Ike Turner R.I.P.

Michael Johnstone · From: Sylmar,Ca. USA

Ike died this morning in San Diego.Too many cigarettes and a few other things. Ike gave me my first job upon arriving in L.A. in the early 70s.I was an engineer and maintanence tech at his studio down in Englewood called Bolic Sound.That's back when he and Tina were still together. I was around and personally witnessed a lot of his troubles and incidents. Ike was a mess but there was a lot to respect about his contributions to music.A lot of people don't know that he was a dynamite R&B/gospel piano player. I haven't seen much of him since then but he visited my home a few years ago. Rest easy Ike.

Mike Perlowin · From: Los Angeles CA

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22221396/

Rock pioneer Ike Turner dead at 76

Musical legacy forever overshadowed by reputation as Tina Turner’s abuser, Ike Turner managed to rehabilitate his image somewhat in later years, touring around the globe with his band the Kings of Rhythm and drawing critical acclaim for his work. He won a Grammy in 2007.

SAN DIEGO - Ike Turner, whose role as one of rock’s critical architects was overshadowed by his ogrelike image as the man who brutally abused former wife Tina Turner, died Wednesday at his home in suburban San Diego. He was 76.

Turner died at his San Marcos home, Scott M. Hanover of Thrill Entertainment Group, which managed Turner’s career, told The Associated Press.

There was no immediate word on the cause of death, which was first reported by celebrity Web site TMZ.com.

Turner managed to rehabilitate his image somewhat in later years, touring around the globe with his band the Kings of Rhythm and drawing critical acclaim for his work. He won a Grammy in 2007 in the traditional blues album category for “Risin’ With the Blues.”

But his image is forever identified as the drug-addicted, wife-abusing husband of Tina Turner. He was hauntingly portrayed by Laurence Fishburne in the movie “What’s Love Got To Do With It,” based on Tina Turner’s autobiography.

Tina Turner declined to comment on her ex-husband’s death.

“Tina is aware that Ike passed away earlier today. She has not had any contact with him in 35 years. No further comment will be made,” said her spokeswoman, Michele Schweitzer.

In a 2001 interview with The Associated Press, Turner denied his ex-wife’s claims of abuse and expressed frustration that he had been demonized in the media while his historic role in rock’s beginnings had been ignored.

“You can go ask Snoop Dogg or Eminem, you can ask the Rolling Stones or (Eric) Clapton, or you can ask anybody — anybody, they all know my contribution to music, but it hasn’t been in print about what I’ve done or what I’ve contributed until now,” he said.

First rock ’n’ roll record

Turner, a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, is credited by many rock historians with making the first rock ’n’ roll record, “Rocket 88,” in 1951. Produced by the legendary Sam Phillips, it was groundbreaking for its use of distorted electric guitar.

But as would be the case for most of his career, Turner, a prolific session guitarist and piano player, was not the star on the record — it was recorded with Turner’s band but credited to singer Jackie Brenston.

Ike and Tina Turner perform together in this undated photo. In a 2001 interview, Turner denied his ex-wife’s claims of abuse and expressed frustration that he had been demonized in the media.
And it would be another singer — a young woman named Anna Mae Bullock — who would bring Turner his greatest fame, and infamy.

Turner met the 18-year-old Bullock, whom he would later marry, in 1959 and quickly made the husky-voiced woman the lead singer of his group, refashioning her into the sexy Tina Turner. Her stage persona was highlighted by short skirts and stiletto heels that made her legs her most visible asset. But despite the glamorous image, she still sang with the grit and fervor of a rock singer with a twist of soul.

The pair would have two sons. They also produced a string of hits. The first, “A Fool In Love,” was a top R&B song in 1959, and others followed, including “I Idolize You” and “It’s Gonna Work Out Fine.”

But over the years their genre-defying sound would make them favorites on the rock ’n’ roll scene, as they opened for acts like the Rolling Stones.

Their densely layered hit “River Deep, Mountain High” was one of producer Phil Spector’s proudest creations. A rousing version of “Proud Mary,” a cover of the Creedence Clearwater Revival hit, became their signature song and won them a Grammy for best R&B vocal performance by a group.

Still, their hits were often sporadic, and while their public life depicted a powerful, dynamic duo, Tina Turner would later charge that her husband was an overbearing wife abuser and cocaine addict.

In her 1987 autobiography, “I, Tina,” she narrated a harrowing tale of abuse, including suffering a broken nose. She said that cycle ended after a vicious fight between the pair in the back seat of a car in Las Vegas, where they were scheduled to perform.

It was the only time she ever fought back against her husband, Turner said.

Tina’s dramatic comeback

After the two broke up, both fell into obscurity and endured money woes for years before Tina Turner made a dramatic comeback in 1984 with the release of the album “Private Dancer,” a multiplatinum success with hits such as “Let’s Stay Together” and “What’s Love Got To Do With It.”

The movie based on her life, “What’s Love Got To Do With It,” was also a hit, earning Angela Bassett an Oscar nomination.

“My experience, man, with drugs — I can’t say that I’m proud that I did drugs, but I’m glad I’m still alive to convey how I came through,” Ike Turner once said.

But Fishburne’s glowering depiction of Ike Turner also furthered Turner’s reputation as a rock villain.

Meanwhile, Turner never again had the success he enjoyed with his former wife.

After years of drug abuse, he was jailed in 1989 and served 17 months.

Turner told the AP he originally began using drugs to stay awake and handle the rigors of nonstop touring during his glory years.

“My experience, man, with drugs — I can’t say that I’m proud that I did drugs, but I’m glad I’m still alive to convey how I came through,” he said. “I’m a good example that you can go to the bottom. ... I used to pray, ‘God, if you let me get three days clean, I will never look back.’ But I never did get to three days. You know why? Because I would lie to myself. And then only when I went to jail, man, did I get those three days. And man, I haven’t looked back since then.”

But while he would readily admit to drug abuse, Turner always denied abusing his ex-wife.

Career revival

After years out of the spotlight his career finally began to revive in 2001 when he released the album “Here and Now.” The recording won rave reviews and a Grammy nomination and finally helped shift some of the public’s attention away from his troubled past and onto his musical legacy.

“His last chapter in life shouldn’t be drug abuse and the problems he had with Tina,” said Rob Johnson, the producer of “Here and Now.”

Turner spent his later years making more music and touring, even while he battled emphysema.

Robbie Montgomery — one of the “Ikettes,” backup singers who worked with Ike and Tina Turner — said Turner’s death was “devastating” to her.

“He gave me my start. He gave a million people their start,” Montgomery said.

Accolades for Turner’s early and later work continued to come in as he grew older, and the once-broke musician managed to garner a comfortable income as his songs were sampled by a variety of rap acts.

In interviews toward the end of his life, Turner would acknowledge having made many mistakes, but maintained he was still able to carry himself with pride.

“I know what I am in my heart. And I know regardless of what I’ve done, good and bad, it took it all to make me what I am today,” he once told the AP.

© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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Tony Prior · From: Charlotte NC

Too bad for Ike, they had a cool thing going on back then in the early years.

My sister hung with them , her and Tina were pretty good friends in the early years. My sister was married to Mickey Baker, yeh, the guitar playing Mikey Baker,( Mickey and Sylvia) they all did shows together along with King Curtis and many others I imagine..

RIP Ike...regardless of the personal stuff, you made a mark....

Bob Hoffnar · From: Austin, Tx

MIchael,
You remember a trombone player named Dino ( JA Deane) ? He was in Ike's studio band with Tina during those years and went on the road with Tina playing clavinete and trombone when she split. I was on the road with Dino for 6 years with a pretty nutty new music band. He got way into free jazz. From hanging with Dino and running into guys from the Ike scene the movie version made him look like one of Santa's elves compared what he would pull in real life.
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Bob

David L. Donald · From: Koh Samui Island, Thailand

Santa's elves eh. Yeah that fits.

I did two nights with him here at the Samui Festival
right after I got here, and he came across on stage
and off as a dangerous man.

Had a great band and he played well,
but you had the sense
to mind your mouth around him.

He also had the latest in a chain of Tina clones,
that never made the grade. But it was a fine show,
and I am glad I did it.

RIP Ike yes you made a mark musically,
but still CNN ran scrolling the bottom of the window this AM;

"Rock Pioneer Ike Turners dies, abused wife Tina."

For all he did musically,
this is what the short version still comes down to.

Inner city machismo,
surrounded by music star ego stroking phsycophants,
plus speed and cocaine, is not a good mix.

Now Jerry lee Lewis really is the
"Last Man Standing"
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DLD, Chili farmer. Plus bananas and papaya too.

Real happiness has no strings attached.
But pedal steels have many!

Bobby Caldwell · From: St. Louis, Missouri, USA * R.I.P.

I worked alot of shows in St. louis in the fifties with Ike when I was a member of a group called the Teen Tones. Ike was fun to be around in those days. I guess after he went to the west coast things went bad. I remember a group I played with in the sixties and he would stop in the club we played and sit in on piano. He played the daylights out of it. He really liked to play piano. He sure made his mark on the music business. Rest in peace Ike. Bobby

Jody Sanders · From: Magnolia,Texas, R.I.P.

RIP Ike. You done good. Jody.

David Doggett · Posted 12 Dec 2007 9:10 pm

Steinar Gregertsen · From: Arendal, Norway, R.I.P.

Skip Edwards · From: LA,CA

I played piano & organ on a few sessions for Ike down at Bolic in 1974. We would jam on grooves all night long - and I mean all night, till sunrise - and he would edit them into tunes. Or at least his engineer would...this was real editing long before ProTools.
One night he came into the studio and sat down at the piano to show me what he had in mind for this tune we were working on. It was just me and him in the room, with me standing by his side watching as he proceeded to play - for about ten minutes - some of the most awesome rockin' and soulful stuff I think I've ever heard. I mean, he pretty much was the original rock & roll piano player with "Rocket 88"...before Jerry Lee, Little Richard or Fats Domino.
It was really something to be there at such a private audience... I felt like Moses at the Burning Bush....

Here's to ya, Ike...muchas gracias.

Dave Mudgett · From: Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee

Andy Sandoval · From: Bakersfield, California, USA

I'll bet Tina's cryin her eyes out...Never the less I dug everything he contributed during his career.

Mitch Drumm · From: Frostbite Falls, hard by Veronica Lake

You may have heard of jalopies
You heard the noise they make
Let me introduce you to my Rocket 88
Yes, it's great, just won't wait
Everybody likes my Rocket 88
Gals will ride in style, moving all along

That's the way it was in 1951. Thankfully, Ike knew everyone in the music business in Mississippi at the time and his businessman/talent scout instincts led to him getting a lot of them into the studio--not to mention his own "Kings of Rhythm".

David L. Donald · From: Koh Samui Island, Thailand

Michael Johnstone · From: Sylmar,Ca. USA

How's this for a headline....

http://www.nypost.com/seven/12132007/news/nationalnews/ike_beats_tina_to_death_79527.htm

Richard Bass · From: Sabang Beach, Philippines

I had to laugh, but thats a pathetic headline.
Richard

David L. Donald · From: Koh Samui Island, Thailand

Certainly it has trenchant irony with it's pathos.

It also sums up his legacy all too well.
Oh yes, he did do good music too.
_________________
DLD, Chili farmer. Plus bananas and papaya too.

Real happiness has no strings attached.
But pedal steels have many!

Richard Sevigny · From: Salmon Arm, BC, Canada

Stu Schulman · From: Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)

Yep!That's the N.Y. post I grew up with in Queens.
_________________
Steeltronics Z-pickup,Desert Rose S-10 4+5,Desert Rose Keyless S-10 3+5... Mullen G2 S-10 3+5,Telonics 206 pickups,Telonics volume pedal.,Blanton SD -10,Emmons GS_10...Zirctone bar,Bill Groner Bar...any amp that isn't broken.Steel Seat.Com seats...Licking paint chips off of Chinese Toys since 1952.

Jason Odd · From: Stawell, Victoria, Australia

Damn, Ike's gone, that's a shame.

Y'know, Iked named Ella Mae Bullock Tina Turner, she knows where he came from, I'm sure there's a part of her that will shed a quiet tear.. weird I know.
I guess he was father to her kids and a massive part of her life, positives may be overshadowed by the towering mass of negative recollections, but they would exist.

His career, a sprawling mass of records and whatnot have been kind of forgotten due to the crappy CD reissues of the late 60s sides and UK only comps (on Ace, check them all out) of earlier material, and his lack of visibility during the drug addled years post-Tina.

the Ikettes spawned their own singles, spin-off groups like the Mirettes and the solo careers of Claudia Lennear, Bonnie Bramlett and P.P Arnold amongst others, and then there's the R&B guys who went on to other things, like the aforementioned Jackie Brenston who later rejoined Ike's roadshow when his career subsided somewhat.

Pat Powdrill was another one, she cut solo, group and studio only projects after the Ikettes.
http://www.spectropop.com/PatPowdrill/index.htm

I have no doubt that Tina's book is fairly accurate, Ike had his demons and for a long time fully embraced them in a furious coke haze which sharpened his mean streak, paranoia, and violence.
Prison may have taken away his habit, but you can't forget that much of your past, so I guess Ike wanted to present with some nobility, which was due for his early work and many great records over the years.

He strove to better himself, but in a self-image kind of way, rather than actual attonement, so we each have to view him in our own way.. the dude cut some awesome records, he knew talent when he saw it (Tina, Howlin' Wolf, P.P. Arnold, Brenston, etc) and played a mean piano and guitar.

Hell man, if he was white, they'd call him the first rock and roller... (although given the same colour alteration, Fats Domino and Amos Milburn would probably clean up there too).... Ike, I will miss, but the best part of his legacy, a lot of cool records, are worth hunting down.

Bo Legg · Posted 15 Dec 2007 11:25 pm

Ike was not the first to abuse Tina. God hit her with the ugly stick.