Ike Turner

At 76 years old, Ike Turner has this physical status:

As a teenager, Turner joined a local rhythm ensemble called the Tophatters who played around Clarksdale, Mississippi. Members of the band were Clarksdale musicians and included Turner's school friends Raymond Hill, Eugene Fox and Clayton Love. The Tophatters played big band arrangements from sheet music. Turner, who was trained by ear and could not sight read, would learn the pieces by listening to a version on record at home, pretending to be reading the music during rehearsals. The Tophatters had over 30 members, but they broke up into two groups after six months to a year. One faction wanted to play jazz music and the Dukes of Swing. The other band led by Turner became the Kings of Rhythm. Turner said, "we wanted to play blues, boogie-woogie and Roy Brown, Jimmy Liggins, Roy Milton." Turner kept the name throughout his career, although it went through lineup changes over time. Their early stage performances consisted largely of covers of popular jukebox hits. B.B. King helped them to get a steady weekend gig and recommended them to Sam Phillips at Memphis Recording Service. In the 1950s, Turner's group got regular airplay from live sessions on the radio stations WROX in Clarksdale and KFFA in Helena, Arkansas.

Around the time he was starting out with the Kings of Rhythm, Turner and Lane became unofficial roadies for blues musician Robert Nighthawk, who often played live on WROX. The pair played drums and piano on radio sessions. Turner gained experience performing by supporting Nighthawk at gigs around Clarksdale. He played juke joints alongside other local blues artists such as Elmore James, Muddy Waters, and Little Walter. Performances typically lasted for about twelve hours, from early evening to dawn the next day. Turner recalled, "there wasn't no intermission. If the drummer had to pee, I would play drums until he returned....There were no breaks. We just switched around."

In March 1951, Turner and his band recorded the song "Rocket 88" at Memphis Recording Service. Turner's vocalist Johnny O'Neal had left to sign a solo contract with King Records, so Jackie Brenston, a saxophonist in the Kings of Rhythm, sang lead vocals while Turner was on piano. "Rocket 88" is notable among other things for Willie Kizart's distorted guitar sound.

Phillips licensed the recording to Chess Records in Chicago. Chess released it under the name "Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats" instead of "Ike Turner and His Kings of Rhythm Featuring Jackie Brenston". Turner blamed Phillips for this misrepresentation. The single, released in April 1951, reached number-one on the Billboard R&B charts in June 1951 and spent 5 weeks on top of the charts. The record sold approximately half a million copies. Turner and the band were paid $20 each for the record. The exception was Brenston who sold the rights to Phillips for $910. Phillips used profits from the success of the record to launch Sun Records in February 1952.

The success of "Rocket 88" generated tension and ego clashes in the band which culminated with Brenston leaving to pursue a solo career, causing the band to fall apart. 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.

Soon after the release of "Rocket 88", Turner moved to West Memphis, Arkansas and played with various local bands. He then became a freelance talent scout, session musician, and production assistant for Sam Phillips at Sun Studio, commuting to Memphis, Tennessee. Wishing to exploit his Delta music connections, the Bihari brothers at Modern Records also hired Turner as a talent scout, paying him to find southern musicians who might be worth recording. Turner arranged for B.B. King and the Beale Streeters to record for Modern at the YMCA in Memphis. Turner played piano on King's early records "You Know I Love You" and "3 O'Clock Blues", which became King's first two number-ones. According to Joe Bihari, Turner had brought King to his attention years prior. He said, "Ike wasn't more than sixteen then. He would send dubs of things he cut to us, and if we'd like them we'd make a seal or sign the artist. That's how we acquired B.B. King." King also maintained that Turner introduced him to the Bihari brothers.

Unaware of songwriter's royalties, Turner also wrote new material which the Biharis copyrighted under their own names. They often purchased or claimed co-writer credit of songs written by artists on their labels using pseudonyms. Turner estimated he wrote seventy-eight hit records for the Biharis. Artists Turner discovered for Modern and Sun include Bobby Bland, Howlin' Wolf, Rosco Gordon, Boyd Gilmore, Houston Boines, Charley Booker, and Little Milton. He played piano in sessions with them and lesser-known artists such as the Prisonaires, Driftin' Slim, Ben Burton, Matt Cockrell, Dennis Binder, Sunny Blair, and Baby Face Turner.

Turner was contracted to the Bihari brothers, but he continued to work for Phillips, where he was effectively the in-house producer. This sometimes created conflicts of interest. In 1951, Turner recorded two Howlin' Wolf tracks for Phillips, playing piano on "How Many More Years" and "Moanin' at Midnight", which Phillips sent to Chess. Turner and Howlin' Wolf then recorded a version of "Moanin' at Midnight" at radio station KWEM in West Memphis without Phillips' or the Chess brothers' knowledge. He sent the results to the Biharis at Modern and they released it on their subsidiary label RPM Records. 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 with Modern, and Turner played on his recordings that were released on Modern's subsidiary label Flair Records.

While in Helena, Turner tried to recruit Little Walter to record for Modern in January 1952, but Little Walter was on his way to Mississippi. In 1952, Turner discovered Little Junior Parker in West Memphis, and they formed a band with Matt "Guitar" Murphy. Turner recorded Parker's first single, "You're My Angel" / "Bad Women, Bad Whiskey", credited to Little Junior Parker and the Blue Flames. That summer Turner recorded with the new vocalist and pianist in his band, Marion Louis Lee, resulting in "My Heart Belongs to You" / "Looking for My Baby". The records were released on RPM as Bonnie and Ike Turner. Turner married Lee in September 1952.

Unbeknownst to Turner, during his time in West Memphis, he met Elvis Presley who was a truck driver. He recalled, "[Presley] was just a white boy that would come over to black clubs. He would come in and stand behind the piano and watch me play. I never knew he was no musician." Turner discovered his identity many years later after Presley approached him when they were both playing at the International Hotel.

To accommodate his then-wife Bonnie, who also played piano, Turner taught himself how to play guitar by ear and Willie Kizart taught him blues guitar techniques. He began playing guitar in sessions in 1953, and by 1954 with the assistance of Joe Bihari he built a makeshift recording studio at a defunct Greyhound bus station in Clarksdale. Turner used his Kings of Rhythm as session musicians. They played on many recording for Bihari's Modern, RPM, and Flair labels. Some of the artist Turner backed on piano and guitar during this period include Elmore James, Johnny Ace and the Flairs. Around this time Turner discovered Billy "The Kid" Emerson in Greenville. He brought Emerson to record at Sun Records and backed him on guitar in 1954.

In 1954, Turner visited his sister Lee Ethel Knight in St. Louis, Missouri. During his stay, he went clubbing at Ned Love's in East St. Louis, Illinois. Love invited Turner and his band to play at his club. Eventually, Turner returned with his reformed version of the Kings of Rhythm. The band consisted of Willie Kizart on guitar, Willie "Bad Boy" Sims on drums, vocalist Johnny O'Neal, Turner's nephew Jesse Knight Jr. on bass, and Turner's wife Annie Mae Wilson on piano and vocals.

Turner maintained strict discipline and the band lived at his home on Virginia Place in East St. Louis which doubled as a studio. A teetotaler at the time, he avoided drugs and insisted all band members also adopt this policy, firing anyone he even suspected of breaking the rules. Turner established 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, and continue playing until dawn. Initially, they played for segregated audiences at the black clubs in Illinois: Manhattan Club in East St. Louis, which Turner and his band built, the Harlem Club in Brookline and the Kingsbury in Madison. In St. Louis, Turner was exposed to a white audience who were excited by R&B. He played at Johnny's Lounge and the Club Imperial which was popular with white teenagers. After Turner gained a strong following among both whites and blacks, he demanded that the clubs should be integrated. He also had live music broadcast on the St. Louis radio station KATZ.

In between live dates, Turner took the band to Cincinnati to record for Federal Records in 1956. One of the Federal releases, "I'm Tore Up" / "If I Never Had Known You" featuring Billy Gayles became a regional hit. Like Brenston years prior, Gayles left Turner's band to pursue a solo career. In 1958, Turner took the band to Chicago to record for Cobra/Artistic, as well as fulfilling his contract as a session musician back at Sun. While in Chicago, Turner backed Otis Rush; playing the signature vibrato guitar parts on "Double Trouble". He also helped Buddy Guy record his second record; resulting in the single "You Sure Can't Do" / "This Is The End" which Turner played guitar and composed the latter.

Turner befriended St. Louis R&B fan Bill Stevens who set up the short-lived Stevens Records in 1959. Turner released two singles on the Stevens label (No. 104 and No. 107) under the anagram "Icky Renrut" because he was still under contract with Sun for several more months, and he didn't want to cause friction with Phillips. In addition, Turner recorded numerous sessions for Stevens with various vocalists and musician lineups of the Kings of Rhythm.

In 1957, Ann Bullock accompanied her sister Alline Bullock to watch Turner and the Kings of Rhythm at the Manhattan Club in East St. Louis. Her sister was a barmaid at the club and was dating Turner's drummer Eugene Washington. Through her sister and Washington, Bullock asked Turner to sing with his band. Turner said he'd call her onstage, but he never did. One night during an intermission, Bullock got hold of the microphone from Washington and sang "You Know I Love You" by B.B. King. Impressed by her voice, Turner invited her to sing with the band. She made her recording debut on Turner's song "Boxtop", released on Tune Town Records in 1958.

In March 1960, Turner allowed her to record a demo of his self-penned song "A Fool in Love". He intended to use the demo as guide track for Art Lassiter who did not attend the scheduled recording session at Technisonic Studios. A local DJ suggested he send the record to Sue Records in New York, where label owner Juggy Murray insisted on releasing the track with Bullock's vocal. Murray offered a $20,000 advance for the song and suggested Turner "make her the star" of his show. Turner then renamed her "Tina" because it rhymed with Sheena, however, family and friends still called her Ann. He was inspired by Sheena, Queen of the Jungle and Nyoka the Jungle Girl to create her stage persona. He had the name "Tina Turner" trademarked, so that in case she left, another singer could perform under the same name.

The single "A Fool In Love" was released in July 1960, and it became a national hit, selling a million copies. It peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard R&B chart and No. 27 on the Hot 100. Turner added a backing girl group he renamed the Ikettes, and along with the Kings of Rhythm they began performing as the Ike & Tina Turner Revue. The success of the single was followed by a string of hits including "I Idolize You", "Poor Fool", and "It's Gonna Work Out Fine" which gave them their second million-seller and their first Grammy nomination.

In 1961, Turner played piano on Albert King's first hit record, "Don't Throw Your Love on Me So Strong". The single, released on King Records, peaked at No. 14 on the Billboard R&B chart. He also wrote and produced the Ikettes hit "I'm Blue (The Gong-Gong Song)".

The Revue performed rigorously on the Chitlin' Circuit and built a reputation as "one of the hottest, most durable, and potentially most explosive of all R&B ensembles." To assure he always had a record out while on tour, Turner formed multiple labels such as Sputnik, Teena, Prann, Innis, Sony and Sonja. He produced singles by the Ikettes, Jimmy Thomas, Fontella Bass, George Jackson, and other artists on his labels. The duo switched to Turner's Sonja label in 1963. For the next six years, they recorded on Warner Bros./Loma, Modern/Kent, Cenco, Philles, Tangerine, Pompeii, Blue Thumb, Minit, and A&M. Between 1964 and 1965, they scored fourteen top 40 R&B hits with "You Can't Miss Nothing That You Never Had", "Tell Her I'm Not Home", "Good Bye, So Long", and "Two Is a Couple".

In 1965, Phil Spector saw them perform at a club on the Sunset Strip and invited them to film The Big T.N.T. Show. Impressed by their performance, Spector negotiated a deal with their manager Bob Krasnow, head of Loma Records, offering $20,000 to produce Tina and have them released from their Loma contract. After Tina and Spector recorded "River Deep – Mountain High", the duo signed to Spector's Philles label in 1966. The failure of the single in America triggered Spector's retreat from the music industry. However, it was a hit in Europe, reaching No. 3 on the UK Singles Chart and No. 1 on Los 40 Principales in Spain. Following the song's success in the UK, Mick Jagger invited them to open for the Rolling Stones on their 1966 British Tour. This exposure introduced them to a wider audience outside of R&B. Soon they were booking bigger venues, and by 1969 they were headlining in Las Vegas.

In April 1969, Turner and the Kings of Rhythm released an album, A Black Man's Soul, on Pompeii Records. The album earned Turner his first solo Grammy nomination for Best R&B Instrumental Performance at the 12th Annual Grammy Awards. Later that year, the duo released the blues oriented albums Outta Season and The Hunter on Blue Thumb Records. Turner and Bob Krasnow, founder of Blue Thumb, co-produced Earl Hooker's 1969 album Sweet Black Angel. In November, the Ike & Tina Turner Revue opened up for the Rolling Stones on their 1969 American Tour.

In January 1970, they performed on The Ed Sullivan Show and released their rendition of "Come Together", which reached No. 21 on the R&B chart. Their cover of "I Want to Take You Higher" by Sly and the Family Stone was also successful on the charts in 1970. Turner, who was a friend of Sly Stone, played guitar on Sly and the Family Stone's album There's A Riot Goin' On (1971). The release of "Proud Mary" in 1971 became Ike & Tina Turner's biggest hit, reaching No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 5 on the R&B chart. It sold more than a million copies, and won the duo a Grammy Award for Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Group at the 14th Annual Grammy Awards.

Their mainstream success provided Turner with the finances to open his own recording studio, Bolic Sound in Inglewood, in 1972. 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 state-of-the-art equipment. Artists who recorded there included Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Duane Allman, Little Richard, Gayle McCormick, and Frank Zappa.

Turner released two solo albums for United Artists Records, Blues Roots (1972) and Bad Dreams (1973). In 1973, the duo released "Nutbush City Limits" penned by Tina. The single peaked at No. 22 on the Billboard Hot 100, No. 11 on the R&B chart and it was a bigger hit in Europe. The Turners received the Golden European Record Award, the first ever given, for selling more than one million records of "Nutbush City Limits" in Europe. During this period, Turner produced singer Judy Cheeks' debut album Judy Cheeks (1973), and the last album by the Ikettes, (G)Old & New (1974). Between 1974 and 1975, the duo released the singles "Sweet Rhode Island Red", "Sexy Ida", and "Baby, Get It On".

The Ike & Tina Turner Revue ended abruptly in 1976. That year, they headlined at the Waldorf Astoria New York and signed a television deal with CBS-TV. Turner had plans to leave United Artists Records for a five-year $150,000 per year deal with Cream Records, which was to be signed on July 6. On July 1, the Turners got into a violent altercation en route to their gig at the Dallas Statler Hilton. Turner claimed that Tina initiated the conflict by purposely irritating him so that she would have a reason to break up with him before they signed the new contract. Tina fled from the hotel shortly after they arrived, and filed for divorce on July 27, 1976.

United Artists responded to the Turners' separation by releasing albums of compiled recordings from their last sessions together, Delilah's Power (1977) and Airwaves (1978). Two years after their divorce was finalized, Turner released the single "Party Vibes" / "Shame, Shame, Shame" from the album The Edge (1980) which peaked at No. 27 on the Billboard Disco Top 100 chart.

After his breakup with Tina, singer Holly Maxwell sang with Turner on occasion from 1977 to 1985 and again for eight months in 1992. She reported a positive working relationship with Turner, and later released the memoir Freebase Ain't Free about their close friendship. In 1979, Turner spent time in the studio with Chaka Khan following her separation from her manager-husband. She told Jet: "He's been real inspiration and a catalyst emotionally and in other ways as well. We plan to record together." Turner struggled to find success due to his cocaine addiction and run-ins with the law. In 1988, Turner attempted an ill-fated return to the stage with Marcy Thomas, Bonnie Johnson, and Jeanette Bazzell as his Ikettes.

While Turner was in prison following a drug conviction, Ike & Tina Turner were inducted to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1991. Tina did not attend because she took the year off from making public appearances, so Phil Spector delivered a speech at the ceremony on their behalf. After his release from prison, Turner told the press that he was nervous about returning to performing live, but had plans to return to the studio. He sold 20 unreleased Ike & Tina Turner masters to the independent label Esquire Records.

Hip-hop group Salt-N-Pepa sampled Turner's composition "I'm Blue (The Gong Gong Song)", released by the Ikettes in 1961, for their 1993 single "Shoop". The song reached No. 4 in the Billboard Hot 100 and Turner earned around half a million dollars in royalties. He re-recorded "I'm Blue" as a duet with singer Billy Rogers in 1995. Produced by Rogers, the remake received favorable reviews. Turner later appeared on the song "Love Gravy" with Rick James for the soundtrack album Chef Aid: The South Park Album.

Turner reformed the Ikettes in the mid-1990s, which included his then-wife Jeanette Bazzell Turner and Michelle Love (Randi Love). Vera Clyburn, who was an Ikette in the 1970s was the lead singer. They performed to positive reviews as the Ike Turner Revue. In August 1997, Turner returned to his hometown Clarksdale to headline the 10th Annual Sunflower River Blues & Gospel Festival. 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; Walker paid him $5,000 a night for six songs. Walker invited Turner to perform with him at the San Francisco Blues Festival and to tour in Europe. The positive response to the tour encouraged Turner to reform the Kings of Rhythm. They toured the US in 2001, and headlined a showcase at South by Southwest where they were hailed as one of the highlights of the conference. Turner's work on the tour led to the recording and release of his Grammy-nominated album Here & Now (2001). In 2002, Turner's performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival was released as a live album and DVD.

In 2002, Turner filmed Martin Scorsese's PBS documentary series The Blues, which aired in September 2003. He is featured in the documentaries The Road to Memphis and Godfathers and Sons, as part of the series. Turner appeared on the Gorillaz's album Demon Days (2005); playing piano on "Every Planet We Reach Is Dead". He performed the song with Gorillaz at the Manchester Opera House in November 2005. His performance is featured in the live concert DVD Demon Days: Live at the Manchester Opera House.

In 2006, Turner released his last album Risin' With the Blues on the independent label Zoho Roots. The album received positive critical reception, and was nominated for best Blues Album at the 7th Annual Independent Music Awards. Turner won his first solo Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards in 2007.

Turner began working on a collaboration album with Gorillaz's producer Danger Mouse and the Black Keys in early 2007. The Black Keys sent demos to Turner, but the project was temporarily shelved. After Turner's death, the songs were used for their 2008 album Attack & Release. Although Turner does not appear on the album, Pitchfork noted his influence in the production.

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