OFTEN MENTIONED BUT LITTLE PRAISED, THE MAN BETTER KNOWN AS TINA’S HUSBAND HAD MORE INFLUENCE ON ROCK’N’ROLL THAN 100 BETTER KNOWN MUSICIANS. IN 1998, RICK BATEY GAINED A RARE MEETING WITH IKE TURNER
Ike Turner, who died in 2007, was for a long time one of the least-recognised great forces in twentieth century music. In 1951, aged barely 20, he cut a record that virtually invented rock’n’roll. He played on, wrote, arranged or was the driving force behind an astonishing run of ’50s blues records from the greatest names in the business – BB King, Elmore James, Buddy Guy, Otis Rush, Howlin’ Wolf and many more. In the ’60s and ’70s he directed and ran one of the most terrifyingly funky rock’n’roll/soul revues of all time. As a guitarist, Ike’s stinging intros and fearsome whammy excursions stand among the hippest and, crucially, most committed of all time – and yet guitar was not even his first instrument.