Ike Wister Turner (November 5, 1931 – December 12, 2007) was an American musician, bandleader, songwriter, arranger, talent scout, and record producer. In a career that lasted more than half a century, his repertoire included blues, soul, rock, and funk. He is most popularly known for his 1960s work with his then wife Tina Turner in the Ike & Tina Turner revue. Growing up in Clarksdale, Mississippi, he began playing piano and guitar when he was eight, forming his group, the Kings of Rhythm as a teenager at high school. He employed the group as his backing band for the rest of his life. His first recording, "Rocket 88" with the Kings of Rhythm credited as "Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats", in 1951, has been considered a possible contender for "first rock and roll song". Relocating to St. Louis, Missouri, in 1954, he built the Kings into one of the most renowned acts on the local club circuit. It was there he met singer Anna Mae Bullock, whom he married and renamed Tina Turner, forming the Ike & Tina Turner Revue, which over the course of the sixties became one a soul / rock crossover success.

In the 1950s, Turner was employed by Sun Studios and Modern Records as an arranger and talent scout for blues artists. Turner recorded for many of the key R&B record labels of the 1950s and 1960s, including Chess, Modern, Trumpet, Flair and Sue. With the Ike & Tina Revue he graduated to bigger labels, most notably United Artists. Throughout his career Turner won two Grammy Awards and was nominated for three others. Alongside his former wife, Turner was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991 and in 2001 was inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame.

Revelations by Tina Turner in her autobiography of her abusive relationship with Turner and the film adaptation of this coupled with his cocaine addiction damaged Turner's career in the 1980s and 1990s. His name became a synonym for wifebeater, overshadowing his contributions to music. Addicted to cocaine and crack for at least fifteen years, Turner served over a year in prison in 1991. He spent the rest of the 1990s free of his addiction, but relapsed in 2004. Near the end of his life, he returned to live performance as a frontman and produced two albums returning to his blues roots, which were critically well received and award winning. Turner has frequently been referred to as a 'great innovator' of Rock and Roll by contemporaries such as Little Richard and Johnny Otis. Phil Alexander (then editor - in - chief of Mojo magazine) described Turner as 'the cornerstone of modern day rock 'n' roll'.

Turner was born in Clarksdale, Mississippi, on November 5, 1931, to Beatrice Cushenberry (1909 – 1991), a seamstress, and Izear Luster Turner, a Baptist minister. The younger of two siblings, Turner had an elder sister, named Ethel May. Turner believed for many years that he was named Izear Luster Turner, Jr. after his father, until he discovered his name was registered as Ike Wister Turner while applying for his first passport. He never got to discover the origin of his name, as by the time he discovered it, his parents were both dead.

Turner claimed when he was very young, he witnessed his father beaten and left for dead by a white mob. His father lived for 3 years as an invalid in a tent in the family's yard before succumbing to his injuries. Writer and blues historian Ted Drozdowski has told a different version of the story, stating that Turner's father died in an industrial accident. His mother remarried to a man called Philip Reeves. Turner said his stepfather was a violent alcoholic and they often had violent arguments and fights, after one of which Turner knocked out his stepfather with a piece of wood. He then ran away to Memphis where he lived rough for a few days before returning to his mother. He later reconciled with his stepfather, buying a house for him in the 1950s around the time Turner's mother died.

Turner was inspired to learn the piano on a visit to his friend Ernest Lane's house, where he heard Pinetop Perkins playing Lane's fathers' piano. Turner's mother agreed to pay for her son to have piano lessons with a teacher; however he did not take to the formal style of playing, instead spending the money at the pool hall, then learning by watching Perkins playing boogie - woogie. He taught himself to play guitar by playing along to old blues records.

At some point in the 1940s, Turner moved into Clarksdale’s Riverside Hotel, run by Mrs. Z.L. Ratliff. The Riverside played host to a great number of touring musicians, including Sonny Boy Williamson II and Duke Ellington. Turner associated and played music with many of these guests.

Around his eighth year Turner also began frequenting the local Clarksdale radio station, WROX, located in the Alcazar Hotel in downtown Clarksdale. WROX was notable as one of the first radio stations to employ a black DJ, Early Wright, to play blues records. DJ John Frisella put Turner to work as he watched the record turntables. Soon he was left to play records while the DJ went across the street for coffee. Turner described this as "the beginning of my thing with music." This led to Turner being offered a job by the station manager as the DJ on the late afternoon shift. The job meant he had access to all the new releases. On his show he played a diverse range of music, playing Louis Jordan alongside early rockabilly records.

Around the time he was starting out with The Kings of Rhythm, Turner and Ernest Lane became unofficial roadies for blues singer Robert Nighthawk, who often played live on WROX. The pair sat in playing drums and piano on radio sessions and supported Nighthawk at blues dates around Clarksdale. Playing with Nighthawk allowed Turner to gig regularly and build up playing experience. He would also provide backup for Sonny Boy Williamson II, playing gigs alongside other local blues artists such as Howlin' Wolf, Rice Miller, Charley Booker, Elmore James, Muddy Waters and Little Walter. Performances typically lasted for about twelve hours, from early evening to dawn the next day. Turner described the scenario to an interviewer:

In high school, a teenage Turner joined a huge local rhythm ensemble called The Tophatters, who played dances around Clarksdale, Mississippi. Members of the band were taken from Clarksdale musicians, and included Turner's school friends Raymond Hill, Eugene Fox and Clayton Love. The Tophatters played big-band arrangements from sheet music. Turner, who was trained by ear and could not sight read music, would learn the pieces by listening to a recording of the piece at home, pretending to be reading the music during the rehearsals.

At one point, the Tophatters had over 30 members, and eventually split into two, with one act who wanted to carry on playing dance - band jazz calling themselves The Dukes of Swing and the other, led by Turner becoming the Kings of Rhythm. Said Turner: "We wanted to play blues, boogie - woogie and Roy Brown, Jimmy Liggins, Roy Milton."

Turner would keep the name of the band throughout his career, although it went considerable lineup changes over time. Their early stage performances consisted largely of covers of popular jukebox hits. They were helped by B.B. King, who helped them to get a steady weekend gig and recommended them to Sam Phillips at Sun Studio. In the 50s, Turner's group got regular airplay from live sessions on WROX - Am, at the behest of DJ Early Wright. The band would sometimes play a session that lasted an hour.

In 1951, Turner and the band recorded what some historians have called "the first rock and roll record", "Rocket 88". The song was allegedly written as the group drove down to Memphis to record at Sam Phillips' Sun Studios. Turner came up with the introduction and first verse, the band collaborated on the rest with Brenston, the band's saxophonist, on vocals. Phillips sent the recording to Chess who released it under the name "Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats". The record sold approximately half a million copies. In Turner's account book he recorded that he was paid $20 for the record. The success of Rocket 88 caused tensions and ego clashes in the band, causing Jackie Brenston to leave to pursue a solo career, taking some of the original members with him. Turner, without a band and disappointed at not getting recognition for his hit, put the Kings of Rhythm on hold for a few years.

After the breakup of the Kings of Rhythm after Rocket 88, Turner for a few years became a session musician and production assistant for Sam Philips and the Bihari Brothers, commuting to Memphis from Clarksdale. He began by contributing piano to a B.B. King track "You Know I Love You", which brought him to the attention of Modern Records's, Joe Bihari, who requested Turner's services on another King track 3 O'Clock Blues. It became King's first hit.

Wishing to utilize Turner's Delta music connections, Bihari contracted him as a talent scout, paying him to search out southern musicians who might be worth recording. Turner also wrote new material for the artists to perform, which, unknown to him the Bihari Brothers registered the copyright on. Turner estimated he "wrote 78 hit records for the Biharis." Artists Turner sourced for Modern included Bobby Bland, Howlin' Wolf and Rosco Gordon. He played piano on sessions with them and others including Elmore James and lesser known artists such as The Prisonaires, Ben Burton Orchestra, Little Milton, Matt Cockrell and Dennis Binder. Turner was contracted to the Bihari Brothers, but he continued to work for Sam Philips at Sun Studios, where he was effectively the in-house producer. This created some conflicts of interest. Turner cut two Howlin' Wolf tracks, "How Many More Years" and "Moanin' at Midnight," which Phillips sent to Chess Records. Turner then took Wolf across the state border, re-recorded the tracks without Phillips or Chess's knowledge, and sent the results to Modern / RPM. Turner also attempted to poach Elmore James from Trumpet Records and recording him for Modern. Trumpet found out and Modern had to cancel the record. However James did eventually sign for Modern, with Turner playing piano on many of his recordings.

In 1956, Turner took a reformed version of the Kings of Rhythm north to St. Louis, including Kizart, Sims, O'Neal, Jessie Knight Jr and Turner's third wife Annie Mae Wilson Turner on piano and vocals. It was at this time that Turner moved over to playing guitar to accommodate Annie Mae, taking lessons from Willie Kizart to improve.

Turner maintained strict discipline over the band, insisting they lived in a large house with him so he could conduct early morning rehearsals at a moment's notice. He would fire anyone he suspected of drinking or taking drugs, and would fine or physically assault band members if they played a wrong note. He controlled everything from the arrangements down to the suits the band wore onstage. Starting off playing at a club called Kingsbury's in Madison, Illinois, within a year Turner had built up a full gig schedule, establishing his group as one of the most highly rated on the St. Louis club circuit, vying for popularity with their main competition, Sir John's Trio featuring Chuck Berry. The bands would play all nighters in St. Louis, then cross the river to the clubs of East St. Louis, Illinois, and continue playing until dawn. In St. Louis for the first time Turner, was exposed to a developing white teenage audience who were excited by R&B. Clubs Turner played in St. Louis included Club Imperial, which was popular with white teenagers, The Dynaflow, The Moonlight Lounge, Club Riviera and the West End Walters. In East St. Louis, his group played Kingsbury's, Club Manhattan and The Sportsman.

In between live dates, Turner took the band to Cincinnati to record for Federal in 1956 and Chicago for Cobra / Artistic in 1958, as well as fulfilling his contract as a session musician back at Sun. He befriended St. Louis R&B fan Bill Stevens, who in 1958 set up the short lived record label, Stevens, financed by his father Fred. Turner recorded numerous sessions for Stevens with various vocalists and musician lineups, of which seven singles were released (these are collected on the Red Lightnin' compilation "Hey Hey - The Legendary Ike Turner and the Kings of Rhythm" / RL0047). Turner was not credited on any of the Stevens releases as he still had months to run on his Sun contract and did not want to cause friction with Sam Philips. He recorded a solo rockabilly country single under the anagrammatical name Icky Renaut. None of the Stevens records had wide distribution and the operation ceased after a year.

By the mid 1950s, Turner and the Kings of Rhythm held a regular night spot at Club Manhattan in St Louis. A young girl called Anna Mae Bullock became a regular at the club and would sing along with all the songs the band played. Turner initially ignored her, but was eventually suitably impressed that he allowed her to sing backup vocals with the band. Thus, Bullock became an occasional vocalist in Ike's shows at the age of 18. Going by the name "Little Ann", Bullock became the spotlight of a soul revue led by Ike Turner and his Kings of Rhythm band. Turner used Bullock's voice on a recording of his self penned song, "A Fool In Love", to lay down a guide track for a male singer who did not attend the recording. He sent the recording to Sue Records in New York, where label owner Juggy Murray insisted on putting out the track with Bullock's vocal. Murray offered a $25,000 advance for the song, convinced it was a hit. The song was released in 1960 under the name Ike & Tina Turner and became a national hit in early 1960, reaching number 2 in the R&B charts and becoming a top thirty pop hit in the process. Turner married Bullock and changed her name to Tina Turner (naming her after Sheena, Queen of the Jungle) and the name of the band from The Kings of Rhythm to the Ike & Tina Turner Review. The creation of the revue was in a large part the birth of the soul revues of the 1960s. The band and Tina were joined on stage by the Ikettes who contributed backing vocals and choreographed dance moves. The duo had five substantial hits on Sue, in particular a cover of Rose Marie McCoy's "It's Gonna Work Out Fine" reached number 2 in the R&B charts and number 14 on the national charts, gaining the duo a Grammy Award nomination. Turner would move the band around to different labels looking for the best deal, and between 1964 and 1969 they recorded on Sonja, Warner Bros., Kent, Loma, Modern, Philles, Innis, Blue Thumb, Minit, and A&M.

The Phil Spector produced "River Deep - Mountain High" was not a success in the States, causing Spector's retreat from the music industry, but was a big hit in Europe, reaching number 3 in the UK singles chart. This brought the duo to the attention of Mick Jagger, who in 1966 invited them to tour with and open for The Rolling Stones, which brought them to the attention of a larger audience. Other notable records the duo released were covers of Sly & the Family Stone's "I Want To Take You Higher", Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Proud Mary", and the Tina Turner penned "Nutbush City Limits". The partnership ended abruptly in 1976 with Tina leaving after the last in a series of violent altercations with Turner.

The success of the Ike and Tina Turner Revue gave Turner the finances to create his own recording studio, the Los Angeles based Bolic Sounds next door to his mansion in Inglewood. The studio name was a reference to Tina's maiden name, Bullock. Turner had two sixteen track studios built, a large one to rent out and a smaller one for his personal recordings. He fitted them out with the most state - of - the - art equipment, two 24 input 16 output mixing desks, custom built by John Stephens and Daniel Flickinger, IBM mix memorizers, an early Even - tide digital delay. The studios were opened for public hire in March 1972. Artists who recorded there were Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Duane Allman and Little Richard and Gayle McCormick. Frank Zappa recorded the Ruben and the Jets album For Real! at Bolic in 1973. Ike and Tina's last hit, the Tina written Nutbush City Limits was also recorded there. In 1980 Turner tried to sell the property to raise funds to avoid foreclosure. The studio burnt down in a mysterious fire in January 1981, on the day Turner was due to show it to a party interested in purchasing it.

After the breakup of the Ike and Tina Turner Review, Turner struggled to find success as a solo artist for many years. Speaking of this time in a New York Times interview in 1996, he said

In 1993, Salt-n-Pepa sampled the Turner penned Ikettes hit "I'm Blue (The Gong Gong Song)" for their single Shoop. The track went to number 4 in the Billboard Hot 100, earning Turner around half a million dollars in royalties. He re-recorded the song in a duet style with Singer, Billy Rogers. Produced by Billy Rogers, the remake received favorable reviews.

Turner credited Joe Louis Walker with encouraging him to return to his roots in blues music. Turner played guitar and assisted in production on Walker's 1997 album Great Guitars and toured internationally with him. Walker paid him $5,000 a night for six songs. The positive response to the tour encouraged Turner to reform the Kings of Rhythm, taking them on a US tour in 2001. The group headlined a showcase at South by Southwest. His new wife Jeanette was Ike's lead singer. Turner's work on the tour led to him recording and releasing the 2001 Grammy nominated Here & Now album. Three years later, he was awarded with a Heroes Award from the Memphis charter of NARAS.

In September 2003, the PBS documentary series, Martin Scorsese's The Blues featured interviews and performances by Turner. Turner featured in the episodes "The Road to Memphis" and "Godfathers and Sons".

In 2005, he appeared on the Gorillaz' album, Demon Days, playing piano on the track, "Every Planet We Reach Is Dead". Turner also performed the track at the live show at the Manchester Opera House from 1 – 5 November 2005, his performance was released on the DVD "Demon Days: Live at the Manchester Opera House."

Turner won his first solo Grammy in the Best Traditional Blues Album category for the album, Risin' With the Blues which was mixed at Future Sound Studios by Rene Van Verseveld. The album was also nominated for the 7th Annual Independent Music Awards for Blues Album of the year. Jerry D'Souza wrote of the album:

Before his death, a collaboration between Turner and the rock band, The Black Keys, by Gorillaz' producer Danger Mouse was expected in 2008.

Turner grew up playing boogie woogie piano, which he learnt from Pinetop Perkins. In his professional career, he originally worked in the style of 1950s R'n'B, or post - jump blues. Though primarily known as a guitarist, Turner began his career playing piano, and personally considered it his main instrument. Turner decided he was not meant to be a frontman when at twelve years old he was coerced into giving a piano recital at high school. He found the experience terrifying, and from then on preferred to be in the background of his bands, controlling every aspect of the music and choreography, but not being the focus of attention. At most times in the Ike & Tina Turner Review he would play with his back to the audience.

Turner's guitar style is distinguished by heavy use of the whammy bar to achieve a strong reverby vibrato, string bending, hammer ons and triplets in his blues phrasing. Turner was an early adopter of the Fender Stratocaster electric guitar, buying one from O.K. Houk's Piano Co. store in Memphis the year of its release in 1954. Unaware that the guitar’s tremolo arm could be used to subtle effect, Turner used it to play screaming, swooping and diving solos that predated artists such as Jimi Hendrix and Jeff Beck by a decade. In The Stratocaster Chronicles, Tom Wheeler maintains that Turner's “inventive style is a classic example of an artist discovering the Stratocaster, adapting to its features and fashioning something remarkable.” Turner himself said of his tremolo technique: “I thought it was to make the guitar scream — people got so excited when I used that thing.”

Dave Rubin observed in Premier Guitar magazine:

In 1951 Turner's Kings of Rhythm recorded one of the first instances of use of amplifier distortion. Rocket 88 is notable amongst other things for Willie Kizart's distorted guitar sound.

In February 2005, Fender manufactured a limited edition Ike Turner Tribute Stratocaster. The model was an alder body in Sonic Blue with Ike Turner signature in gold ink on body under finish,, with a maple neck in a 60s "C" shape with a rosewood fingerboard, with 21 vintage frets. It had three custom single coil 60s Stat pickups. Only 100 instruments were made, retailing at $3,399.99.

B.B. King was a great admirer of Turner, describing him as "The best bandleader I've ever seen" Turner was also a big influence on contemporary Little Richard, who said in the introduction to Turner's autobiography; "Before all these people Ike Turner was doing his thing. He is the innovator." Richard borrowed the introduction of Rocket 88 wholesale for his hit Good Golly Miss Molly.

Johnny Otis said "Ike Turner is a very important man in American music. The texture and flavor of R&B owe a lot to him. He defined how to put the Fender bass into that music. He was a great innovator."

Phil Alexander :

Paul Gambaccini, broadcaster:

Nigel Cawthorne, Ike Turner biographer:

Although Turner professed himself to not be a fan of hip - hop, some of his songs were sampled by hip hop artists, most notably Salt-n-Pepa sampling I'm Blue (Gong Gong Song) for use in their 1994 hit "Shoop" and Jurassic 5 used "Getting Nasty" from A Black Man's Soul on the 1997 track Concrete Schoolyard. Main Source also sampled "Getting Nasty" on track "Snake Eyes" as well as Ike & Tina's "Bold Soul Sister" on "Just Hanging Out", both featured on their 1991 album Breaking Atoms. The track Funky Mule, also from A Black Man's Soul has been sampled extensively by jungle DJs, with the drum introduction being a very popular break. It has been sampled by producer Goldie for his 1994 hit "Inner City Life", in the same year by Krome & Time on "The License" and by Paradox in 2002 on track "Funky Mule".

Tina Turner's accounts of her abuse at the hands of Ike were published in her 1986 biography I, Tina. Ike received intensely negative publicity from this, exacerbated in 1993 by the release of the film adaptation What's Love Got to Do with It. The film rights to the book were acquired by Disney's Touchstone Pictures. Turner claimed he mistakenly signed papers waiving the right to sue Touchstone Pictures for his depiction after accepting a $50,000 payment in exchange for the right for them to depict him in any way they saw fit. Ike was played in the movie by Lawrence Fishburne. Tina Turner commenting on the historical accuracy of the film said "I would have liked then to have more truth, but according to Disney, they said it's impossible, the people would not have believed the truth." Phil Spector speaking at Turner's eulogy, called the film a "piece of trash". However Robert Palmer noted that:"Long before Tina Turner cast him as the devil incarnate ...that was Ike Turner's show business persona."

After the release of the film and Turner's drug conviction, the fictionalized version of Turner from the movie was seized on by comedians, who reused it in sketches. On the 1990s sketch comedy show In Living Color, Turner was parodied by David Alan Grier. In one skit, he sang a parody of Tina's song "What's Love Got To Do With It," in which he sings proudly of his abusive personality. The video also parodies Tina's video; whereas in her video Tina walks around stopping couples who are fighting, Ike walks around to couples and gives the men weapons. He was also portrayed on Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update, by Tim Meadows in a pageboy wig. This incarnation of Turner is played as desperate, and would make verbally derisive remarks to Kevin Nealon; he would later try to win back Kevin's "love" with gifts and a cake, later shoving Kevin's face into the cake. On the John Boy and Billy radio show, cast member Jeff Pillars regularly performed an impersonation of Turner in a segment called "Ax/Ask Ike." He offered advice on interpersonal relationships, which always resulted in him giving inappropriate and humorous advice. These sketches were collected in a 2008 comedy album Ike At The Mike.

In 1999, Turner's autobiography was published, entitled Taking Back My Name. It was written with Nigel Cawthorne with a foreword by Little Richard. In part the memoir was a rebuttal in response to the public image presented of him in Tina Turner's memoir and the film.

Turner claimed to have first been introduced to sex at the age of six by a middle aged lady called Miss Boozie. Walking past her house to school, she would invite him to help feed her chickens, and then take him to bed. This continued for some years. Turner claimed to not be traumatized by this, commenting that "in those days they didn't call it abuse, they called it fun". He was also sexually molested by two other women before he was twelve.

Turner was married at least five times. He sometimes claimed to have been married thirteen times. Turner's first marriage was to an Edna Dean Taylor from Ruleville, Mississippi, while he was still in his teens. He then married a woman called Rosa Lee Sane. The marriage took place in West Memphis. In 1953 he married pianist and singer Bonnie Mae Wilson, who was part of the Kings of Rhythm, but after two years she left him for another man. After Bonnie he became involved with Anna Mae Wilson, another female pianist in the band, whom he married in the mid 1950s. His next marriage was to Lorraine Taylor, who had two sons with Ike.

The facts surrounding his marriage to Anna Mae Bullock (Tina Turner), have been very publicly debated, along with the accusations of abuse of his wife by Turner. Tina left the relationship after another violent argument on the way to a concert in 1976. Their divorce was finalized in 1978. In Tina Turner's 1986 autobiography, she accused Ike of violent spousal abuse. In a 1985 interview Turner admitted, "Yeah I hit her, but I didn't hit her more than the average guy beats his wife... If she says I abused her, maybe I did." In his 2001 autobiography he worded this slightly differently; "Sure, I've slapped Tina... There have been times when I punched her to the ground without thinking. But I have never beat her." In an 1985 interview with Spin Magazine, Turner stated "As God is my judge, of all my wives, Tina is the only one I was never legally married to." During his interview with NPR's Terry Gross on Fresh Air, Ike claimed that he and Tina Turner were never married, and that she took his name in order to discourage a former lover from returning to her. On October 17, 2007, in an interview conducted by radio personality Howard Stern, Ike reiterated his claim that he and Tina Turner were never actually married. In his autobiography Turner wrote "We didn't recognize marriages", which Margaret Moser believes "is true by the rural Southern standards of the times"

Turner married former Ikette Margaret Ann Thomas in the early 1980s. After his release from prison Ike was met at the prison gate by blues singer Jeanette Bazzell who later became his wife. With Jeanette's support, Ike enjoyed a long period of sobriety. In 1995, they were married after years of courtship. Ike and Jeanette divorced in 2001 but remained friends. In 2006, he married long time music collaborator Audrey Madison. She divorced him but reconciled with him before his death.

He has six known children: sons Ike Jr. and Michael (with Lorraine Taylor) and Ronald / "Ronnie" (with Tina Turner), and daughter Mia (with Ann Thomas). Mia Turner was conceived and born during Ike's marriage to Tina in the late 1960s. Tina's son Craig (fathered by saxophonist Raymond Hill) carries the Turner name. Ike Turner also has two other daughters: Linda Trippeter, who is the eldest; and Twanna Turner Melby, who took him in after he was released from prison.

In 1959 Turner was charged with what he described as "interstate transportation of forged checks and conspiracy", and was forced to stand trial in St. Louis. At the first trial the jury failed to reach verdict, and at the retrial a year later Turner was found not guilty.

In 1974, Turner was arrested for using illegal 'blue boxes' installed at his recording studio to make long distance phone calls without the phone companies permission. He was eventually cleared of the charges. After this the police began surveillance on the studio, believing other illegal activities were taking place inside. In 1980, a SWAT team raided the studio, finding a live hand grenade and Turner in possession of seven grams of cocaine. Turner was found guilty of possession of cocaine and sentenced to thirty days in the L.A. county jail, with three years probation. This was Turner's first conviction.

In April 1981, Turner was arrested for shooting a 49 year old newspaper delivery man who had been physically and verbally abusive to his then wife, Ann Thomas and allegedly kicked his dog. Turner maintains he never injured the man, only firing a shot to scare him off, with the man injuring himself when he climbed over the fence to get away. The jury trial in 1982 found him not guilty of assault.

In 1985, Turner owed the state of California $12,802 in back taxes for the period 1975 - 79. He later settled his account.

In January 1987, Turner was arrested for trying to sell 10 ounces of cocaine to an undercover police officer. He pleaded guilty to conspiring to sell the drug, but not guilty to counts of possessing cocaine for sale, conspiring to sell the drug and maintaining a residence for the purpose of selling cocaine. On 16 February 1990, he was sentenced to four years in a California prison for cocaine possession offenses. He was incarcerated at California Men's Colony, San Luis Obispo. Turner completed 17 months of his sentence before being released on parole. In prison he claimed to have earned $500 a day and saved up $13,000 by selling cigarettes, candy bars and coffee to other inmates. While he was still in prison, Ike and Tina Turner were inducted to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1991, which Phil Spector accepted on their behalf.

In 2005, Turner revealed he had been diagnosed with emphysema, and in his last years was extremely weak, having to use an oxygen tank. His daughter Mia Turner said "He was too weak from the emphysema to do anything. He'd go in the studio for a couple of minutes and play a couple of bars and say he had to go lay down."

In the year leading up to his death, Turner had a couple of bad falls at his house and was hospitalized several times. After his death, Turner's autopsy and toxicology report showed he was taking Seroquel at the time of his death. The medicine is most commonly used as treatment for bi-polar disorder, Alzheimer's disease and schizophrenia. Ex-wife Audrey Madison claims Turner was bi-polar, and that she was helping him with his illness, a claim supported by Turner's personal assistant and caretaker Falina Rasool. Rasool says she talked about his bi-polar disorder with Turner many times, and witnessed its effects: "I would come in the room and see him change like a lightbulb, switch on and switch off. I did ask him about it. He said he made a song about it ["Bi Polar", last track on Rising With the Blues] and we started laughing... He said, 'I know I'm bipolar.' He says, 'And I've been bipolar, but a lot of people is bipolar.'" However Turner's daughter Mia Turner refuted this diagnosis, saying that the medication was unnecessary: "Daddy is not bipolar ... He was so heavily medicated. He could hardly speak. He was double stepping and walking sideways.

Up until the age of 30, Turner was teetotal and had never taken drugs. He insisted all members of his band also adopt this policy, and would fire anyone he even suspected of breaking the rules.

Turner claimed he was first introduced to cocaine around 1960, when he was given some to try by "two very famous people I'd been working with in Las Vegas at the same hotel". Daughter Twanna Turner and son Ronnie expressed the opinion that Turner's introduction to drugs was "a set-up", an attempt to undermine him by those in the industry jealous of his success, who wanted to make use of Tina Turner's talents themselves. By 1970 Turner was heavily addicted to the drug, buying it in large quantities. He claimed that in the early seventies he spent $56,000 a month buying cocaine (although not all for his personal use). In a 2001 interview with Caroline Graham of the Mail on Sunday, Turner estimated he had spent $11 million on cocaine. In 1986, he acknowledged that he had been addicted to cocaine for 15 years. His heavy usage meant he had worn a large hole through his nasal septum. This hole caused him pain which he relieved with further hits of cocaine. He then began freebasing crack cocaine.

While in prison in 1991, Turner managed to break his dependency on cocaine. He remained clean for ten years, with the help of family members. However in 2004, while trying to help rescue a crack addict acquaintance from his addiction, Turner entered a crack house, smelt cocaine fumes and had a relapse. He would often break down and cry because he could not beat his addiction.

In the weeks leading up to his death, Turner became reclusive, in contrast to his normal gregarious personality. On December 10th 2007, He told his personal assistant Falina Rasool that he believed he was dying, and would not make it to Christmas. Turner died on December 12, 2007, at 76 years of age, at his home in San Marcos, California, near San Diego. He was found dying by his ex-wife Ann Thomas. Rasool was also in the house and administered CPR. Turner was pronounced dead at 11:38am.

The funeral was held on 22 December 2007 at the City of Refuge Church in Gardena, California. Among those who spoke at the funeral were Little Richard, Solomon Burke and Phil Spector. Hundreds of friends, family members and fans attended the service. The Kings of Rhythm played versions of "Rocket 88" and "Proud Mary". In his eulogy Spector said that "Ike made Tina the jewel she was".

On January 16, 2008, it was reported by the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office that Turner had died from a cocaine overdose. "The cause of death for Ike Turner is cocaine toxicity with other significant conditions, such as hypertensive cardiovascular disease and pulmonary emphysema," Supervising Medical Examiner Investigator Paul Parker told CNN. His daughter Mia Turner was said to be surprised at the coroner's assessment, believing his advanced stage emphysema would have been a bigger factor in his death.

On August 5, 2010, Ike Turner was posthumously recognized by his Mississippi hometown. Clarksdale officials and music fans gathered to unveil two markers honoring Turner and his musical legacy. The unveilings coincided with the 23rd annual Sunflower River Blues and Gospel Festival, dedicated that year to "Rocket 88".