Big Lips, Hot Legs, Explosive Tempers, and Going Solo: A Comparison of The Ike and Tina Turner Revue and The Rolling Stones
Introduction
Remaining together long term in a band is a huge challenge for musicians. The Rolling Stones have done it for sixty years. Yet there was a time during the 1980s when it seemed like The Rolling Stones would come to a complete stop. The dueling egos of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards battling for the musical direction of the band made things extremely tense for the mega group. Mick Jagger decided to go solo during the mid 1980s as a means to create music his way and remain relevant.
Ike and Tina Turner worked together from 1956 to 1976. Tina Turner didn’t always see eye to eye with her husband Ike. The difference between the Turners and the Jagger/Richards dynamic is that Ike Turner physically and verbally abused Tina, forcing her to submit to his control. Jagger and Richards could be quite nasty to each other. However, neither Jagger, nor Richards used brute, authoritarian force to control The Rolling Stones. Tina Turner needed to separate from her husband and bandmate.
Tina Turner’s and Mick Jagger’s paths crossed at various times during their musical careers. Both respected the onstage presence each possessed during shows. This work narrates the paths taken by The Rolling Stones and the Ike and Tina Turner Revue, offering a comparison of the two bands. It also examines the solo careers of Tina Turner, Mick Jagger, and Keith Richards. All were questioned about their commitment to their former bandmates. Fans had a tough time disassociating Tina Turner from Ike. The same goes for Keith Richards and Mick Jagger. Fans wanted them together as The Rolling Stones, not on their own. After years on her own, Tina Turner successfully made a name for herself. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards did not have the success Tina Turner earned with their solo careers.
Table of Contents
Introduction - Page 1
Chapter 1: The Creation of Tina Turner - Page 2
Chapter 2: A Rolling Start - Page 3
Chapter 3: Meeting Big Lips - Page 4
Chapter 4: Living and Working with the Volatile Ike Turner - Page 5
Chapter 5: Fractures Formed as the Stones Entered The 1980s - Page 6
Chapter 6: Tina Turner’s Long Road to a Comeback - Page 7
Chapter 7: Private Dancer - Page 8
Chapter 8: What about Ike? - Page 9
Chapter 9: Live Aid - Page 10
Chapter 10: Rolling Over Each Other - Page 11
Chapter 11: Rolling Tina Turner - Page 12
Chapter 12: The Stones Continue to Roll - Page 13
Conclusion - Page 14
About This Site
Photo: Captain William Smith House, at Minuteman National Park, Lincoln, Massachusetts, taken by the author August 2017.
I created this website to share various papers I have authored. This site has not been peer-reviewed. All are for your review. Should you find that I have made any mistakes, please feel free to contact me via e-mail. I assure you that I have made every effort to properly cite my sources.
The contents of this site first appeared through 2015 on historynut.info (link goes to saved versions on The Interent Archive Wayback Machine). From 2016 to 2018, my works were hosted on timthehistorynut.com (another link to the Interent Archive Wayback Machine). In October 2018, I decided to rebrand, and created timsheehan.info.