Tina Turner’s Family Story: Love, Loss And Life Beyond The Spotlight
Source: Gary Gershoff / Getty
Ike Turner Jr., the son of music legends Tina Turner and Ike Turner, has died at the age of 67, according to Page Six and TMZ. The Grammy winner passed away on Oct. 4 at a Los Angeles hospital due to complications from kidney failure, after a long history of heart issues and a recent stroke in early September, according to Tina Turner’s niece, Jacqueline Bullock, TMZ noted.
“It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of my cousin, Ike Turner, Jr.,” Bullock shared in a statement to Page Six. “‘Junior’ was more than a cousin to me, but rather a brother, as we grew up in the same famed household together.”
Turner, who passed away in 2023 at the age of 83, enjoyed a remarkable career, earning eight Grammy Awards and releasing a string of chart-topping hits like “What’s Love Got to Do With It” and “River Deep, Mountain High.” However, beyond the spotlight, she had a complicated and often painful relationship with all four of her sons. Here’s what we know about the music icon’s difficult journey through motherhood.
The life of Tina Turner’s son, Ike Turner Jr.
Source: Bob Riha Jr / Getty – Ike Turner Sr. and Ike Turner Jr.
Born in 1958 to Ike Sr. and Lorraine Taylor, Ike Jr. was adopted by Turner, along with his brother Michael, during her marriage to Ike Sr. He went on to work professionally with both of his parents, including serving as Tina’s sound engineer after her separation from the famous Ike & Tina Turner Revue bandleader. Bullock reflected on his early musical talent and upbringing in a home shaped by two iconic parents.
“As the son of Tina and Ike Turner, from an early age, his talents were evident as there wasn’t an instrument he did not want to play. While he favored the drums early on, my aunt and his mother, Tina Turner, insisted that he break down his drum kit after each practice. This led him to favor the keys. Eventually, Junior would end up helping to run Bolic Sound Studios, the recording studios founded by his father, Ike Turner,” she said.
“While he faced the same challenges that many of us have, he would become a sought-after sound engineer, musician, and Grammy winner for Best Traditional Blues Album in 2007 for his father’s ‘Risin’ With The Blues,’” she continued. Bullock concluded by thanking the public for their condolences and asking for privacy during this time.
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Sadly, Ike Jr.’s relationship with his adoptive mother grew distant in later years. The musician told the Daily Mail in 2018 that he hadn’t talked to his mother in over a decade.
“Tina raised me from the age of two. She’s the only mother I’ve ever known. But I haven’t talked to my mother since God knows when – probably around 2000,” he said at the time. “I don’t think any of my brothers have talked to her in a long time either.”
He described the relationship as estranged, noting that the singer had been “living her life” with her new husband, Erwin Bach, in Europe. The couple dated for over two decades before tying the knot in 2013.
“She doesn’t want to have anything to do with the past,” he claimed.
According to PEOPLE, in a 2017 interview with Bobby Eaton, Ike Jr. recalled how Tina had a direct influence on his early musical development.
“My first instrument was drums, until my mother started making me break my drums down every day, so the piano was always there. So I started playing piano. I play guitar and bass. Everything except horn.”
The post Tina Turner’s Family Story: Love, Loss And Life Beyond The Spotlight appeared first on MadameNoire.
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