Rest In Piece Ike Turner. Jesus Loves You.
Ike Turner was remembered in a Home Going Musical Service in Gardena, California on 21 December 2007. Ike's funeral was part memorial service, part rock concert. The nearly three-hour remembrance at Greater Bethany Community Church City of Refuge in Gardena featured Turner's eight-piece band, the Kings of Rhythm, which performed rollicking renditions of some of the musician's greatest hits, including "Nutbush City Limits" and "Proud Mary." The songs brought the crowd of hundreds to its feet.
"Daddy wouldn't want any of us crying," said Turner's daughter, Mia Turner. "He would want us to throw a party."
Among those eulogizing Turner, who died Dec. 13 at age 76, were music producer Phil Spector and rock 'n' roll pioneer Little Richard, who described his friend as "one of the greatest musicians I have ever met in my life."
Little Richard said that Turner's breakthrough rock 'n' roll hit, "Rocket 88," "shook my soul."
"I took that same introduction and made `Good Golly, Miss Molly,'" he said. "I took that same thing and made a huge hit."
Ike Turner was responsible for a string of hits throughout his career, including 1959's "A Fool in Love" and 1970's "Take You Higher," but his musical legacy was forever tarnished by his image as the drug-addicted, brutally abusive former husband of Tina Turner, who did not attend Friday's funeral. When Ike Turner died, a spokeswoman for Tina said she hadn't had contact with him in 35 years and would not comment.
Ike Turner knew that his personal problems threatened to overshadow his musical accomplishments, said Rob Johnson, producer of Turner's Grammy-winning 2001 album "Here and Now."
"He understood, as a very sensitive artist, the challenge that would be involved in stepping up and moving forward and reinitiating the contribution of his genius, of his music, and giving that gift that God gave him back to society," he said. "How much courage that took for him. It could have been real simple to sit under a rock and let life go by, but he didn't accept that."
Many speakers alluded to Turner's personal woes, though none directly addressed his history of drug and domestic abuse.
"Stop holding this mess — whatever it is — against this man. Even Jesus forgives," said Little Richard, 75, who was once a minister in the Seventh Day Adventist Church.
Ike Turner's Widow Begs Tina Turner To Forgive him.: "He Was A Human Being"
The widow of late star Ike Turner has begged his first wife Tina to forgive him - because he "helped" her during their marriage. Rocker Ike died at his San Marcos, California home, aged 76, but Tina refused to pay tribute to the star. But Ike's widow Jeanette Turner hopes Tina can now forgive her former partner, who she brands "a good human being".
She says, "I know that she was hurt. But there's something called forgiveness and I know Ike really forgave himself, which is really hard to do.
"I'm not defending what he did. I'm not saying he didn't do what he did when he was with Tina or me. But he was a human being. And being all of that, he's still a child-like person - pure and a good person always willing to help people.
"He was a human being and he helped Tina... he helped a lot of people.
Phil Spector, who produced Turner's song "River Deep, Mountain High," said, "There was only one Ike, and I learned more from Ike than any professors I know."
He went on to say that Turner was "demonized and vilified" by his ex-wife, Tina Turner. He called the 1993 film "What's Love Got To Do With It," based on her autobiography, a "piece of trash movie," inspiring applause from some mourners.
"Ike made Tina the jewel she was," said Phil Spector, who stood trial for murder earlier this year for the shooting death of actress Lana Clarkson. A judge declared a mistrial in September after jurors failed to reach a verdict.
Spector also accused Oprah Winfrey and Whoopi Goldberg of "demonizing" Turner on their talk shows.
Of Turner's 17 months in jail for a drug conviction in 1989, Spector said, "He was sent to prison for no other reason than he was a Black man in America."
Each speech was punctuated with performances by Turner's band, the crowd rising to its feet again and again to sing and dance along.
Concert promoter Charlie Dutton, Turner's friend and colleague for 40 years, called him "the most talented musical person to ever live on earth.""He doesn't get his just dues for what he really did," Dutton said.
Other speakers included Ike Turner Jr., who brought his father's two Grammy Awards on stage.
"He made billions and billions and billions of people happy," he said. "He had the best life."
The service began with a photo montage from throughout Turner's life set to his song "Jesus Loves Me," which features the refrain "I'm a bad boy, but Jesus loves me anyway."
The service concluded with scores of mourners gathering near Turner's casket, which sat beneath a guitar-shaped wreath made of white flowers.
A 10-piece horn-and-drum ensemble played as mourners left the church.
posted by ichbinalj at 8:59 PM
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Ike Turner Widow Begs Tina Turner To Forgive: "He Was A Human Being"
The widow of late star Ike Turner has begged his first wife Tina to forgive him - because he "helped" her during their marriage. Rocker Ike died at his San Marcos, California home, aged 76, but Tina refused to pay tribute to the star.
The What's Love Got to Do with It? singer was married to Turner for 18 years, but the union was largely an unhappy one as a result of the Proud Mary hitmaker's cocaine addiction and physical abuse.
The couple divorced in 1976, with Tina's representative insisting earlier this week (ends14Dec07) the singer had no contact with Ike for 35 years.
But Ike's widow Jeanette Turner hopes Tina can now forgive her former partner, who she brands "a good human being".
She says, "I know that she was hurt. But there's something called forgiveness and I know Ike really forgave himself, which is really hard to do.
"I'm not defending what he did. I'm not saying he didn't do what he did when he was with Tina or me. But he was a human being. And being all of that, he's still a child-like person - pure and a good person always willing to help people.
"He was a human being and he helped Tina... he helped a lot of people.
Phil Spector Rips Tina at Ike Turner's Funeral on 21 December 2007.
Music legend, Phil Spector, isn't trying to make friends or curry favor with old pals. He turned up at R&B legend Ike Turner's Los Angeles funeral and gave an impromptu speech that laid into both Tina Turner and Oprah Winfrey.
Spector was among several celebrity mourners including Bonnie Raitt and Little Richard who gathered to say good-bye to the Grammy-winning musician.
"I'm so sorry, I wasn't prepared to say anything," said the thin and frail-looking music producer. "Nobody had told me that I was going to speak. This is a very sad occasion for me."
Spector rambled, but he had points to make. Here they are, for better or worse:
"First of all, the things that were said about Ike, that were in that piece-of-trash movie they made about him were ... (applause), it was a piece-of-trash movie. I haven't seen the movie but it was told to me, and [Barney] Kessel was the world's greatest guitar player in the world and the only reason that Ike didn't play on 'River Deep, Mountain High' was because Ike was the second greatest guitar player in the world. I treasured him and everybody knew it except Ike. That's how good he was
"B.B. King told me at a party with Doc Pomus and Joe Turner and Ray Charles sitting there that Ike Turner was the only guitar player he wouldn't play behind. That's how good he was. But Ike never boasted. He came to parties with me and I'd say, 'play, play' and Ike would never play.
"Ike could play circles around Eric Clapton and Eric knew it. I had someone once ask me what's the difference between Ike Turner and Eric Clapton. I said, 'you don't know the difference between Eric Clapton and Ike Turner? That's funny, why don't you ask Eric, Eric knows.'"
"Ike made Tina the jewel she was. When I went to see Ike play at the Cinegrill in the '90s after his absurd reason for being sent to prison for no reason other than being a Black man in America, there were at least, and I counted them, five Tina Turners on the stage performing that night, any one of them could have been Tina Turner."
"And sell-out, whom you really love and respect but I have an ambivalence towards Oprah Winfrey. She made Tina Turner's book into a bestseller, which demonized and vilified Ike. The book wouldn't have sold 10 books. It was badly written. It was a piece of trash and because Oprah idolized Tina, she didn't feel it wrong to vilify a 'brother.'"
"Other Black sisters did the same thing to Ike and there was a very famous story about Whoopi Goldberg, who had a television show for about five minutes, interviewed Ike. Ike had called me and said, 'Shall I do the show?'
"I said, 'You can't get hurt.' And he said, 'OK, I'm going to do it.'
"And we figured it would be good because it's Whoopi and Whoopi asked him, 'I understand before you were married when you were living together, you beat the hell out of her and she tried to commit suicide because she was so terrified of you and she tried to jump out of a window,' and Ike said, 'Yeah, but it's hard to jump out of a window from a basement floor.'"
"It was only one Ike. I learned more from Ike than any professors I've been around. He never, ever bothered me. He never interfered with me. He never got in my way."
"When we did 'River Deep Mountain High,' people said you can't put Ike and Tina Turner's name on that record. It won't sell because they are rhythm and blues and it's a pop record. I said I signed Ike and Tina Turner, it won't even say featuring Tina Turner; it's Ike and Tina Turner."
Spector said part of the reason he became disillusioned with the record business was because he could not make Ike and Tina as big of an act as he wanted.
"I wanted them to be the biggest revue in America. They were the first act that I recorded that ever could play big-time and break it in Vegas and America."
Music mogul PHIL SPECTOR has hit out at OPRAH WINFREY and WHOOPI GOLDBERG for "demonising" his friend IKE TURNER on their talkshows. Spector used Ike Turner's funeral on Friday (21Dec07) to voice his anger at the Winfrey and Goldberg. He went on to say that Ike - whose musical career was overshadowed by his image as the drug-addicted, brutally abusive former husband of Tina Turner - was "demonised and vilified" by his ex-wife. And he inspired applause from some mourners when he deemed the 1993 film What's Love Got To Do With It, based on Tina's autobiography, a "piece of trash movie". Spector told the crowd at the three-hour ceremony in Gardina, California, "Ike made Tina the jewel she was." And Spector also addressed Turner's 1989 conviction for drug possession - for which he spent 17 months in jail - saying, "He was sent to prison for no other reason than he was a Black man in America." Spector, who produced Turner's song River Deep, Mountain High, himself stood trial for murder earlier this year (07) for the fatal shooting of actress Lana Clarkson. A judge declared a mistrial in September (07) after jurors failed to reach a verdict. Unsurprisingly, Tina Turner did not attend the funeral.
Tina Turner refused to pay tribute to ex-husband Ike and revealed the pair had not spoken for 35 years.
The singer, 68, brutally beaten by the rock 'n' roll pioneer during their marriage, had little to say about his death this week.
Her spokeswoman Michele Schweitzer said in a blunt statement: "Tina is aware that Ike passed away earlier today.
"She has not had any contact with him in 35 years. No further comment will be made."
Ike and Tina, who had two sons, produced a string of hits with him on guitar or piano.
But in her 1987 autobiography, I, Tina, she told a harrowing tale of abuse, including suffering a broken nose.
Ike always denied being an abusive husband.
His manager Scott Hanover said the exact cause of death was still unclear, but Ike had battled emphysema for years.
Chief Investigator at the Medical Examiner's Office in San Diego rules Ike Turner's death was "accidental".
The cause of death for Mr. Turner was hypertensive cardiovascular disease and pulmonary emphysema with other contributing factors, such as, cocaine toxicity , Paul Parker, the chief investigator at the medical examiner's office, said in a statement 16 January.
Parker concluded that Turner's death would be ruled accidental, although an official announcement has not been made.
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