About
Ike Turner & the Rhythm Kings
2001 marked the Golden Anniversary of a GOLD Record from an Era when Fifty-thousand 45’s was a BIG Seller. That 500K-selling single cut the edge of a new style before deejay Alan Freed named it: ROCK & ROLL. The legendary Sam Phillips, Sun Studios founder, tagged that Billboard #1 R&B Smash as the very first “Rock & Roll Recording”. Every hell-raiser, hip-shaker, and hit-maker since owes a nod to that teenager recognized by Rock historians as the “Father of Rock & Roll”.That Billboard bullet, “Rocket 88”, was penned by a 19-year old boogie-woogie boy and his back-up band, “The Kings of Rhythm”, for their first Sun Studios session in 1951. B.B. King introduced the kid to Phillips, but he did not have a song - yet. So, on that rainy ride up Highway 61 to Memphis with their gear strapped on top, inspiration and lightening struck. The first muscle car - a highway cruiser - the hot, new, Oldsmobile “Rocket 88” was the subject and title of that historic #1 Hit. His lead vocalist, Jackie Brensten, were mistakenly credited with the song by Chess Records, who released it. But those that know Rock history know that the red hot Kings of Rhythm were the real rockers toiling in the shadows of their own success. That kid is referred to by Little Richard as “The Man”. B.B. King proudly echoes, “He’s the best band leader I‘ve ever seen.” The kid who became “The Man” is Ike Turner.
Turner full-tilt boogied throughout his 2001 Golden Anniversary record, “Here and Now”. His first commercial release in 23 years, this Ikon Records debut received rave critical acclaim and a GRAMMY Nomination for BEST TRADTIONAL BLUES ALBUM. Likewise heralded by the W.C. HANDY BLUES AWARDS as a masterpiece, Turner was lauded with the COMEBACK ALBUM OF THE YEAR AWARD and Nominated for BLUES ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR, SOUL/BLUES MALE ARTIST OF THE YEAR, and SOUL/BLUES ALBUM OF THE YEAR. The “Here and Now” promotion kickoff campaign was a marathon of interviews and tour dates capped off with the Conan O’Brien Show. The witty “I Gave You What You Wanted (It’s Not My Fault You Didn’t Like What You Got)” funky-blues was the perfect tongue-in-cheeker for national TV, which can be viewed on www.IkeTurner.com. Turner was also honored with a Star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame.
This instantly classic album energized renewed interest in his pre-60’s career, as intended. He toured all the influential blues & jazz festivals, releasing a live album and companion DVD “The Resurrection”, filmed at the Montreau Jazz Festival in 2003. Better known for his signature whammy-bar guitar, the bedazzling piano-man surprises many with his re-discovered boogie-woogie piano roots. Turner’s first mentor was the legendary boogie-boss Pinetop Perkins, now 90, and still touring. Turner and Pinetop united for an electrifying, tear-filled piano duet at the 2001 Chicago Blues Festival. The sizzling set can be seen in the 2004 Martin Scorsese Film Series “The Blues: Godfathers and Sons” segment. The series also reunited Turner with fellow Rock Pioneer, Sam Phillips, for rare and humorous anecdotes captured in another of the Scorsese segments, “The Blues: Return to Memphis”. Phillips, who discovered Elvis, Roy Orbison, Chet Atkins, & many other greats, offers telling praise of Turner.
2004 also marked the 50th Anniversary of when the East Memphis-influenced Elvis stepped into the limelight. To commemorate this milestone N.A.R.A.S., the GRAMMY organization, recognized Turner and Elvis’s original band members, Scotty Moore, Bill Black, and DJ Fontana with the Grammy Heroes Award.
2005 Coming Attractions: the feature film, “Soul To Soul” recorded in Ghana, Africa, in 1971 will be released on TV and DVD. It is a mesmerizing in-concert and in-country bio-pic of an African nation on the birth of its emancipation from colonialism. The star studded line up includes Ike & Tina Turner, Santana, Wilson Picket, the Staple Singers, and others. The former theatrical release will air on TV in Europe, to be seen for the first time in nearly 30 years. The 1971 “Live in Amsterdam” televised concert will be released by on DVD/CD as well.
Turner is well known for covering hit tunes, but his own writing is also noteworthy. The sub-plot of Ike’s marvelous blues-soul-rocker “I’m Blue” is fascinating. In 1962, The Ikette’s, his female backup-vocal trio, originally recorded his Billboard Top-Twenty classic “I’m Blue”. Then in 1993, Salt-N-Peppa sampled it, thus creating the mega-hit “Shoop”. Ike was a chart topper, again. The defiant female-rap act catapulted to chart-topping Mega-hit status - sizzling to #1 Hot Rap Singles, #1 Hot Dance Music, #1 Rhythmic Top 40, #3 Hot R&B, and #4 Billboard Hot 100. They had a career total of five #1 Hits in all, but their one-two punch combo with Turner was THE standout hit-of-hits that powered their 1994 album, “Very Necessary”, to a GRAMMY: BEST ALBUM FOR A RAP DUO/GROUP – another Turner TKO. This truly evergreen song then made it to the movies in 2003 with Japanese female vocal act, 6, 7, 8 & 9 and their rendition in the martial arts, action film “Kill Bill”.
To further understand why so many artists and industry insiders marvel at Turner’s influential career, one need only return to his Modern Records’ A&R-job days, just after Rocket 88 and prior to migrating up-river to East St. Louis in 1954. Turner was a house boogie-woogie man in West Memphis “blacks only” clubs while canvassing the South doing field recordings. A young, white truck driver often snuck in his club dates and hid next to the piano to study Ike’s boogie style and woogie-wild legs. That kid was Elvis Presley. The list of historical sessions he’s led with the likes of Elmore James, B.B. King, Buddy Guy, and a still continuing list of music legends is stunning. He is also noted for discovering, developing, and recording many legendary artists, such as Howlin’ Wolf, Little Walter, Muddy Waters, and Little Milton.
As the 50’s ended, a rookie teenage vocalist, Annie Mae Bullock, caught Turner’s eye for talent. He coached, choreographed, and re-styled her every sound and move. He created her image and changed young Annie’s name to Tina Turner. In the 60’s, primordial Jimi Hendrix played in the Kings of Rhythm for a time. The bandleader fired him for incessant, uncontrolled feedback; imagine that. Rock Diva, Janis Joplin, sought out Turner for vocal coaching. They even taught the Rolling Stones to strut according to Ike. The rest of the Ike & Tina Turner Review legacy is part history, part legend, part myth.
Over the years, Turner has recorded his music as Ike Turner, Eki Renrut, Ike & Tina Turner, The Ikettes, The Kings of Rhythm, and other pseudonyms, which appear on over 110 albums, so far. His standout records include such classics as “A Fool In Love”, “It’s Gonna Work Out Fine”, “I’m Blue”, “Rocket 88”, “I Wanna Take You Higher”, “Nutbush City Limits”, “River Deep – Mountain High”, and “Proud Mary”. From ‘51 to ‘76 Ike cut hundreds of songs on dozens of albums while successfully touring the world over.
For the next 15 years Turner sank deeper into his well publicized, yet overstated, excesses portrayed in the Tina Turner life dramatization “What’s Love Got To Do With It?” That era of his life cost Turner his family and fortune. Eventually, the deal-done-wrong with Walt Disney Pictures cost Turner his fame and his name, too. To her credit, Tina publicly announced the film demonized Ike unfairly; but the frenzied mass media glossed over her complaints. Then the Oscar Nominations for riveting, larger-than-life performances transformed the careers of Angela Bassett and Lawrence Fishburne, which muzzled all objections of fact vs. film.
Turner eventually re-emerged in 1992, back on track with two thoughts in mind: “One hit is too many, a thousand ain’t enough” and “one man with courage is a majority”. Then, fate gave Turner another chance at fame and redemption when he was inducted into the Rock&Roll Hall of Fame. The “Shoop” buzz also helped, but Turner remained fairly inactive in the “What’s Love” heyday. Then he decided to do his autobiography.
Turner recalled his storied life in “Takin’ Back My Name” with noted English biographer Nigel Cawthorne, published in 1999. It is a spell-binding saga told by Turner in his Creole rooted oral tradition: rags-to-fame-to-riches-to-rags-to-infamy, replete with names, dates, crimes, and confessions. In one of the more compelling chapters of his childhood, Turner revealed he was a 6 year-old child molested by several middle-aged neighbor women. At the same time, he had to watch his beloved father die from a beating inflicted by an angry white mob. Amazingly, he is not bitter. But it does shed some light on his troubled youth that led him to drug addiction, temperamental outbursts, and eventually, for a short time, to prison where he rehabilitated.
Once the book was out he turned his attention again to making records. He revitalized his 50’s group The Kings of Rhythm and jumpstarted Ikon Records with Bottled Majic Music magnate, Rob Johnson. At 69, on its Golden Anniversary, he re-recorded “Rocket 88”. Mellowed and balanced with age, he delivered a fresh vitality to his signature song. Then, stepping up to front the band on vocals, piano, and whammy-bar, he headlined the Memphis-In- May Festival. Memphis embraced his spectacular performance which validated his stature as the mentor of so many, no longer toiling in his own shadow.
Today, Turner is concerned with inner city youth and delivers a positive message to them through the non-profit Blues Schools Program. During Black History Month Turner goes to high schools to perform for and jam with student musicians, and to spread his message: “Stay in school, stay off drugs, follow your dreams, respect yourself and everyone else will follow.” With the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction, the Grammy nod, the Handy statue, “Soul to Soul”, “Shoop”, “Live in Amsterdam”, “Takin’ Back My Name”, “The Resurrection”, “Here & Now”, and “Kill Bill” among his recent milestones, Turner is “steady rollin’”. To say he is BACK is to ignore his influence on legions of rockers and rappers alike, from Day One to Day Now! Ike is today; Ike is yesterday; Ike is the Father of Rock and the Rocker of ALL Ages.
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