Ike and Tina were a very popular duo in the 1960s and 70s, scoring hits with, among others, 'River Deep Mountain High' (twice a Top 10 hit) and 'Proud Mary'. Ike and Tina Turner were married from 1958 until 1976. Ike Turner passed away in December 2007. Tina Turner made a grand comeback in 1983 with the Heaven 17 cover 'Let's Stay Together'. In 1993, What's Love Got To Do With It was released, starring Angela Bassett. The film tells the story of Ike & Tina Turner.
Anna Mae Bullock
Ike Turner, pianist/guitarist from Clarksdale (Mississippi), met in 1956 Anna Mae Bullock, an 18-year-old gospel singer from Nutbush (Mississippi). He invited her to join his band and they became, besides a married couple, one of the greatest legends in pop history.
Phil Spector
Their sizzling performances full of funky, swinging soul are, according to legend, unparalleled. The Ike and Tina Turner Revue played many venues and produced a steady stream of single hits. However, it was producer Phil Spector who gave them a pop classic in 1966: ‘River Deep - Mountain High’. (Spector was mainly interested in Tina’s voice; he paid Ike to stay out of the way.)
Proud Mary
In the early seventies, a series of covers appeared that placed them high in the charts: ‘Come Together’ by The Beatles, ‘I Want To Take You Higher’ by Sly and the Family Stone, and ‘Proud Mary’ by Creedence Clearwater Revival. ‘Nutbush City Limit’, written by Tina, was the couple’s last success in 1973.
Drug possession
Tina had had enough and left her violent husband and musical partner. While Tina Turner started a brilliant second career in the 1980s, Ike Turner spent his time alternately in his studio and in prison for drug possession.
Grammy
Still, the man picked up the thread again in the 1990s. He published an autobiography, Takin' Back My Name. And in 2007, he even won a Grammy for the best traditional blues album, Risin with the Blues.
Deceased
Later that year, on Wednesday 12 December, Ike died at the age of 76. According to a spokesperson for Turner’s management, the singer passed away in his sleep at his home in the town of San Marcos near San Diego.
On 24 May 2023, Tina left our world at the age of 83 after a long illness.
source: NPO and Wikipedia photo: Heinrich Klaffs and public domain
