Ombline Roche, edited by Gauthier Delomez / Photo credits: ROBERT PICARD / INA / INA VIA AFP 22:17 p.m., May 24, 2023

Rock'n'roll legend Tina Turner died Wednesday at the age of 83. The singer had shared the stage with her sidekick Ike, in a duo that has become mythical. Yet, behind the scenes, the rocker has experienced very difficult moments. Europe 1 looks back at the tumultuous history of this duo.

"He was skinny and ugly, but funny and a good musician," is how Tina Turner described her sidekick Ike. In 2021, the queen of rock'n'roll, who died on Wednesday at the age of 83, had confided in the American channel HBO evoking a painful past. If he nicknamed her "my million dollars", in reality behind the scenes, Tina Turner was living a nightmare. Europe 1 looks back at this famous duo that marked the history of music.

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Tina Turner becomes Ike's favorite instrument

It was at the end of the 1950s that Anna Mae Bullock, her real name, met the man who would give her name. Ike Turner performs nightly at a club in St. Louis, Missouri. She is not 18 years old and dreams of becoming a singer. The future Tina Turner is fascinated by this guitarist at the head of the Kings of rhythm group. She was hired as a chorister, one of the most important, before becoming his wife and co-worker.

Ike Turner quickly measures the height of the talent of the one he is modeling, as if she were his creature. More than the guitar, it is it that becomes the fetish instrument of the musician. "My relationship with Ike was doomed the day he realized I was going to be his livelihood," Tina Turner said.

A slow descent into hell

The road to the top for the artist duo is also a slow descent into hell for the couple. Ike is a real tyrant, violent, cocaine addict, collecting mistresses... He controls Tina economically and psychologically. On the music side, after a decade of ups and downs of success, the early 1970s are synonymous with glory.

Invited to perform the first part of the American tour of the Rolling Stones, Tina Turner unleashes passions. They already knew each other: they had shared the same stage in London three years earlier. Mick Jagger was impressed by Tina Turner's performance skills. Behind the scenes, the singer is captivated by the energy of the English. A revelation: the next records of Ike and Tina Turner will be resolutely rock. And it is the consecration with the album Working Together in 1971. The infernal couple triumphs with their version of Proud Mary.

Five years later in 1976, in the middle of a tour, Tina Turner found the courage to leave Ike permanently. The singer slams the door before a show in Dallas. With only a few coins in her pocket, she will give up everything and fight only to keep her name.