بیوگرافی
Ike Turner is best recognized for his work as part of the duo Ike & Tina Turner alongside his former wife Tina Turner, but before discovering her, he was already a trailblazer in rhythm & blues and rock & roll.
Izear Luster Turner Jr. was born on November 5, 1931, in Clarksdale, Mississippi. His father, Izear Luster Turner Sr., was a Baptist minister, and his mother, Beatrice Cushenberry, was a seamstress. When Turner was five, his father was beaten by a white mob and died from his injuries. Beginning at age six, Turner suffered sexual abuse from several older women. He left school in the eighth grade and worked as an elevator operator at the Alcazar Hotel in downtown Clarksdale, eventually becoming a DJ at the hotel’s WROX radio station.
Delta blues pianist Pinetop Perkins taught Turner how to play piano. He performed locally as a roadie for Robert Nighthawk and Sonny Boy Williamson. As a teenager, Turner formed his own band called the Kings of Rhythm. In 1951, Turner and his band recorded "Rocket 88" at Sam Phillips' Memphis Recording Studio, later known as Sun Studio. The single was a major success, reaching No. 1 on various Billboard R&B charts, but it was credited to Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats. This caused conflict among band members, leading to the group's temporary breakup. Meanwhile, Turner worked as a session musician and talent scout for Phillips and the Bihari Brothers at Modern Records. He recorded with blues legends such as Junior Parker, Willy Nix, Bobby Bland, Howlin' Wolf, B.B. King, Rosco Gordon, Albert King, and Johnny Ace.
In the mid-1950s, Turner switched from piano to guitar and moved to East St. Louis, Illinois, where he made a name for himself by bringing Rhythm & Blues to a city dominated by jazz. In 1957, teenage Anna Mae Bullock joined his band as lead vocalist. Turner renamed her Tina Turner. Their first record as Ike & Tina Turner was "A Fool In Love" in 1960, which reached No. 2 on the Billboard R&B chart. A series of R&B hits followed. Throughout the 1960s, they toured extensively, delivering high-energy performances with their revue, which included the Ikettes, a backing group famous for the Turner-written hit "I'm Blue (The Gong-Gong Song)." Their dynamic act is featured in the concert film The Big T.N.T. Show (1965), which preceded Tina Turner recording "River Deep – Mountain High" with producer Phil Spector. After touring with the Rolling Stones in 1969, the duo achieved mainstream success. They appeared in concert films such as Gimme Shelter (1970), It's Your Thing (1970), Soul to Soul (1971), and made a cameo in Taking Off (1971). Their biggest hit was a cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s "Proud Mary," which earned them a Grammy Award in 1972. However, Ike Turner’s drug use and erratic behavior strained their relationship, leading to their separation in 1976.
Following the breakup, Turner’s life declined with legal troubles, including an 18-month prison sentence for a drug conviction in the early 1990s. After Tina Turner published her memoir detailing domestic violence and the subsequent film What's Love Got to Do with It (1993) portrayed their troubled relationship, Ike faced intense media scrutiny that further damaged his career. He revived the Kings of Rhythm in the late 1990s and reignited his career by returning to his blues roots. In 2003, Turner appeared in the PBS documentary series The Blues. He released two critically acclaimed albums: Here and Now (2001) and Risin' with the Blues (2006). The latter won him a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album the year he passed away in 2007. Having been drug-free for over ten years, Turner relapsed and died of a cocaine overdose on December 12, 2007. His hypertensive cardiovascular disease and pulmonary emphysema also contributed to his death.
