Ike "beatn' Tina" Turner Passed away today

[nthfinity]

By Michael Kinsman UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER 9:05 p.m. December 12, 2007 Associated Press Ike Turner performs during the "Ike Turner and The Kings of Rhythm" concert at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland in July 2002. Two-time Grammy winner Ike Turner, who helped launch the rock 'n' roll era but later found his career overshadowed by allegations of drug addiction and spousal abuse, died Wednesday at his San Marcos home. He was 76. Mr. Turner's death was confirmed by his manager, Scott Hanover, but the cause was not announced. Investigators from the county Medical Examiner's Office spent the afternoon at the home. Mr. Turner had lived in San Marcos since his release from prison in the early 1990s. During that time, he struggled to revive his musical career and shed his public image as a tyrannical bandleader who verbally and physically assaulted his former wife, singer Tina Turner. Ike and Tina Turner abandoned their personal and show business partnership in the mid-1970s. In a statement Wednesday, Tina Turner said she has not talked to Mr. Turner in more than three decades. Laurence Fishburne's portrayal of Mr. Turner in the 1993 biographical movie of Tina Turner's life, “What's Love Got to Do With It,” depicted Mr. Turner as an abusive, manipulative and drug-addicted husband. Mr. Turner often complained that he was unfairly vilified by the press. “That's all a one-sided story,” Mr. Turner said in a 1994 interview with the San Diego Union-Tribune. “I got my own story to tell. I'm a big part of her life. If you take me out of the movie, there's no movie. If you take me out of her career, there's no career. It's as a simple as that.” In 1951, Mr. Turner played piano, wrote, arranged and produced the song “Rocket 88,” which is widely regarded as the first rock 'n' roll record, although it was not recorded under his name. The song, written about the Oldsmobile 88 that Mr. Turner's band traveled in, was recorded by Sam Phillips at Sun Studio in Memphis, where a few years later Elvis Presley would begin his career as a rock 'n' roll legend. “Ike combined elements of jump blues, boogie-woogie, swing and other influences to create his music,” said George Varga, pop music critic for the Union-Tribune. “And he did so in a totally natural way that no one had done before.” The song “Rocket 88” was marketed under the name of Jackie Brenston, the band's saxophone player, who sang it. Varga said Mr. Turner remained “an unsung pioneer” in rock 'n' roll. “He created almost a blueprint for rock 'n' roll,” he said. On the strength of “Rocket 88,” Mr. Turner nurtured a career as a popular bandleader throughout the 1950s until he met Anna Mae Bullock, who he would later marry and rename as Tina Turner. Throughout the 1960s, the Ike & Tina Turner Revue showcased Tina's brassy vocals and Ike's ironfisted direction of the band. The band had a string of hits such as “I Idolize You,” “I Want to Take You Higher” and “Proud Mary” and was one of the decade's top concert draws. “Proud Mary” won a Grammy Award in 1972. In 1992, Ike & Tina were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. This year, Mr. Turner won a Grammy for his R&B CD “Risin' With the Blues”. Mr. Turner was jailed several times on drug charges. One of those cases led to a 17-month jail term in 1989. In 1994, he discussed his jail time with a Union-Tribune reporter. “Today I feel like I have been to hell and come back a free man,” he said. “I feel lucky to have survived. You know, some people just got to wade in their own water to find out what it's all about. That's me.” Mr. Turner was born Nov. 5, 1931, in Clarksdale, Miss. By the time he was a teenager, he had his own radio show playing jump blues and country music. He formed his first band in high school. Mr. Turner enjoyed telling the story of walking home from school in Clarksdale one day with his best friend, Ernest Lane. The two 9-year-olds heard music coming from a house and peered through the window, where they saw two hands racing across a piano keyboard. “Ooh-whee!,” Mr. Turner said in 1994. “It was unbelievable how fast his fingers were moving. I knew that's what I wanted to do, right then.” Mr. Turner began taking lessons from that piano player, Pinetop Perkins, at a pool hall and the two men became close friends. At 18, he worked as a talent scout for Chess Records in Chicago and Modern Records in Los Angeles. Mr. Turner scoured the Delta for the most talented musicians and is credited with bringing blues artists such as Howlin' Wolf, Elmore James, Junior Park and Little Milton to the recording studio. Perkins, 94, learned the news of Mr. Turner's death while watching television at his home in Austin, Texas. “It's a wage we all have to pay,” Perkins said philosophically. In recent years, Mr. Turner and Perkins have become very close. When Perkins was nominated for a Grammy in 1997, Mr. Turner sent him airline tickets and a new suit. He also has lavished watches, stereos and other gifts on Mr. Perkins in recent years, always acknowledging that his guidance was crucial to his musical development. Mr. Turner has played sporadically in recent years and had been hampered by his worsening emphysema. “There is no doubt that Ike Turner was one of rock and roll's great architects with his genre-defying sound as an instrumentalist and bandleader,” said Neil Portnow, president of the Recording Academy. “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,” Portnow said. “As a two-time Grammy Award winner and recipient of The Recording Academy's 2004 Heroes Award, Ike's legacy as a groundbreaking pioneer in the music industry will never be forgotten.”

RIP Ike

[acmarttin]

He sure could punch a diva.