JPF Home Page Forums General Messages General Message Forum Rock Hall of Famer (and JPF Member) Ike Turner dies at 76

Here's some photos from Ike Turners 73rd Birthday which I referenced in the newsletter "My Take" about Ike:



Here Ike is singing Proud Mary with the Ikettes.



After they finished a blazing version of Proud Mary.. it was amazing to be there to see that in person in a small room.



Ike was in great spirits and worked the crowd.



He got a big Guitar shaped birthday cake for his 73rd.



This is my favorite picture of him.. he was full of life and energy and still had a Grammy winning Blues Album to come in his life.



I am glad I got to meet a true musical legend. My last words to him that night were "Thank You Ike for inventing Rock and Roll." At the time I thought it was an awkward way to say it.. but in hindsight, I am glad I did. He seemed like just a normal guy with a lot of talent and who'd had a long hard life of big ups and big downs. I like to think he'd come full circle and finished on top.



Ike and Linda. I was glad she was there with me that night. She often misses stuff like this. She also took a lot of video of the night including Ike performing. We'll have to dig it up!

Here's the My Take:

Just Plain Quotes:

"If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead, either write things worth reading, or do things worth writing." -Benjamin Franklin

"Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever." -Napoleon Bonaparte

"Let us take things as we find them: let us not attempt to distort them into what they are not. We cannot make facts. All our wishing cannot change them. We must use them." -John Henry Cardinal Newman

"In the end, success is atoning for the errors in your life, being at peace with yourself when your time has come, and having your achievements speak for you after you're gone." -Brian Austin Whitney

My Take:

As I was working on this newsletter tonight I got word that Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and JPF Member Ike Turner passed away at 76. Mixed with your shock if you haven't heard is probably also some mixed feelings on the man and a mental effort to balance the good and bad in his long career in the music industry versus his heavily publicized personal life.

Ike was born November 5th, 1931 in Mississippi and got his first taste of the music world when he was 8 years old and got to spend time playing records at the local radio station while the DJ went for coffee across the street. He was already hooked on music. Meeting his favorite piano player Pinetop Perkins, who taught him boogie woogie piano, set him on a life as a musician.

In the late 1940's, he created the "Kings of Rhythm" and in 1951 he recorded the first Rock and Roll record "Rocket 88." As would be the case during much of his career, the music wasn't credited to him alone, but rather to the singer Jackie Brenston and the Delta Cats. Brenston, the bands Sax player and lead vocalist, was also incorrectly credited as co-writer on the song which was actually written soley by Ike. The recording featured the first distorted guitar, which was simply the result of a broken guitar amp dropped on the way to the session.

Ike and the Rhythm Kings became regular fixtures in the St. Louis music scene and Ike himself became a talent scout for legendary Sun Records where he helped launch acts like Elmore James, Otis Rush, Howlin' Wolf and Sonny Boy WIlliamson. He frequently acted as side man for other acts and perfected his use of the "whammy" bar. It was during this era that he met Anna Mae Bullock, who would later become Tina Turner, the source of his greatest fame and his greatest infamy. Together with the trio "The Ikettes" backing them up, the Ike and Tina Turner Revue had a slammin' stage show and a string of hits including "A Fool In Love," "It's Gonna Work Out Fine," "River Deep, Mountain High," "I want to take you higher," "Proud Mary" and "Nutbush City Limits" named after Ida Mae's home town in Tennessee.

Their big successes led to Ike launching an LA based recording studio. But things started to unravel when Tina left him after a particularly bad fight in 1976. Without Tina, and with drug use and bad publicity from the violence and infidelities depicted later in Tina's autobiography "I, Tina," Ike's life and career spiraled downward to rock bottom. He was convicted of drug and weapons charges and went to prison.

Ike would say that he told God that he would stop taking drugs and clean up his life if he could just get 3 days away from drugs. He couldn't achieve that on his own, but prison did it for him. After he got out of jail, he got back into his music, winning awards and accolades all the way up to this year when he won his first Solo Grammy award for Best Traditional Blues Album for his album "Risin' With The Blues."

Most folks today base their opinion of Ike Turner from the depiction in the movie "What's Love Got To Do With It." The stigma of a drug abuser and wife beater will unfortunately be paired up with his creative achievements. Without excusing it, it's important to note that Ike maintained his sobriety after he left prison in 1993 and resurrected his career on his own and in his own name. He was deeply flawed, but he worked hard for redemption and by most accounts, he achieved that in his personal and professional life.

I was fortunate to have been invited to spend Ike's 73rd birthday with him when we were out in LA for our 2004 JPF Music Awards. The event was held at the same club the night before our Pre-Awards showcase. I happened to have my camera with me and when the hired photographer didn't show up, it turned out I had the only photos of the event. Ike had offered to do an interview with me for the JPF newsletter, but like many things in life, it remained on my "To Do" list for the last 3 years. Ironically, when we recently got back from Europe, I came across the photos I had taken at his birthday party and realized I hadn't sent him a copy. I emailed to see if he'd be interested in doing an article for our December newsletter. I never envisioned that article would turn out to be his obituary. It's weird how things work out sometimes.

In the end, success is atoning for the errors in your life, being at peace with yourself when your time has come, and having your achievements speak for you after you're gone. On that note, Ike should be considered a success on anyone's scale. How many of us will be able to say the same?

The last words I spoke to Ike were "Thank you Ike for inventing Rock and Roll."

Thank you Ike indeed.

Here's some photos I took from his 73rd Birthday Party:
http://www.jpfolks.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=567153&page=0#Post567153

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