BEFORE Tina Turner married Erwin Bach in 2013, she was married to Ike Turner.
The former pair tied the knot in 1962 but later divorced in 1978.
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Who was Ike Turner?
Ike Turner was a musician, bandleader, songwriter, record producer, and talent scout, who was born on November 5, 1931, in Clarksdale, Mississippi.
He first rose to fame in the 1950s alongside his ex-wife, Tina Turner.
Ike and Tina were early pioneers of the 1950s rock and roll wave and were known for songs like Poor Fool, Come Together, and River Deep-Mountain High.
When did Ike Turner die?
Over the years, Ike battled with drug addiction and abuse allegations which eventually caused him to shy away from the spotlight.
Then, on December 12, 2007, it was announced that he had passed away at the age of 76.
At the time, a cause of death was not released, but a few months later, it was revealed by Supervising Medical Examiner Investigator Paul Parker that he had died of a cocaine overdose, according to CNN.
What happened between Ike Turner and Tina Turner?
To most, Ike and Tina were relationship goals, but those feelings quickly changed when she opened up about their rocky past.
In 1981, three decades before the #MeToo movement, Tina revealed that she had been abused by her ex-husband.
“When Ike asked me to marry him, I knew it was for a reason,” Tina told Gayle King in a 2020 interview, via Essence.
“But I had to say yes…or it was gonna be a fight. And so then, when we drove to marry, that wasn’t my idea of my wedding.”
“I get emotional with certain conversations,” she added.
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“I get emotional because in the beginning, Ike was very good to me.”
While Ike might’ve been good to her in the beginning, things quickly changed after they tied the knot, which is why she later left him.
“He didn’t like that he had had to depend on me,” Tina explained.
“And I didn’t want to start a fight because it was always a black eye, a broken nose, a busted lip, a rib.”
In a 1985 interview with Spin Magazine, Ike admitted to the abuse, saying that he “don’t regret nothing.”
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“…It’s years ago that I had a temper I don’t regret nothing I’ve ever done, absolutely nothing, man, because it took all of that to make me what I am today — and I love me today, I really do,” he told the outlet.
“Yeah, I hit her, but I didn’t hit her more than the average guy beats his wife. The truth is, our life was no different from the guy next door’s. It’s been exaggerated. People buy bad news, dirty news. If she says I abused her, maybe I did.”
After Tina left Ike, she struggled financially but she was able to persevere and become one of the most iconic faces in rock and roll history.
What was Ike Turner famous for?
Outside of being known as Tina’s ex-husband, Ike was known for his “boogie-woogie piano and whammy-bar guitar signatures,” according to his St. Louis Walk of Fame biography.
Ike performed with the band Kings of Rhythm and released the 1951 single Rocket 88, which is often regarded as the first rock and roll record.
Kings of Rhythm eventually evolved into the musical duo Ike & Tina Turner.
Ike also produced songs like A Fool in Love, It’s Gonna Work Out Fine, and Proud Mary, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991.
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