Ike & Tina Turner

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Biography

Ike & Tina Turner were an American music al duo composed of the husband-and-wife team of Ike Turner and Tina Turner . The duo started as an offshoot splinter act from Ike Turner's The Kings of Rhythm before the name changed to the Ike & Tina Turner Revue. The duo was once considered "one of the hottest, most durable, and potentially most explosive of all R& B ensembles".

Their early works including " A Fool in Love ", " It's Gonna Work Out Fine ", " I Idolize You " and " River Deep - Mountain High " became high points in the development of soul music while their later works were cited for wildly interpretive re-arrangements of rock songs such as " I Want to Take You Higher " and " Proud Mary ", the latter song for which they won a Grammy Award . They're also known for their often-ribald live performances, which were only matched by that of James Brown and The Famous Flames in terms of musical spectacle.

The duo was inducted to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1991.

Career

1956-1959: Origin

In 1956, Ike Turner and his band, the Kings of Rhythm were, along with Chuck Berry 's band, one of the most popular live performing attractions to East St. Louis ' nightlife. In East St. Louis, the Kings of Rhythm headlined Club Manhattan. That year, Anna Mae Bullock was taken to Club Manhattan by her sister Aillene. Ann became an instant fan of the band after seeing their performance and sought out Ike Turner to have her sing for his band. Ike Turner rebuffed her due to the fact that "lots of girls wanted to sing in my band". Turner's band was predominantly male and only a few female performers were ever part of the act, including two of Turner's own former wives. Ann sang a song during an intermission between performances one night in 1957 after a drummer of Ike's band passed her the microphone at her insistence. Ike Turner was impressed after he heard her and soon agreed to have her become part of the Kings of Rhythm as a background vocalist, with occasional lead spots. A year later, in 1958, Ike featured Ann in his recording, "Box Top", which became a regional hit. At the time of its release, Ann was going by the stage name , "Little Ann". In late 1959, the 20-year-old Ann recorded a vocal for Ike's composition, " A Fool in Love ", which was to have been sung by the Kings of Rhythm lead vocalist, Art Lassiter. Lassiter walked out of the session due to monetary complaints with Ike. Ann recorded her vocal as a demo (music)|demo in an attempt to erase her vocals when Lassiter returned.

1960-1963: Career development

Ike Turner sent the song in early 1960 to Sue Records president Juggy Murray in New York . When Murray heard the song, he convinced Ike to keep Ann's vocals on the song, offering Turner a $25,000 advance for the song convinced of its hit potential. This came at a crucial time as Ann had been sought after by an ex-member of the Kings of the Rhythm, Raymond Hill, to join his band. Ike Turner would later write that he feared losing his chance at becoming famous if Ann left him especially after agreeing to release "A Fool in Love" with her vocals. When he asked Ann to use his last name to discourage Hill, Ann obliged. To complete her name change, Ike Turner renamed her Tina Turner . Ike not long after had the name patented just in case Ann left him in which he could get another girl and have her perform as Tina Turner.

Following this, the duo signed with Sue Records and "A Fool in Love" was released in the late spring of 1960 in music|1960 and became a national hit, reaching number two on the R& B chart and peaking at number twenty-seven on the Billboard Hot 100|pop chart becoming a million-seller. A mild reception for the couple's second single, "I'm Jealous", was cooled by a much more successful single, " I Idolize You ", which peaked at number five on the R& B chart. Up until the release of "A Fool in Love", Ike and Tina's relationship had been platonic love|a platonic friendship , even something close to being like siblings . Ike Turner would later say that their first sexual encounters were awkward, stating, "it felt like I was strewing (sic) my sister..." Ike Turner was still married to another woman when Ike and Tina began their sexual relationship, which resulted in the birth of their only child together, Ronald, born after Ike and Tina had made their national TV debut on American Bandstand in October 1960. The duo went on a national tour after the release of "A Fool in Love". In 1961, the group released their debut album, The Soul of Ike & Tina Turner , and had another million-seller with " It's Gonna Work Out Fine ", which later won the duo their first Grammy Award|Grammy nomination .

That year, Ike had changed the name of his backing girl group that he hired after he put Tina in his band, from The Artettes to The Ikettes, and had them record his composition, " I'm Blue (The Gong-Gong Song) ", which became a million-selling hit in 1962. That year, Ike & Tina had three more hit singles, "Poor Fool", "Tra La La La" and "You've Shoulda Treated Me Right". It was right around this time that Ike's band changed its name from The Kings of Rhythm to The Ike & Tina Turner Revue on the road, which was a combination of several performers - Ike & Tina Turner, The Kings of Rhythm and the Ikettes. Soon the band gained a reputation for their high-energy performances, with only James Brown's Revue rivaling it. Sometime around either 1961 or 1962, Tina Turner suffered the first of her abusive episodes with Ike Turner after she questioned him about monetary royalties opting to leave Ike. Tina said Ike responded by hitting her with a shoe stretcher. In 1962, Ike and Tina traveled to Tijuana and conducted a quickie marriage. Despite this, it's alleged Ike Turner didn't divorce his third wife, Lorraine Taylor, until sometime in 1974.

1964-1969: The Ike & Tina Turner Revue

In 1964, Ike & Tina Turner left Sue Records and moved to Los Angeles . Ike Turner felt he wasn't being fairly compensated for his works with Sue, and sought short deals with other companies for quick money. Ike Turner was one of the few recording artists to own his own publishing companies at a time when artists who were also songwriters would often sell their publishing to major labels, who later failed to compensate them for earnings after the songs became hits, something Ike himself learned after selling rights to his composition, " Rocket 88 " a decade earlier, to Sun Records president Sam Phillips . Between 1964 and 1969, Ike and Tina would record for Sonja, Warner Bros., Kent, Loma, Modern, Philles, Innis, Blue Thumb, Minit and A& M.

Some have argued that the reasoning why Ike & Tina weren't as successful with their subsequent post-Sue recordings as they were with their live performances was due to Ike's refusal to have outside help, often asserting that he had full control of the productions and also worked out deals in which the labels didn't interfere with his and Tina's creative control in the studio. Ike Turner was often called a ruthless taskmaster in the same sense that Ray Charles and James Brown were. During his early years, Ike was said to have demanded perfection of his band mates. He sometimes fined or fired musicians for any wrongdoing, including any drug or alcohol intake since Ike himself wasn't an alcoholic or used drugs of any sort at the time. Ike housed his entire band and rehearsed them daily. According to some accounts, if Ike was upset by another musician's demand for money, he'd hit them over the head with the butt of his gun, later leading to Ike being sometimes called "Pistol-Whippin' Ike".

Tina Turner pulled her own weight in the band, helping to buy and design outfits for the Ikettes and herself, with Ike helping along, cutting parts of the dresses Tina bought to make the Ikettes' and Tina's attire exotic, keeping up with the image of them as "wild women" and Tina as the "ultimate wild woman". Known for her frenetic dance moves, Tina would choreographer|choreograph dance moves with the Ikettes and was said to have been known as much of a perfectionist as Ike was with his band. The original Ikettes left Ike Turner over royalty issues and later alleged that Ike was brutally dominant. The Ikettes soon became a revolving door of session musicians and onstage dancers. In 1965, Ike & Tina became show-stoppers when they and the Revue performed on The Big T.N.T. Show . It was during this show that the duo would be pursued by Phil Spector . Spector offered to sign the act to his Philles record label. Prior to signing, he had wanted to record Tina Turner solo for at least a few songs. Ike Turner only agreed to this after Spector offered him $25,000 to stay out of the studio. That year, Tina recorded what later became a signature hit for her, " River Deep - Mountain High ", composed by the team of Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry . During the Philles sessions, Tina would record several other solo recordings including a cover of the Motown ballad, " A Love Like Yours (Don't Come Knocking Everyday) " and another Greenwich-Barry composition, "Hold On Baby".

In 1966, "River Deep - Mountain High" was released as a single but failed to become a hit in the U.S. Stories on how the single flopped has been debated, with some including Ike and Tina both insisting the reason was that radio deejays didn't know whether to consider it as either " pop music|pop " or " soul music|soul ", while others claimed that there were few copies of the song sold in the U.S. leading to dismal promotion. It's also alleged that Phil Spector was struggling to control his Philles label leading to issues. Spector took the mild reception of "River Deep" hard that he stopped recording for a couple of years.Michael Billig, Spector had originally signed Ike & Tina to record an album with the label but when Spector abruptly announced a hiatus in recording, Ike Turner decided to leave Philles and got A& M Records to sign them. Ike Turner then produced several other songs to complete the River Deep - Mountain High (album)|River Deep - Mountain High album. But while "River Deep" wasn't a hit in the states, it began to reach audiences overseas mainly in the UK where the song became a top five hit and "A Love Like Yours" became a top 20 hit there. Shocked by the news, the duo were even more shocked to learn that Mick Jagger had called them to have them open for them on The Rolling Stones ' UK tour that year, they happily accepted, becoming instant UK sensations. In 1967, Tina Turner was such an attraction that she was featured on one of the first covers of the rock magazine, Rolling Stone .

In 1968, the Ike & Tina Turner Revue temporarily halted after Tina Turner allegedly attempted suicide . It's alleged Tina's attempt to take her own life was due to Ike Turner impregnated|impregnating a member of the Ikettes while she was also pregnant. After recovering, she quietly had her baby abortion|aborted , refusing to have another child with Ike's lineage. Tina then returned to the studio to record the first of two blues rock albums with Blue Thumb Records|Blue Thumb . The first of the records, Outta Season , featured the duo on the cover mocking the use of minstrel depictions of black people|blacks , eating watermelon , wearing whiteface (performance)|whiteface and winking at the camera. The album featured their first significant hit in a couple years with their heavily sexualized cover of Otis Redding 's " I've Been Loving You Too Long ". During live performances, Ike conducted the action in which Tina not only repeated his words in a call and response but also had Tina touching the microphone suggestively. Tina later wrote she hated this practice. The album included a Tina composition, the autobiographical "Motherless Child". Their next Blue Thumb release was 1969's The Hunter , with another interesting cover, this time of the couple being surrounded by mannequins and with Ike wearing a hunter's jacket. The Hunter included the funk-oriented hit, "Bold Soul Sister", which Ike wrote with uncredited lyrics by both Tina and her sister Aillene. The song later won Tina Turner a solo Grammy nomination for Grammy Award for Best Female R& B Vocal Performance|Best Female R& B Vocal Performance in 1970.

1969-1975: Mainstream success

Ike & Tina began to hit their mainstream stride when The Rolling Stones got them opening for them again on their U.S. tour in 1969. This time, their opening for the Stones' U.S. tour led to them becoming superstars even without a major hit. That year, Tina was featured for the second time on the cover of Rolling Stone . Under Tina's suggestion, Ike began incorporating rock music|rock songs into their repertoire. In 1970, Ike & Tina Turner signed with Liberty Records , releasing the album, Come Together , which was their first album in which they would record rock covers including The Beatles ' " Come Together ", the Stones' " Honky Tonk Woman " and Crow (band)|Crow 's " Evil Woman (Crow song)|Evil Woman " (recorded as "Evil Man"). That album included their first US top 40 hit in many years with their cover of Sly & The Family Stone 's " I Want to Take You Higher ", which became as much a signature hit for Ike & Tina as it had been for Sly & The Family Stone. Sly Stone would later include Ike Turner on his hit album, '' There's a Riot Goin' On '' and would also record for Ike's Bolic Sound Studios. That same year, Ike and Tina reached a major milestone in their careers when they began performing in Las Vegas Valley|Las Vegas and also appeared on the popular variety show, The Ed Sullivan Show and also appeared on the Stones' concert documentary, Gimme Shelter (1970 film)|Gimme Shelter .

Ike & Tina's biggest peak in their career would come with the early 1971 release of their cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival 's " Proud Mary ". Featured on their second Liberty album, '' Workin' Together , the single was released in January 1971 and became a top five pop hit for the duo that March peaking at number four on the Hot 100, becoming their fourth million-selling single, and later won them a Grammy Award for Grammy Award for Best R& B Performance|Best R& B Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group . Workin' Together'' also included the modest hits, "Ooh Poo Pah Doo" and "Funkier Than a Mosquito's Tweeter". Later in 1971, the group's contract was reassigned to a Liberty subsidiary, United Artists Records|United Artists , which would release all of the duo's albums until their disbanding in the mid-1970s. Ike & Tina later appeared in a cameo role on Miles Forman's Taking Off (film)|Taking Off and also appeared in a concert festival with other notable R& B performers in Ghana titled Soul II Soul . A documentary film of this was later released three decades later. The group's first headlining world tour became a huge success as was a performance at Carnegie Hall , which was later documented for the live album, What You Hear Is What You Get - Live at Carnegie Hall . Another live album was culled from the group's performance at Paris' Olympia Hall , which was later taped for Paris TV showcasing the highlights of Ike & Tina.

The success of their recordings in 1971 led to Ike Turner creating Bolic Sound Studios. A year later, in 1972, the albums, Feel Good and Let Me Touch Your Mind , was released. Feel Good had several songs that charted including the title track. One of its tracks, "Black Coffee", a blues rock er composed by Ike and Tina, would later be covered by Humble Pie . Ike & Tina later appeared on Soul Train and was one of the few acts who appeared on the show and performed fully live music|live rather than lip sync . A year later, in 1973, the duo released what became their last notable hit single, " Nutbush City Limits ". The song was another Ike & Tina composition, based on Tina's Nutbush, Tennessee|Southern upbringing . The song peaked at number twenty-two on the US Hot 100, number four in the UK and reached the top ten in several other European countries. The parent album from the single, also titled Nutbush City Limits , as well as the albums, Feel Good and Let Me Touch Your Mind hinted at Tina Turner's own solo aspirations.

Between 1969 and 1975, Ike and Tina Turner mixed in duo recordings with solo offerings. Ike Turner released a few solo albums including '' A Black Man's Soul '', while Tina Turner's first solo offering, Tina Turns the Country On , was released in 1974. Tina's solo debut led to Tina being nominated again for the Best Female R& B Vocal Performance Grammy. That same year, Ike & Tina reached back to their gospel roots releasing, The Gospel According to Ike & Tina , later winning them several nominations in Grammy's gospel music|gospel categories. Their next secular release was Rhode Island Red , which featured one of their final charted hits, "Sexy Ida (Part 1)", which helped them nab a second appearance on Soul Train the following year. Rhode Island Red and The Gospel According to Ike & Tina , as it turned out, would be the final albums recorded in the duo's lifetime together. In 1975, Tina released her second solo album, Acid Queen (album)|Acid Queen , in response to her success in her film role as The Acid Queen in the rock musical, Tommy (musical)|Tommy .

1975-1976: Decline and divorce

Throughout the early years of Ike & Tina, Ike Turner had once been so much of a strict disciplinarian, he had fined anyone who ever went behind his orders including any usage of drugs. However, by the late-1960s, Ike had begun to use marijuana . Not long afterwards, Ike, who had been teetotal, was introduced to cocaine while performing in Las Vegas by, Ike would later say, "two very famous people I'd been working with in Las Vegas at the same hotel". His drug use would later be documented in the song, "Contact High", from the Come Together album. By 1974, Ike had developed a cocaine addiction . By then he had used so much cocaine that he had burned a hole through his nose, leading to Epistaxis|nosebleeds , which led to him using more cocaine. Ike's cocaine addiction wreaked havoc on his personal life as well as his usual dominance over his act, and mainly Tina Turner, had allegedly gotten worse. Tina Turner began to seek change in her personal life and found it after a friend of her's and Ike's introduced her to Buddhism . She'd fully convert to the religion in 1975.

That year, Ike's drug addiction had him deemed unfit to appear in television performances, sending Tina Turner on her own. In an article about Ike Turner following his death, Ike's children Twanna and Ronnie said that they felt Ike's drug use was a "set-up", an attempt to undermine him by those in the music industry|industry jealous of his success, who wanted to make use of Tina Turner's talents themselves. That year, Tina filmed her role for Tommy in London. After the film's release, Tina Turner was given rave reviews for her role. That year, Ike and Tina released their final charted single, "Baby, Get It On", which was featured on Tina's Acid Queen . Ike Turner's drug use led to a fallout in Ike & Tina's career. By 1976, they had began making headlines for the wrong reasons, including having to book out of shows in what was alleged was financial misconduct. One such tour of Malaysia led to Ike and his band leaving prior to their performance there.

In July of 1976, Ike was scheduled to leave United Artists Records and was set to sign a contract with Cream Records for a reported yearly amount of $150,000, which would have kept Tina Turner legally binding to Ike Turner for another five years. Early on July 2, Ike and Tina went on the airplane from Los Angeles to Dallas where they were to perform to start another national tour. According to Ike Turner, Tina Turner refused to help him with his constant nosebleeds, "turning her nose up at me". Ike alleged Tina knew how to anger him. Tina alleged in her memoirs that Ike then slapped her in the back of her head, starting a fight, but led to Tina hitting him back. They later got in a limousine and en route to the hotel they were renting, they had a nasty fight, with both of them physically hitting each other. By the time they arrived, both Ike and Tina were bruised up and bloody, Ike's eyes later bruised and his nose bloodied; Tina with her eyes almost closed shut and a cut lip and head injuries so massive she hid under a hat but without her wig.

After entering the hotel, Ike Turner fell asleep and Tina Turner escaped from the back of the hotel, running through a Dallas freeway before getting inside another hotel where she stayed until she was able to book a flight back to Los Angeles, hiding in friends' homes in fear Ike Turner would seek her out by force. Tina Turner later bought a gun to protect herself and was once detained for gun possession before they realized why she possessed the gun and let her go. On July 28, 1976, Tina Turner filed for divorce after 14 years of marriage. The news of the divorce made international headlines and remnants of Ike & Tina's back story made tabloids. The former couple spent a year and a half in divorce court arguing over royalties and ownership. It's alleged that Tina Turner wanted to continue work with Ike Turner but as an ex-wife, only wearing the name "Tina Turner" as a stage name while legally going her real name, Anna Bullock (she sometimes wrote contracts under another name, "Martha Nell Turner"; in 1993 while being interviewed for Howard Stern , Turner alleged "Martha Nell Bullock" was Tina's real name but that has yet been verified). By November 1977, Tina decided to foregone any arguments to get any royalties or keep her percentage of the publishing companies that she had earned by being a song lyricist for some of the Ike & Tina songs, only agreeing to retain the use of her stage name as a means to get paying gigs. Ike Turner agreed to let her keep the stage name despite the fact that he had patented the name just in case Tina did leave him, losing rights to the name.

Ike & Tina's divorce was finalized on March 29, 1978. Tina laid low for nearly two years during the divorce proceedings and asked her Hollywood neighbors to help clean their homes and accepted food stamps . Ike sent her sons (and his own sons that Tina helped to raise) over to Tina's home once he realized she wasn't going to return to him. After the children reached legal age, Tina asked them to leave the house while she pursued her solo career. Tina reemerged professionally in the fall of 1978 after Ike & Tina's divorce was finalized. United Artists would release two posthumous Ike & Tina albums, ''Delilah's Power and Airwaves , culled from 1975 recording sessions.

1978-present: After Ike & Tina

In late 1978, Tina Turner released her third solo album and first post-Ike Turner recording, Rough (album)|Rough . The album failed to produce any hits as did its follow-up, 1979's Love Explosion (album)|Love Explosion . Despite this, Tina Turner remained a popular live attraction both in the United States and overseas. In 1980, she hired respected music manager Roger Davies (manager)|Roger Davies to look after her career. After a few years reinventing herself from a self-made Las Vegas cabaret act into a gritty rock diva, Tina's solo stardom culminated in the release of 1984's Private Dancer album, which made Tina a megastar. Tina Turner would go on to break ticket sales with her stadium and arena-headlined world tours. Her 1986 memoirs, I, Tina and the semi-autobiographical film, '' What's Love Got to Do with It (film)|What's Love Got to Do with It endeared Tina to millions, who hailed her as a "survivor".

Ike Turner's first post-Tina Turner release, 1980's The Edge , ironically featured recordings with Tina. Like Tina's first solo efforts, Ike failed to find a hit and, by his own admission, his behavior had grown increasingly erratic. Unlike Tina, who was able to carry on her career as a successful live performer, Ike struggled with his own band with live performances as his cocaine use increased. By then, he was freebasing cocaine and throughout the 1980s would be in the headlines for legal matters instead of the stage. In January 1981, his fabled Bolic Sound Studios would be burned to the ground on the day he was presenting to a group who had been interested in pursuing it after Ike was forced to put the studio in foreclosure after having financial difficulties. In 1982, he was alleged to have shot a 49-year-old newspaper delivery man who he accused of assaulting his wife, Margaret Thomas. He was later found not guilty of the charge of assault. Ike Turner would mostly be convicted of drug offenses , culminating in a four-year sentence for drug possession|cocaine possession in 1990. Sent to California Men's Colony , San Luis Obispo , he completed 18 months of his prison sentence before being released from parole in September 1991.

Following his release, Ike Turner slowly returned to his music career. In 1993, he received royalties from Salt-n-Pepa 's sample of his "I'm Blue" song for their hit single, "Shoop", and responded by recording a duet version with Billy Rogers. In 1999, Ike released his own memoirs, Taking Back My Name . The musician credited blues musician Joe Louis Walker with inspiring him to return to his blues roots. Turner contributed guitar to Walker's 1997 album, Great Guitars and toured internationally with him and Walker paid Turner $5,000 a night for six songs. The positive reaction to the performances led to Ike Turner reviving The Kings of Rhythm in 2001. That year, Turner released his first solo album in 20 years with Here and Now (Ike Turner album)|Here and Now , which resulted in a Grammy nomination in the blues category. During this time, singers Jeanette Bazzell and Audrey Madison, both of whom he married, would be his front woman onstage. In 2007, Turner won his first solo Grammy for the album, Rising with the Blues , which he happily accepted with his eldest son, Ike Jr., looking on.

Later in December of that year, Ike Turner was found dead at his home in San Marcos, California at the age of 76. The cause of his death was later revealed to be of "cocaine toxicity", including hypertensive cardiovascular disease and emphysema . Ike Turner had been clean for much of the 1990s following his release from prison but said to have had a relapse after entering a crack house to rescue an old friend of his and "smelt the fumes". Following news of her former partner's death, Tina Turner's personal spokeswoman released a statement that Tina was told of Ike's death but said because the couple hadn't spoken to each other "in over 30 years" that Tina refused to release a comment on the story.

Awards and accolades

Ike & Tina Turner were inducted to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1991; Ike Turner was still incarcerated and Tina, still not wanting any ties to Ike whatsoever, didn't attend, but stated she was working on an album. Phil Spector accepted their induction on the former duo's behalf.

The group was nominated three times for Grammy Awards. They were nominated and won Best R& B Vocal Performance by a Group in 1971 for "Proud Mary" at the 14th Annual Grammy Awards. Tina herself received a nomination for Best Female R& B Vocal Performance for the 1969 song "Bold Soul Sister". The group also received a nomination for their 1961 recording " It's Gonna Work Out Fine ".

The group received a NAACP Image Award . Both Ike and Tina each received stars and were inducted individually to the St. Louis Hall of Fame.

Two of their songs, " River Deep - Mountain High " and " Proud Mary ", were inducted to the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999 and 2003, respectively.

Tina received a solo star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1986.

Discography

Filmography

1970: Gimme Shelter (1970 film)|Gimme Shelter

1971: Soul to Soul (film)|Soul 2 Soul

1971: Taking Off (film)|Taking Off

1999: Ike & Tina Turner – The Best of MusikLaden

2004: The Legends Ike & Tina Turner – Live in ‘71

2004: Kenny Rogers Rollin’ Vol. 1

2005: Ike & Tina Turner: Live

2006: Through the Years

2006: Ike and Tina Turner: Rollin with Ike and Tina Turner Live

2006: Flashbacks: Soul Sensation

Copyright Citations

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