Get to know these popular black couples who have doubled down as musicians

Ike & Tina Turner
Ike and Tina Turner are one of the most successful African-American musician couples ever. They were nominated for numerous Grammy Awards and won an award for “Proud Mary.” Two of their songs, “River Deep – Mountain High” and “Proud Mary” were inducted to the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999 and 2003 respectively. Tina won an additional seven Grammys as a solo artist; Ike won one as a solo artist. Tina received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018.

Tina Turner was born Anna Mae Bullock. She met Ike at a local nightclub in Manhattan. At the time, Ike was the leader of a band named Kings of the Rhythm. They formed a musical bond, as Ike took to Tina’s powerful voice. They took on the identity Ike and Tina Turner Revue. The act scored their first R&B hit in 1960 with “A Fool in Love,” reaching No. 2.

With their popularity growing, Ike and Tina were married in Tijuana, Mexico, in 1962.

Despite their success as a musical duo, Tina and Ike’s marriage was in shambles. According to Tina, Ike was often physically abusive due to alcohol and drug usage. He was also unfaithful. By the mid-1970s, the couple separated both personally and professionally after an altercation in Dallas.

In the years following their divorce, Tina ventured into a solo career but it wasn’t as successful as what she had with Ike. Several years later in 2013, she got married again to Erwin Bach. The couple has settled in Switzerland, where Tina obtained citizenship.

Ike, though, served time in prison for drug possession. He released his own autobiography, Takin’ Back My Name: The Confessions of Ike Turner, in 1999. He earned another Grammy in the category of Best Traditional Blues Album for his 2006 set Risin’ With the Blues, having worked with the alternative pop act Gorillaz the previous year. He died from a cocaine overdose in December 2007.