Ike Turner, a songwriter, producer and bandleader whose contributions to music were often overshadowed by his tempestuous marriage to Tina Turner, died Tuesday at home in San Marcos, Calif. He was 76.
Generally acknowledged as one of the most important songwriters of the 1950s and '60s, Turner is credited with the first rock n' roll record and developed a lyrical and sonic style distinct from the prevailing sounds of Motown and Memphis.
During the 1960s and '70s, it was the female half of the Ike and Tina Turner revue who garnered the most attention from audiences and critics alike. But the creative force behind the act was always Ike. While Tina wowed audiences with her athletic vocals on the group's biggest hit, "Proud Mary." It was Ike who reworked the sleepy John Fogerty ballad into a street-tough ode to female empowerment.
"You can go ask Snoop Dogg or Eminem, you can ask the Rolling Stones or Clapton, or you can ask anybody," he told the Associated Press in 2001. "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."
"There is no doubt that Ike Turner was one of rock and roll’s great architects," said a statement released by the Recording Industry Association of America. "His innovative musicality helped lay the foundation for rock n’ roll and R&B more than 50 years ago. As a bandleader, his well-rehearsed ensembles were some of the most exciting live groups the world had ever heard. As a two-time Grammy Award winner… Ike’s legacy as a groundbreaking pioneer in the music industry will never be forgotten."
Izear Luster Turner Jr. was born November 5, 1931 in Clarksdale, Miss., the same musically rich town that gave the world John Lee Hooker and soul legend Sam Cooke. He got his start in music at the age of 8, while working as an elevator operator in Clarksdale's Alcazar Hotel (child labor laws being a luxury in Depression-era Mississippi). The studio of radio station WROX was on the hotel's top floor, and Turner charmed his way into spinning records there during the regular disc jockey's coffee breaks.
A well-received report card earned Turner his first piano, which WROX mainstay and blues legend Pinetop Perkins taught him how to play. Soon, Turner was playing local clubs in Clarksdale alongside such future luminaries as Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson and Howlin' Wolf.
While in high school, he formed his first band, the Kings of Rhythm. Originally a jazz outfit, the band went to Memphis in 1951 to record what is universally accepted as the first ever rock n' roll song - "Rocket 88." The song shot to number 1 on Billboard's R&B chart and stayed there for five weeks.
When the Kings of Rhythm dissolved shortly thereafter, Turner went to work as a talent scout for Modern Records while learning how to play guitar. He soon reformed the Kings of Rhythm and moved to St. Louis in 1954. The band dominated the city's nightlife scene and they recorded a second hit, "I'm Tore Up," for Federal Records.
During one of the band's gigs in 1958, an 18 year-old girl named Anna Mae Bullock asked to sit in with the band. Turner eventually hired Bullock, who later changed her name to Tina and sang on the group's next hit, "A Fool in Love."
Ike and Tina Turner married in 1962 and recorded 25 Top 100 hits together, including "River Deep, Mountain High" and, most famously, a cover of John Fogerty's "Proud Mary." The Ike and Tina Turner Revue, featuring a group of backup singers called the "Ikettes," became one of the most popular and exciting stage acts of the 1960s and '70s.
Behind the scenes, the Turner marriage was marked by domestic violence, as vividly portrayed in the 1993 film What's Love Got To Do With It. The two divorced in 1976. While his wife experienced a popular resurgence during the MTV era that continues to this day, Ike Turner spent much of the 1980s in and out of prison and drug rehabilitation.
In 1993, Salt-N-Pepa sampled Turner's song "I'm Blue" on their hit "Shoop." The much-needed royalty check accompanied what seemed like overdue acknowledgment of his lasting influence. In later years, he recorded and toured behind new material, but never experienced the same level of success he'd enjoyed during the 1960s and '70s. Still, he seemed to achieve a level of peace with himself and his career that had earlier eluded him.
"I'm no longer interested in past stuff," he told the Austin Chronicle in 2001. "The world don't owe me anything. I've done okay and God's been really good to me."
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