Wednesday, December 12, 2007 | by nathan

Why He Treats You Like He Do When He’s Such A Good Man

Ike & Tina Turner on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1970. Photo by: CBS

It happens a lot where a line from an episode of The Simpsons will come into my head, and I’ll be racking my brain going, "What episode was that?" And then two days later it’ll be on in the two early-evening reruns we get every night on our local Fox affiliate.

Monday night, after we lost power, I was lying in the tub, reading, and my mind began to wander. "How old is Ike Turner nowadays?" I asked myself. "Old, for sure. I bet we’re going to hear pretty soon that he’s died."

So, I might be a little psychic. Because Ike Turner has died.

The founder of the Ike and Tina Turner Review, born in Clarksdale, MS, is now widely regarded as one of the founders of rock and roll for his song "Rocket 88." This from Wikipedia:

Ike Turner’s actual music career began in earnest in the late-1940s where he formed a group whom he christened The Kings of Rhythm. In 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. Brenston was both the band’s saxophonist and the leading vocalist of the song and Turner was the original writer though credits initially stated that Brenston had written it also. The song was one of the first examples of guitar distortion, which happened by accident when one of the amplifiers dropped before the recording.

He is, of course, most well-known (and infamous) for his collaborations with Tina Turner, both musical and personal, which made her a star and him a pariah. The duo were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991, though Ike missed the ceremony, as he was serving a prison sentence for drug charges. What you might not know is that Ike won a Grammy in 2007 for Best Traditional Blues Album for his record "Rising With the Blues." He played piano on the Gorillaz 2005 track "Every Planet We Reach is Dead" and a sample of his song "I’m Blue" was the basis for Salt ‘n’ Pepa’s hit "Shoop."

He might’ve been a bastard, but there’s no denying the man was a talented musician. So here you go; have a listen to a few tracks:

I’ve Been Loving You Too Long by Ike & Tina Turner, 1966.

Come Together by Ike & Tina Turner, 1969.

Proud Mary by Ike & Tina Turner, 1971.

iPod