Ike Turner

Dec 14 2007 by David Charters, Liverpool Daily Post

HE WAS the classic dude to emerge from the steaming banks of the Mississippi, where wizards in pointed hats burned crosses, old men rocked in chairs on sleepy verandas, Gospel choirs swayed in white, timber churches, and bare-foot children ate corn-on-the-cob.

Prejudice hung in the sullen air and black folk found solace in the blues.

And the man himself was a flash dresser with a keen tongue and a natural way of picking the guitar.

Popular history would condemn him as the exploitative, selfish, feverishly jealous Svengali, who abused his beautiful and more talented partner, Tina Turner.

Sadly, there is truth in that, though some objected to the way this demonisation had almost totally eclipsed not only his role as a “father of rock and roll”, but also as a man, who, by giving black music to white audiences, helped ease racial tensions.

Those tensions were very evident when Ike Wister Turner was born to Beatrice Cushenberry and Izear Luster Turner in Clarksdale, Mississippi.

As a little boy, he carried into the local radio station the amplifiers used by bluesmen such as Robert Nighthawk and Pinetop Perkins, who taught him to play the boogie-woogie piano.

By the 1940s, Turner had formed the Kings of Rhythm, who recorded Rocket 88 in 1951 for the Sun label, under the name of Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats.

The record, written by Turner, would be hailed as the first rock and roll record in part because of his distorted guitar sound. As his reputation grew, Turner became a session guitarist and talent scout, who controlled a number of female vocalists (Ikettes).

His admiration for the legs and powerful, raspy, soulful vocals of Anna Mae Bullock (Tina Turner), led to a great partnership, which produced two children and a string of hits including It’s Going to Work Out Fine; River Deep, Mountain High (magnificently produced by Phil Spector); I Want to Take You Higher, Proud Mary, and Nutbush City Limits, sustaining them for 13 years.

Her 1987 autobiography, later filmed, detailed his violence and drug addiction. Two years later, he was jailed for 17 months for drug offences.

Turner, who later gained the respect deserved by his blues music, married at least four times and had many children. Tributes were paid to him, though not from Tina Turner.

Ike Turner, musician; born November 5, 1931, died December 12, 2007.