Ike Turner's Early Life and BackgroundIke Turner's Early Life and Background
The Kings of Rhythm BandThe Kings of Rhythm Band
Ike Turner's Musical LegacyIke Turner's Musical Legacy
Ike Turner's Rock and Roll Journey
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Ike Turner was an influential American musician, bandleader, and pioneer of 1950s rock and roll, best known for his work with his wife Tina Turner as the leader of the Ike & Tina Turner Revue in the 1960s and 1970s.
Ike Turner's Early Life and Background
en.wikipedia.org
Ike Turner was born Izear Luster Turner Jr. on November 5, 1931, in Clarksdale, Mississippi.12 His mother was a seamstress and his father a Baptist minister.2 Turner's early life was marked by tragedy and hardship. He claimed to have witnessed his father being beaten and left for dead by a white mob when he was around five years old, though some historians question the accuracy of this account.1 After his father's death, his mother remarried an abusive alcoholic.12 Despite these challenges, Turner found solace in music from a young age. He taught himself to play piano and guitar, gaining early experience at a local Clarksdale radio station where he worked as a disc jockey.24 This exposure to new music releases and access to instruments proved instrumental in shaping his future career as a pioneering musician in rock and roll.
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The Kings of Rhythm Band
en.wikipedia.org
The Kings of Rhythm was an American music group formed in the late 1940s in Clarksdale, Mississippi, led by Ike Turner until his death in 2007. 1 Originally an offshoot of Turner's larger ensemble the Tophatters, the Kings of Rhythm became Turner's core backing band, undergoing numerous lineup changes over the decades. 1In the 1960s, they served as the band for the famous "Ike & Tina Turner Revue", helping define Ike and Tina's gritty R&B/rock sound. 1 For a brief period in the early 1970s, Turner renamed them the Family Vibes. 1 After the Revue disbanded in 1976, Turner revived the Kings of Rhythm name in 2001, and they backed him on acclaimed late-career albums like the Grammy-nominated Here And Now and the Grammy-winning Risin' with the Blues. 1 Following Turner's 2007 death, the Kings of Rhythm continued performing under pianist Ernest Lane and others. 1
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Ike Turner's Musical Legacy
bear-family.com
Ike Turner played a pivotal role in the birth of rock 'n' roll with his 1951 recording of "Rocket 88" at Sun Studios in Memphis. 12 Credited to Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats, the song featured Turner's groundbreaking piano and guitar work, including a distorted guitar sound that became a hallmark of the genre. 34 As a talent scout and producer, Turner helped launch the careers of blues greats like Howlin' Wolf, B.B. King, and Elmore James. 1 He later formed the immensely popular Ike & Tina Turner Revue with his then-wife Tina Turner, scoring hits like "River Deep – Mountain High" and "Proud Mary" that further cemented his status as a pioneer and innovator in the development of rock music. 13
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