Ike Turner

johnfoyle · Post by **johnfoyle** » Thu Dec 13, 2007 1:59 am

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/13/arts/ ... ref=slogin

December 13, 2007

Ike Turner, Musician and Songwriter in Duo With Tina Turner, Dies at 76

By JON PARELES

Ike Turner, the R&B musician, songwriter, bandleader, producer, talent scout and ex-husband of Tina Turner, died on Wednesday at his home in San Marcos, Calif., a San Diego suburb. He was 76.

His death was announced by Jeanette Bazzell Turner, who married Mr. Turner in 1995. She gave no cause of death, but said he had had emphysema.

Mr. Turner was best known for discovering Anna Mae Bullock, a teenage singer from Nutbush, Tenn., whom he renamed Tina Turner. The Ike and Tina Turner Revue made a string of hits in the 1960s before the Turners broke up in 1975.

Tina Turner described the relationship as abusive in her autobiography, â€œI, Tina,â€

Post by **BlueChair** » Thu Dec 13, 2007 8:49 am

Too bad he'll be best remembered as the guy who beat up Tina Turner.

RedShoes · Post by **RedShoes** » Thu Dec 13, 2007 9:47 am

BlueChair wrote:Too bad he'll be best remembered as the guy who beat up Tina Turner.

Too bad? He was a wife beater. It's just fine by me that he be remembered that way.

Mike Boom · Post by **Mike Boom** » Thu Dec 13, 2007 10:43 am

run Blue run ....!

Post by **BlueChair** » Thu Dec 13, 2007 11:07 am

Actually, I was just telling it like it is in a somewhat sarcastic tone. Ike Turner beat his wife and spent time in prison and those are traits he will be remembered for, way more than his music... which I always found to be overrated anyway.

RedShoes · Post by **RedShoes** » Thu Dec 13, 2007 11:11 am

BlueChair wrote:Actually, I was just telling it like it is in a somewhat sarcastic tone. Ike Turner beat his wife and spent time in prison and those are traits he will be remembered for, way more than his music... which I always found to be overrated anyway.

I kinda figured, but come on - it begged for comment

johnfoyle · Post by **johnfoyle** » Thu Dec 13, 2007 6:07 pm

On Charlie Gillett's forum they are doubting a report of Ike supposedly having 13 wives -

http://www.charliegillett.com/phpBB2/vi ... php?t=5917

nigel w posts -

Like Charlie I doubt the 13 wives.

I prepared a Times obit about 18 months ago in readiness (which I think is now up on their website) and my researches revealed :

a) that Tina was his fifth wife

and

b) that there was a doubt about the legal status of some of the previous four (several of whom I suspect were 'married' to him at the same time).

Even if all those pre-Tina 'marriages' were legal, the 13 figure would mean that there were 8 more women who tied the knot with him after his divorce from Tina in 1978 in the full-knowledge that he was a wife-beater. Seems improbable, to say the least.

I don't think he expected us to believe his denials of wife-beating, either. He probably felt the stories had been exaggerated and he certainly believed his musical reputation was hard done-by as a result of our distaste for his personal life. But in researching the obit I also found this quote from him, which hardly constitutes a denial :

"Ain't it part the woman's fault if she stays around and let's me hit her?"

That sort of talk makes it rather difficult to forgive him anything, doesn't it?

pophead2k · Post by **pophead2k** » Thu Dec 13, 2007 7:03 pm

I certainly don't approve or excuse Ike's violence towards anyone. As a musician, however, his impact on rock and roll is important. Ike's Rocket 88 is generally given credit as the first rock and roll song from 1951. Most of us love John Lennon and by his own admission he beat his first wife too- they just didn't make a movie about it! And even with Phil Spector's horrible behaviors, no one would question his contributions to the history of pop music. The art v. artist question rears its head again.....