's larger-than-life presence, he was easily dismissed as a purely exploitative figure riding on his wife's coattails." However to contemporaries and blues fans Turner's contribution to music is substantial. 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."^[13] B.B. King was a great admirer of Turner, describing him as "The best bandleader I've ever seen".^[70] 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."^[12] Richard was inspired to learn to play the piano by hearing Rocket 88^[11] and borrowed the introduction for his hit Good Golly Miss Molly.^[71]

Phil Alexander, editor-in-chief of Mojo magazine has credited Turner arrangements of blues standards as being an influence on 1960s British Invasion groups :"He proceeded to influence British rockers from the mid-1960s onwards. Without Ike you wouldn't have had The Stones and Zeppelin. People like that wouldn't have had the source material on which they drew."^[14] Speaking of Turner's claim to have written one of the first rock 'n' roll record, Paul Gambaccini, broadcaster said:

Nigel Cawthorne, Ike Turner's 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"^[45] 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".^[72]

Portrayal in popular culture[link]

Tina Turner's accounts of her abuse at the hands of Ike were published in her 1986 autobiography I, Tina. Ike received intensely negative publicity from this, exacerbated in 1993 by the release of the film adaptation What's Love Got to Do with It. The film rights to the book were acquired by Disney's Touchstone Pictures. 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.^[73] 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."^[11] Phil Spector speaking at Turner's eulogy, called the film a "piece of trash".^[74] However Robert Palmer noted that:"Long before Tina Turner cast him as the devil incarnate ...that was Ike Turner's show business persona."^[33] In 2006 Vibe named the character of Ike Turner from What's Love Got To Do With It at number 4 in their 20 best movie "bad guys."^[75] After the release of the film and Turner's drug conviction, the fictionalized version of Turner from the movie was seized on by comedians, 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.^[76]

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 relationships, which always resulted in him giving inappropriate and humorous advice. These sketches were collected in a 2008 comedy album Ike At The Mike.^[77]

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.

Awards and achievements[link]

Ike and Tina Turner were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1991 while Turner was still in prison, Phil Spector accepting the award on their behalf. Turner was nominated for a Grammy in 2001 for his album Here & Now. He was awarded in 2004 with a Heroes Award from the Memphis charter of NARAS.^[7] In 2006 he 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."^[78] 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".

Personal life[link]

Relationships[link]

Turner was married at least five times. He sometimes claimed to have been married 13 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.^[3] 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.^[79]

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.^[13] Their divorce was finalized in 1978. ^[80] 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."^[13] In his 1999 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."^[13] He stated that she took his name in order to discourage a former lover from returning to her.^[81] In his autobiography Turner wrote "We didn't recognize marriages", which Margaret Moser believes "is true by the rural Southern standards of the times".^[23]

Turner married former Ikette Margaret Ann Thomas in the early 1980s.^[13] 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.^[11]

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.^[82]

Drug addiction[link]

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.^[11] 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.^[10][13][83] By 1974 His heavy usage meant he had worn a large hole through his nasal septum.^[46] This hole caused him pain which he relieved with further hits of cocaine. He then began freebasing crack cocaine.^[11] 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, smelled cocaine fumes and had a relapse.^[11]

Death[link]

In the weeks leading up to his death, Turner became reclusive, in contrast to his normal gregarious personality. On December 10, 2007, He told his personal assistant Falina Rasool that he believed he was dying, and would not make it to Christmas.^[11] Turner died on December 12, 2007, at 76 years of age, at his home in San Marcos, California, near San Diego.^[8][84] 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.^[11]

The funeral was held on December 22, 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".^[74]

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.^[85] 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.^[60]

On August 5, 2010, Ike Turner was posthumously recognized by his Mississippi hometown.^[86] Clarksdale officials and music fans gathered to unveil two markers on the Mississippi Blues Trail in downtown Clarksdale honoring Turner and his musical legacy.^{[87] [88]} The unveilings coincided with the 23rd annual Sunflower River Blues and Gospel Festival, dedicated that year to "Rocket 88".

Partial discography[link]

Albums[link]

• 1962: Dance With Ike & Tina Turner's Kings of Rhythm, Sue Records
• 1963: Ike Turner Rocks the Blues, Crown Records
• 1969: Ike Turner & the Kings of Rhythm: A Black Man's Soul
• 1972: Ike Turner & the Family Vibes: Strange Fruit
• 1972: Blues Roots
• 1973: Ike Turner Presents The Family Vibes: Confined to Soul
• 1973: Bad Dreams
• 1975: Funky Mule
• 1980: The Edge (Featuring Tina Turner and Home Grown Funk)
• 1996: My Blues Country
• 1997: Without Love...I Have Nothing
• 2001: Here and Now
• 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)
• 2003: The Resurrection
• 2003: Ike Turner & The Kings of Rhythm - Live in Concert
• 2006: Rising with the Blues^[89]

Compilations[link]

• 1984: The Legendary Ike Turner and the Kings of Rhythm-Hey Hey Red Lightin', RL0047
• 2011: Jack Rabbit Blues - The Singles Of 1958-1960

Singles[link]

Credited as Ike Turner

• 1951 : Heartbroken and Worried / I'm Lonesome Baby - with His Kings of Rhythm, 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 Ann 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
• 1965 : The New Breed Parts 1 and 2 as Ike Turner & His Kings of Rhythm, Sue 138^[90]
• 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^[91]
• 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

Ike & Tina Turner[link]

Awards[link]

• 1962: Grammy nomination (Category Best Rock and Roll Recording, for It's Gonna Work Out Fine, with Tina Turner)
• 1972: Grammy winner (Category Best Rhythm & Blues Performance - Duo or Group (Vocal or Instrumental) for Proud Mary with Tina Turner)
• 1975: Grammy nomination (Category Best Soul Gospel Performance, 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 Award 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)^[92]
• 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^[93]
• 2007: Grammy winner (Best Traditional Blues Album for the album Risin' With the Blues)^[94]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ike Turner

• Ike Turner at Allmusic
• Ike Turner at the Internet Movie Database
• Obituary (14 December 2007) at timesonline.co.uk
• Obituary by Donald Fagen in Slate
• information on Ike Turner's 1950s recordings.
• interview with a 1950s acquaintance of Turner

v t e Ike & Tina Turner Ike Turner Tina Turner Studio albums The Soul of Ike & Tina Turner Dance with Ike & Tina Turner's Kings of Rhythm Dynamite! Don't Play Me Cheap It's Gonna Work Out Fine Please Please Please River Deep - Mountain High Workin' Together Feel Good Nutbush City Limits Live albums Festival of Live Performances The Ike & Tina Turner Review Live Live! The Ike & Tina Turner Show Compilations Proud Mary: The Best of Ike & Tina Turner Funkier Than a Mosquito's Tweeter The Ike & Tina Turner Story 1960-1975 Singles "A Fool in Love" "Whole Lotta Love" "I Idolize You" "It's Gonna Work Out Fine" "Poor Fool" "Tra La La La La" "River Deep - Mountain High" "A Love Like Yours" "I've Been Loving You Too Long" "Bold Soul Sister" "The Hunter "Come Together" "I Want To Take You Higher" "Proud Mary" "Nutbush City Limits" Videos Live in '71 Related topics Discography The Ikettes Albums Songs Book:Tina Turner

Tina Turner
Tina Turner performing in the GelreDome, 1985
Background information
Birth name	Anna Mae Bullock
Also known as	Tina Turner, Ann Bullock, Little Ann
Born	(1939-11-26) November 26, 1939 (age 72) Nutbush, Tennessee, U.S.A.
Origin	Brownsville, Tennessee, U.S.A.
Genres	Rock, soul, R&B, pop
Occupations	Singer, dancer, author, actress
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	1958–present
Labels	EMI, United Artists, Capitol, Parlophone, Virgin
Associated acts	The Ike & Tina Turner Revue

Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939) is an American singer and actress whose career has spanned more than 50 years. She has won numerous awards.^[1][2] Turner started out her music career with husband Ike Turner as a member of the Ike & Tina Turner Revue.^[3] Success followed with a string of hits including "River Deep, Mountain High" and the 1971 hit "Proud Mary". With the publication of her autobiography I, Tina (1986), Turner revealed severe instances of spousal abuse against her by Ike Turner prior to their 1976 split and subsequent 1978 divorce. After virtually disappearing from the music scene for several years following her divorce from Ike Turner, she rebuilt her career, launching a string of hits beginning in 1983 with the single "Let's Stay Together" and the 1984 release of her fifth solo album Private Dancer.

Her musical career led to film roles, beginning with a prominent role as The Acid Queen in the 1975 film Tommy, and an appearance in Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. She starred opposite Mel Gibson as Aunty Entity in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome for which she received the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture, and her version of the film's theme, "We Don't Need Another Hero", was a hit single. She appeared in the 1993 film Last Action Hero.

One of the world's most popular entertainers, Turner has been called the most successful female rock artist^[4] and was named "one of the greatest singers of all time" by Rolling Stone.^[5] Her combined album and single sales total approximately 180 million copies worldwide.^[6][7][8][9] She is known for her energetic stage presence,^[2] powerful vocals, career longevity,^[8] and widespread appeal.^[10] In 2008, Turner left semi-retirement to embark on her Tina!: 50th Anniversary Tour.^[11][12] Turner's tour became one of the highest selling ticketed shows of 2008–2009.^[7] Turner was raised a Baptist, but converted to Buddhism and credits the spiritual chants with giving her the strength that she needed to get through the rough times.^[13] Rolling Stone ranked her at 63 on their 100 greatest artists of all time and considers her the "Queen of Rock and Roll".^[14]

Early life[link]

Anna Mae Bullock was born in Nutbush, an unincorporated area in Haywood County, Tennessee, on November 26, 1939, the daughter of Zelma Bullock (née Currie), a factory worker, and Floyd Richard Bullock, a Baptist deacon, farm overseer, and factory worker.^[15][16] She long believed her mother had significant Native American ancestry,^[17] specifically Navajo and Cherokee; however, a DNA test showed her to be 66% African American, 33% European and 1% Native American.^{[18][19][20][21]} She attended Flag Grove School in Haywood County, Tennessee (the land for the school was sold below market value to the school trustees by her great great-uncle in 1889).^[21] Ann's older sister was named (Ruby) Aillene. For a time during World War II, their parents relocated to Knoxville, Tennessee to do factory work. By the time of their return to Nutbush, they separated and later divorced following an abusive marriage. Zelma Bullock later relocated to St. Louis, Missouri. Floyd Bullock moved to Detroit and later settled in California.

Ann and her sister relocated to Brownsville where they were raised by their grandmother. She recalled in her early years working with her parents at a farm as sharecroppers. She performed on several talent shows as a child and sang at her church choir. She was raised Baptist and lived most of her childhood as a tomboy participating in her high school's basketball team. When she was 14, she began work as a domestic for a family in Ripley. This continued until she was sixteen when her half-sister Evelyn was killed in a car crash followed by the death of her grandmother around the same time. After her mother returned from St. Louis to attend her funeral, she invited her daughter to move with her in St. Louis, where Anna and her sister reunited. In St. Louis, she attended Sumner High School.^[22] She eventually graduated from the school in 1958 and, following graduation, took work as a nurse aide at Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

Ike & Tina Turner[link]

Tina performing with Ike Turner in 1972.

Origins[link]

Ann became enthralled by St. Louis's thriving nightlife, and her sister often took her out to clubs, much to their mother's chagrin. Anna was introduced to Ike Turner and his Kings of Rhythm band at Club Manhattan in East St. Louis, where Aillene served as a barmaid and was then dating a Kings of Rhythm member. It was there that Ann also began dating one of the Kings of Rhythm band mates. Ann pursued Ike Turner for months asking him to let her sing with his band but Turner was reluctant to have her in his band. When she was seventeen, she sang during an intermission in the Kings of Rhythm show at Club Manhattan after she was giving a microphone by the band's drummer. Impressed by her vocals, Ike allowed her to join the band as an occasional lead and background vocalist.^[23] Ike gave Ann her first stage name, Little Ann, during this time and included her in his record, "Box Top", which was a local hit in St. Louis after its 1958 release on a St. Louis label titled Tune Town, Ann sung with a male vocalist named Carlson Oliver, that was a member of the Kings of Rhythm. In November 1959, when vocalist Art Lassiter failed to show up for a recording session for Ike's composition, "A Fool in Love", Anna was told to lay down a guide vocal. Ike intended to eventually have Lassiter record over Anna's take, for the final production.

Ike Turner met with Sue Records president Juggy Murray in New York, and played the demo for him. Upon hearing it, Murray insisted Turner keep Ann's vocals, and gave Ike a $25,000 advance, convinced the song would become a hit single.^[24] In response to this, Ike Turner decided to form a duo around him and Ann. In the process, he changed her name from Little Ann to Tina Turner, stating he got the name because he felt it "sounded good". Despite the early romanticized version of their story in the biopic, What's Love Got to Do with It, Ike Turner and Ann Bullock were not romantically involved until around the release of "A Fool in Love", which by then had been released under the billing Ike & Tina Turner,^[25] effectively starting the duo and launching Ann into show business. Ike Turner claimed later that he helped mold and shape Tina Turner's style and image.^[26]

Early success[link]

"A Fool in Love" was released in the spring of 1960 and by late summer the song had reached number two on the R&B chart and crossed over to number twenty-seven on the Billboard Hot 100 later going on to sell a million copies. After Ike and Tina Turner made their national television debut performing the song on American Bandstand in October 1960, she gave birth to Ike's child, Ronald Renelle. Ike and Tina's relationship started around 1959 shortly after Raymond Hill, a member of Ike's Kings of Rhythm, childhood friend of Ike's, and father of Tina's first-born son, left the band due to monetary complaints. Tina had moved into Ike's home after she had been kicked out of her mother's house following news of her pregnancy. The relationship started while Ike was still married to his wife, Lorraine, who was mother of two of his children. Both Ike and Tina felt strange about the relationship with Tina later saying she felt forced into a sexual relationship. Ike had felt the affair was incestuous, later telling an interviewer that "it felt like I was strewing (sic) my sister."^[27] Neither Ike nor Tina felt a strong attraction: Tina didn't think Ike was physically handsome while Ike felt Tina was "too skinny" to be his girlfriend since, according to Tina, he favored curvaceous women. Lorraine Taylor eventually left Ike with his children after a confrontation with Tina.

Sue Records followed the success of "A Fool in Love" with "I'm Jealous" but the record bombed. The couple quickly recovered with the release of the top 5 R&B single, "I Idolize You". Their second top 40 pop hit, "It's Gonna Work Out Fine", surpassed "A Fool in Love" on the pop charts reaching #14 and winning a Grammy Award nomination for Best Rock & Roll Performance. In 1962, this was followed by "Tra La La" and "Poor Fool" while "You Shoulda Treated Me Right" had milder success. With the arrival of Tina Turner, Ike Turner changed his band's name from The Kings of Rhythm to the Ike & Tina Turner Revue and featured a backing girl group he named The Ikettes. A strenuous touring schedule built up the band's reputation as one of the hottest R&B acts in the chitlin' circuit. By 1963, Ike Turner had upgraded their shows to include raunchy choreography for Tina and the Ikettes, with their energized shows only matched by James Brown and The Famous Flames. Ike Turner himself hated to be in front of the spotlight and chose to perform with his back mainly turned to the crowd though he occasionally would come out in front during skits with Tina. The success of their revue led to numerous other revue-led package shows from crossover R&B labels such as Motown and Stax. At a time when racially mixed audiences were still a controversy, Ike and Tina Turner were one of the few acts to perform openly for mixed audiences due to the money that they could bring to its venues, especially in the American South.^[28]

In 1962, Ann Bullock married Turner in Tijuana, Mexico.^[29] Following this, she began raising Turner's previous sons, Ike Turner, Jr. and Michael, while her eldest son Craig Bullock (born from her earlier relationship with Raymond Hill, a saxophone player in Ike's band), adopted Turner's last name after Ike adopted him as his own. Tina raised them and her only child with Ike, Ronald.^[30] The Turners' relationship with Sue Records ended in 1964. Between that year and 1969, Ike and Tina Turner recorded for a various number of labels, in part due to Ike Turner's demands for money and lucrative deals. They recorded over a dozen albums including several live recordings during that period and kept themselves in the public eye during the mid-1960s by appearing on shows such as American Bandstand, Hollywood A Go-Go, Shindig!, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and The Andy Williams Show where their brand of entertainment was given both critical and artistic raves. Their performing success kept the Turners in the public eye while their records plummeted.

Mainstream success[link]

After several years touring the chitlin' circuit and other major rock and roll venues, Ike and Tina Turner began reaching the pinnacle of their success after the release of the pop-oriented ballad, "River Deep - Mountain High". While the song's initial release flopped at the time of its release in 1966, it led to modest international success in Europe. Upon hearing the track and another UK hit the group recorded, which was a cover of the Motown ballad, "A Love Like Yours (Don't Come Knocking Everyday)"; Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones asked the couple to open for them on their 1966 UK tour, which they obliged. The single became a bigger success in the UK, reaching #3 there. After their successful opening spot on the Stones' tour, Ike Turner renegotiated contracts for Tina and The Ikettes and Ike & Tina on several successive labels. In 1968, Ike produced the number, "You Got What You Wanted (Now You Don't Want What You Got)" under the billing "Tina Turner with Ike Turner and the Kings of Rhythm", while recording the album, So Fine. That year, Ike and Tina signed with Blue Thumb where much of the musical focus was mainly on blues and blues rock material. The albums, Outta Season and The Hunter produced their best charted success in years with the releases of the songs, "I've Been Loving You Too Long", "The Hunter" and "Bold Soul Sister" respectively, with "Bold Soul Sister" later winning Tina Turner a solo Grammy nomination.

During performances of "I've Been Loving You Too Long", Ike choreographed Tina to perform suggestively to the microphone, a practice Tina later said she hated doing but did it because she felt she had no say in it as it was Ike Turner's band. Due to this success, the Turners were invited to perform in Las Vegas and their shows would be attended by the likes of David Bowie, Sly Stone, Janis Joplin, Cher, James Brown, Ray Charles, Elton John and Elvis Presley.^[31] This exposure also led to Tina Turner and Ike Turner being on the cover of the rock magazine, Rolling Stone three times between 1967 and 1971. In 1970, the group signed with Liberty Records and scored their first top 40 US hit in years with their cover of Sly & The Family Stone's "I Want to Take You Higher" and appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show, the Dick Cavett Show and the Mike Douglas Show. This success led to an extended run in Vegas and also more opportunities to perform for bigger venues though the couple still frequented predominantly black venues including The Apollo Theater. In 1971, they released the Workin' Together album, which led to their biggest successes with the former album producing a hit version of "I Want to Take You Higher" and the latter producing their biggest hit single, a frenzied cover of "Proud Mary", which peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100 in March 1971, two months after it was released.^[32] The song later won the duo a Grammy for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group.^[33]

By 1972, the group had even made headlines by performing at Carnegie Hall, which was documented for a double live album. That year, they switched to United Artists Records and released ten albums between 1971 and 1978 (two albums were released posthumously following the duo's infamous 1976 split). In 1973, the group released their final hit with "Nutbush City Limits", culminating in the duo's full embrace of funk rock rhythms. Though the song was musically composed by Ike, Tina was solely credited to the song as its lyricist. The song peaked at number twenty-two on the Hot 100 and number four in the UK.^[34] In 1974, the Turners released several albums including The Gospel According to Ike & Tina, which later won the duo another Grammy Award nomination for Best Soul Gospel Performance, and Tina's first solo album, Tina Turns the Country On, which won Tina Turner another Grammy nod for Best R&B Female Vocal Performance.

Decline in popularity[link]

By the mid-1970s, Tina's personal life and marriage had fallen apart. Ike's growing cocaine use led to increasingly erratic and physically abusive behavior. Ike Turner also played a hand in their professional career hitting the doldrums for refusing to accept any outside management and using all the money he earned to maintain his cocaine habit. This led to low ticket sales and lower record sales. By 1975, Ike Turner was so addicted to cocaine that he couldn't make it to rehearsals for scheduled TV appearances leading Tina Turner to be onstage without her partner. That year, Tina accepted an offer to appear in The Who's rock opera, Tommy. Tina's role in the film as the Acid Queen proved to be successful as critics raved of her appearance on the film.

Ike Turner responded by releasing Tina's second solo album, Acid Queen, which in turn became the last Ike & Tina associated album to be released and featured the duo's last charted single, "Baby Get It On". A non-album single, "Delilah's Power", was also released during the same time. Tina's increasing independence led to increasing fights between the couple. In July 1976, Tina and Ike had a violent fight before an appearance at the Dallas Statler Hilton, where Tina alleged that this is when she hit Ike back "for the first time". After arriving at the hotel, Tina left Ike, fleeing with nothing more than thirty-six cents and a Mobil gas station credit card in her possession. She spent the next few months hiding from Ike while staying with various friends.^[35][36] Following this, Tina filed for divorce on July 27 after fourteen years of marriage, ending the Ike & Tina Turner Revue for good.

Tina would later credit her new-found Nichiren Buddhist^[37] faith with giving her the courage to strike out on her own. By walking out on Ike in the middle of a tour, she learned she was legally responsible to tour promoters for the canceled tour. Needing to earn a living, she became a solo performer, supplementing her income with TV appearances on shows such as The Hollywood Squares, Donny and Marie, The Sonny & Cher Show and The Brady Bunch Hour.^[38] After a year in court, their divorce was made final on March 29, 1978. In the divorce, she completely parted ways with him retaining only her stage name and assuming responsibility for the debts incurred by the canceled tour as well as a significant IRS lien.^[39]

Life after the Revue[link]

After lying low for a year following her separation from Ike Turner, Tina Turner went back on the road in 1977 supporting herself with a cabaret act in Las Vegas. In 1978, Tina released her third solo album (and her first album since her separation from Ike) entitled Rough on EMI Records. The album was considered a departure from the blues rock sound of Ike & Tina. Choosing to focus on "happier music" and strong readings of hard rock songs, the album would yield four singles, none of which charted. In 1979, Turner released the disco-infused Love Explosion album, but it also failed to chart.^[40]

Due to the albums' performances, United Artists and EMI Records dropped Turner from her contract after her obligations ended with the companies. Turner supported herself by touring constantly, starting her first solo tour with The Wild Lady of Rock 'n' Roll in 1978. Following the end of the tour in 1979, she was invited to perform on Olivia Newton-John's musical variety show in Australia, where she met Newton-John's manager Roger Davies and pursued him to manage her career. Davies accepted Turner's offer after seeing her perform in San Francisco in 1980 and advised Turner to revamp her stage act. Despite her career downturn, Turner remained popular as a stage performer.^[41]

Return to prominence[link]

In 1981, Turner made headlines when she performed at the Ritz Theater in New York, leading to Turner performing with Rod Stewart, first on Saturday Night Live and then on his televised Los Angeles concert tour. That same year, Turner appeared onstage with her old 1960s acquaintances The Rolling Stones. In 1982, Turner teamed up with B.E.F. for a remake of the Temptations' "Ball of Confusion".^[42] The song became a hit in European dance clubs. Following this success, the producers asked her to incorporate a cover of Al Green's classic, "Let's Stay Together". Released in November 1983, just days before Turner's 44th birthday, the song became a hit single in the UK reaching number six on their charts and also became a hit in several other European countries.^[43][44] The success of "Let's Stay Together" in Europe convinced Turner's new company Capitol Records to release the song in the US in early 1984, with the song reaching number twenty six on the Billboard Hot 100^[45] while also peaking at the top five of the R&B and dance charts.^[46][47]

Following its success, Capitol quickly gave Turner a new three-album contract and had them do an album, with Turner later staging what Ebony magazine called an "amazing comeback".^[48] Done in two months, the album Private Dancer, was released in June 1984. That same month, Turner issued the album's second single, "What's Love Got to Do with It". It quickly reached the top ten within a month and in September had reached number one on the Hot 100 in the US, making it the first time in Turner's career that she had reached that position. Private Dancer peaked at the top five of the Billboard album charts later selling five million copies in the US and a total of eleven million copies worldwide,^[49][50][51] though some sources stated the album has sold over twenty million^[4] making it her most successful album. Private Dancer also featured two more top ten singles, the rock-oriented "Better Be Good to Me" and the seductive title track while another US single, "Show Some Respect", became a modest top forty hit. Turner's comeback was culminated in early 1985 when she won four Grammy Awards including Record of the Year for "What's Love Got to Do with It". In February of that year, she embarked on her second world tour supporting the Private Dancer album, where she toured to huge crowds. One show, filmed at Birmingham, England's NEC Arena, was later released on home video. During this time she also contributed on vocals to the USA for Africa benefit song, "We Are the World".

Turner's success continued in 1985 when she appeared in her first acting role in ten years in the film, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, playing Aunty Entity, the ruler of Bartertown.^[52] Upon its release, the film grossed $36 million.^[53] Turner later received the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress for her role in the film and also contributed songs to the film's soundtrack, two of which, "We Don't Need Another Hero" and "One of the Living", became hits, with "One of the Living" later winning Turner a Grammy for Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. In July, Turner performed at Live Aid alongside Mick Jagger.^[54] Encouraged by a performance together during Tina's filmed solo concert in England, singer Bryan Adams released their duet single together, "It's Only Love", later resulting in a Grammy nod for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.

Subsequent releases[link]

Turner on tour with special guest Eric Clapton, June 17, 1987 in Wembley Arena, England

Turner returned with her next solo album, Break Every Rule, in 1986. The album quickly became platinum launching several hit singles including "Typical Male", "Two People" and "What You Get Is What You See" going on to sell two million copies in the United States and four million together worldwide. That same year, Turner published her autobiography, I, Tina, which she talked about her early life and volatile marriage to Ike Turner. She later received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame that summer. Turner's European Break Every Rule Tour, which culminated in March 1987 in Munich, contributed to record breaking sales and concert attendances. In January 1988, Turner made history alongside Paul McCartney when she performed in front of the largest paying audience (approximately 184,000) to see a solo performer in Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil earning her a Guinness World Record.^[55] The success of Turner's two live tours led to the recording of Tina Live in Europe, which was released that April. Turner lay low following the end of her Break Every Rule Tour emerging once again with Foreign Affair, which included one of Turner's signature singles, "The Best". She later embarked on an European-only tour to promote the album. While Foreign Affair would go gold in the United States, with its singles "The Best" and "Steamy Windows" becoming top forty hits there, it wasn't as successful as Turner's previous offerings, though it was hugely successful in Europe, where Turner had personally relocated.

In 1991, Ike and Tina Turner were inducted to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Phil Spector later accepted on their behalf. That same year, the ex-couple signed away their rights to have their lives dramatized in the semi-autobiographical film, What's Love Got to Do with It, later released in 1993 and starring Angela Bassett as Tina and Laurence Fishburne as Ike, with the actors later winning Best Actress and Best Actor Academy Award nominations for their portrayals of the former husband-and-wife team. Turner contributed to the soundtrack for What's Love Got to Do with It, re-recording songs from her Ike and Tina days and recording several newer songs including what turned out to be her last top ten US hit, "I Don't Wanna Fight". Other than helping Bassett with her wardrobe and teaching her dance steps as well as providing songs for the soundtrack, she refused to be involved fully in the film, telling an interviewer "Why would I want to see Ike Turner beat me up again? I haven't dwelled on it; it's all in the past where it belongs." Following the film's and soundtrack's release, Turner embarked on her first US tour in seven years. Following the tour's end, Turner moved to Switzerland and took a year off from the road at the end of the tour.

Turner returned in 1995 with the U2 composition, "GoldenEye" for the James Bond film of the same name. Its huge success in Europe and modest success in her formerly native United States led Turner to record a new album, releasing the Wildest Dreams album in 1996. Though the album itself was not as hugely successful in the United States, thanks to a world tour and a much played Hanes hosiery commercial, the album went gold in the United States. The album reached platinum success in Europe where Turner had hits with "Whatever You Want", "Missing You", which briefly charted in the US, "Something Beautiful Remains", and the sensual Barry White duet "In Your Wildest Dreams". Following the tour's end in 1997, Turner took another break before re-emerging again in 1999 appearing on the VH-1 special Divas Live '99. In 1998 the duet with Italian superstar Eros Ramazzotti in "Cose della Vita" that became a European hit. Before celebrating her 60th birthday, Turner released the dance-infused song, "When the Heartache Is Over" and its parent album, Twenty Four Seven the following month in Europe, releasing both the song and the album in North America in early 2000. The success of "When the Heartache is Over" and Turner's tour supporting the album once again helped in the album going gold in the U.S. The Twenty Four Seven Tour became her most successful concert tour to date and became the highest-grossing tour of 2000 according to Pollstar grossing over $100 million. Later, Guinness World Records announced that Turner had sold more concert tickets than any other solo concert performer in music history.^[8][56] Afterwards Turner announced a semi-retirement.

Recent years[link]

In 2002, Tennessee State Route 19 between Brownsville and Nutbush was named "Tina Turner Highway".^[57][58][59] In 2003, she teamed up with Phil Collins to record the song "Great Spirits" for the Disney film Brother Bear.

In 2004, Turner released a new compilation, All the Best, and released the single "Open Arms". The song became a modestly successful European hit and a modest R&B hit in America. In 2005, Turner briefly performed on shows such as The Oprah Winfrey Show and The View. All the Best became Turner's first album to go platinum in the U.S. in over eleven years.

U.S. President George W. Bush congratulates Turner during a reception for the Kennedy Center Honors in the East Room of the White House on December 4, 2005. From left, the honorees are singer Tony Bennett, dancer Suzanne Farrell, actress Julie Harris, and actor Robert Redford.

At the end of the year, Turner was recognized by the Kennedy Center Honors at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. and was elected to join an elite group of entertainers.^[60] President Bush commented on Turner's "natural skill, the energy and sensuality",^[61] and referred to her legs as "the most famous in show business".^[62] Several artists paid tribute to her that night including Oprah Winfrey, Melissa Etheridge (who performed "River Deep - Mountain High", Queen Latifah (who performed "What's Love Got to Do with It"), Beyoncé (who performed "Proud Mary"), and the Reverend Al Green (who performed "Let's Stay Together"). Winfrey stated, "We don't need another hero. We need more heroines like you, Tina. You make me proud to spell my name w-o-m-a-n,"^[63] and "Tina Turner didn't just survive, she triumphed." In November, Turner released All the Best - Live Collection and it was certified platinum by the RIAA.

In early 2006, the All the Invisible Children soundtrack was released. Turner sang "Teach Me Again" from the All the Invisible Children soundtrack with Elisa charted at No. 1 in Italy. In May 2007, Turner returned to the stage to headline a benefit concert for the Cauldwell Children's Charity at London's Natural History Museum. This was her first full show in seven years. Jazz pianist Herbie Hancock released an album paying tribute to singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, entitled River: The Joni Letters on September 25, 2007, on which Turner contributed her vocals to a version of "Edith and The Kingpin". On October 16, 2007, Carlos Santana released an album entitled Ultimate Santana which featured Turner singing "The Game of Love", a song originally intended for her to sing, but which was instead released by Santana with Michelle Branch due to demands from the recording label.

On December 12, 2007, Turner issued a brief statement through a spokesperson regarding the death of her former husband Ike Turner:^[64] "Tina hasn't had any contact with Ike in more than 30 years. No further comment will be made."^[65]

Turner performed with Beyoncé at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards in February 2008. It was Turner's first major public performance since her record-breaking Twenty-Four Seven Tour.^[66][67] In addition, she picked up a Grammy as a featured artist on River: The Joni Letters. On May 5, 2008, she performed in a televised concert and interview for the Oprah show at Caesar's Place in Las Vegas with long time friend Cher.

Turner embarked on her Tina!: 50th Anniversary Tour on October 1, 2008,^[68] which began on in Kansas City, Missouri at the Sprint Center. The album, Tina!: Her Greatest Hits, was released in support of the tour.

In 2009, Turner participated in the Beyond singing project with fellow musicians Regula Curti, Seda Bagcan and Dechen Shak Dagsay. This CD combined Buddhist chants and Christian choral music along with a spiritual message read by Turner.^[69] The album was released only in Germany and a handful of other countries. It peaked at No. 7 in Switzerland. In 2011, Children Beyond followed and charted again in Switzerland.

A new live album was released by Parlophone in September 2009 entitled Tina Live. The double disc set included the full concert recorded in the Netherlands as part of her 50th Anniversary Tour on DVD and selected tracks on CD. It is only Turner's second live album with the first, Tina Live in Europe, being released twenty years previously in 1988.

In April 2010, Turner once again had a hit with her 1989 single The Best. It peaked at No.9 in the UK Singles Chart after an internet campaign by supporters of Glasgow Rangers Football Club.^[70]

Personal life[link]

Born in a farm in Nutbush, a town in Haywood County, Tennessee, Tina's parents subsequently abandoned her at a young age before reaching her teen years. She moved to Brownsville to stay with her close grandmother. After her grandmother died when she was sixteen, her mother moved her to St. Louis. Tina Turner had two sisters, Alline Selico and Evelyn Currie, both of whom are deceased. She was close to both sisters growing up and later credited Alline with introducing her to Ike Turner after taking her to Club Manhattan which Turner frequented. After Tina graduated from St. Louis' Sumner High School at 18, she became pregnant with musician Raymond Hill's child. Hill was a childhood friend of Ike Turner's and an original member of Ike's Kings of Rhythm band. After her mother kicked her out of her house after finding out about the pregnancy, Tina moved in Ike Turner's home in East St. Louis, where she remained until she and Ike relocated to Los Angeles in 1964.

Tina's accounts of her life with Ike Turner differ from his accounts: whereas Turner alleged in her memoirs, I, Tina that Ike Turner was verbally, emotionally and physically abusive towards her, Ike Turner alleged that he never beat her but did admit to "slapping her a few times" and "punching her to the ground without thinking" in his own memoirs, Taking Back My Name. In 1976, after years of alleged abuse, Tina left him after suffering a beating by Ike's hands while in Dallas.^[26] Ike Turner pursued her for half a year stopping his pursuits in 1977. Tina filed for divorce and left most of the monetary assets in Ike Turner's care while retaining the use of her stage name as a means to perform.^[39] Ike Turner later alleged that their marriage was illegal,^[26] and that Tina took his last name to discourage a former lover's attempt to reconcile with her, resulting in her full stage name of Tina Turner.^[71]

Turner was introduced to Buddhism by a friend of hers and Ike's in 1972. Turner wrote in her autobiography that she first used Buddhist chants (mainly nam myoho renge kyo) before performing at a recording session at Ike's Bolic Sounds studio and it resulted in Ike sending her money to go shopping, showing Buddhism as both a source of strength and a means of getting what she wanted. Two years later, she converted to Nichiren Buddhism and later credited the religion for getting her through the rough times especially during her post-Ike/Revue life and career.^[72] In 1985, she met her current companion, German-based music executive Erwin Bach, while at a record label party in London. They began dating a year later and have remained together since. Turner has been living in a lakehouse called Chateau Algonquin in Zurich^[73] since moving there in 1994.^[74][75] She also has had residences in London, Cologne and on the French Riviera.^[76]

Tina is a mother to four sons. His first son, Raymond Craig, was from her brief affair with Kings of Rhythm band mate Raymond Hill, born weeks before Tina's 19th birthday, in 1958. She had one more biological child, Ronald Renelle, with Ike Turner, born in October 1960. Following Tina's subsequent marriage to Ike, she raised two of Ike's eldest sons, Ike Turner, Jr. and Michael, from Ike Turner's marriage to Lorraine Taylor.

Awards and accolades[link]

Turner was listed on Rolling Stone's list "The Immortals — The Greatest Artists of All Time".^[5] Turner is a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee,^[77] and three of her recordings, "River Deep - Mountain High" (1999), "Proud Mary" (2003) and "What's Love Got To Do With It" (2012) are in the Grammy Hall of Fame.^[78] Turner has won 8 Grammy Awards.^[8]

Bryan Adams, who toured with her on the Private Dancer Tour, praised Turner's live performances, saying, "I never saw Tina walk through a performance, she always put on a great show, and was gracious and grateful to her audience."

Her legs were noted specifically as she was honored by President George W. Bush.^[79]

Discography[link]

Tours[link]

	Book: Tina Turner
Wikipedia books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print.

• 1978–1979: Wild Lady of Rock Tour
• 1982–1984: Nice 'n' Rough Tour
• 1985: Private Dancer Tour
• 1987–1988: Break Every Rule Tour
• 1990: Foreign Affair Tour
• 1993: What's Love? Tour
• 1996–1997: Wildest Dreams Tour
• 2000: Twenty Four Seven Tour
• 2008–2009: Tina!: 50th Anniversary Tour

Filmography[link]

References[link]