Ike Turner, the musician who gave the world what many historians consider the first rock 'n' roll record -- "Rocket 88" in 1951 -- but bitterly acknowledged in his later years that he was most famous for being the abusive husband of Tina Turner, died Wednesday in suburban San Diego. He was 76.
Turner died at his home in San Marcos, said Scott M. Hanover of Thrill Entertainment Group, which managed Turner's musical career. The cause of death was not immediately known.
Turner's career spanned more than six decades and peaked in the late 1960s and early 1970s when he and his wife, Tina, were an incendiary force in R&B and live music, with hits such as "Proud Mary," "I Want to Take You Higher," "Nutbush City Limits" and "River Deep-Mountain High."
The pair's dynamic revue took them well beyond the R&B scene in 1969 when they opened for the Rolling Stones on the British group's North American tour.
But while their stage show was engaging and feverish in its high-energy sexuality, the couple's backstage relationship was far darker. They split in 1976, and Ike Turner began a descent into a drug haze.
He became an obscure figure until 1986, when his ex-wife published her autobiography, "I, Tina," which portrayed him as a volatile, drug-addicted brute who manipulated her, personally and professionally, and once broke her jaw.
Then came the 1993 film adaptation, "What's Love Got To Do With It," which featured Laurence Fishburne in an Oscar-nominated portrayal of Ike Turner as a sullen and tyrannical husband. Angela Bassett also was nominated for an Oscar for her role as Tina Turner, who had a huge career resurgence in the early 1980s, one that magnified the dramatically different life trajectories of the former spouses.
Ike Turner on numerous occasions said his former wife exaggerated the tales of abuse, but he also conceded that her accusations eventually defined him in the public mind.
"The problem is that there are two sides to every story and they only printed the bad side," Turner told The Times in 1991 on the day he was released after 18 months in prison for drug-related charges. He added: "I regret that I've screwed up my life, but I'm not ashamed of nothing I did."
In an interview with the Associated Press, he said: "I know what I am in my heart. And I know regardless of what I've done, good and bad, it took it all to make me what I am today."
