2:24 p.m.
Today I would like to wish a fellow Mississippian a happy 76th birthday. This African American musician, band leader, talent scout and record producer, is best known for beating the crap out of his former wife, Tina Turner. That's right folks. I'm talking about Ike Turner.
Spanning a career that has lasted half a century, Ike's repertoire has included blues, soul, rock and funk. Alongside his former wife, he was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991 and in 2001 was inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame.
W.B. (wife beater) was born in a city where I spent many nights as a teenager trying to get in trouble, Clarksdale, MS. Ike got his first taste of pleasing an audience at the age of eight working at the local Clarksdale radio station, WROX, located in the Alcazar Hotel in downtown Clarksdale. A man in charge of the station put Turner to work as he watched the record turntables. Said Turner:
"I got a job driving the elevator in the Alcazar and the radio station was on the second floor. It was very exciting to me, a radio station. I'd run up to the second floor and look through the window at the guy spinning records. He saw me and tole me to come in and showed me how to 'hold a record.' I'd sit there and hold it until the one playing stopped, then I'd turn a knob and the one I was holding would play. Next thing I know, he was going across the street for coffee and leaving me in there alone. I was only eight. That was the beginning of my thing with music."
W.B.'s real music career began in the late-1940s where he formed a group whom he christened The Kings of Rhythm.1951, the band recorded what historians have debated as "the first rock and roll record" with "Rocket 88", listed on the charts as Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats. The song was one of the first examples of guitar distortion, which happened by accident when one of the amplifiers dropped before the recording.
W.B.'s career changed drastically after meeting a teenage singer from Nutbush, Tennessee named Anna Mae Bullock, who demandingly grabbed a microphone during a singing session at one of St. Louis' nightspots and sung a BB King song in her now-trademark throated raspy vocals.Bullock's performance impressed Ike so much he allowed Anna to join his band as a background singer.
However within a year, Ike's plans for Bullock changed after Anna recorded what he originally stated was a demo for a song that was to be sung by a male vocalist. After hearing her vocals, he let it be released under an independent label and in the process changed the name of the singer from Anna Mae Bullock to Tina Turner - naming her after Sheena, and the name of the band to the Ike & Tina Turner Revue. That song, "A Fool In Love", became a national hit reaching the top three of the R&B charts becoming a top thirty pop hit in the process in early 1960. From then until 1976, Ike and Tina Turner became one of the most explosive duos in rock & soul music. The creation of the revue also led to the soul revues of the 1960s. Inspired by Ray Charles, Turner created a trio of sexy background singers and dancers who were named The Ikettes who often had their moves choreographed by Tina and Ike. The Turners eventually scored several hit singles including "It's Gonna Work Out Fine", "River Deep - Mountain High", "I Want To Take You Higher", "Proud Mary" and "Nutbush City Limits" in between thirteen years.
While he and T.T. made some kickass tunes together, it wasn't until 2007 when Ike received his first Grammy for Best Traditional Blues. A collaboration between Turner and the rock band, The Black Keys, by Gorillaz' producer Danger Mouse, is expected for a release next year.
W.B. is said to have been married 14 times but he has only been known to have married four times publicly. Ike married T.T. in 1962 and they had one kid. However, W.B. was a total psycho and beat the dookie out of T.T. She eventually came to her senses and left his sorry ass in 1978. In an October 17, 2007 appearance on the phone with Howard Stern, Ike claimed he and Tina Turner were never actually married, though he didn't explain why they shared the same last name.
Happy Birthday Ike, you wife beater, you.
Source: Wikipedia
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