Ike Turner Tells It Like It Was!

This time IKE pulls no punches. He speaks about the record companies of the fifties and sixties and their ways of doing business. He talks about JERRY WEXLER and AHMET ERTEGUN at ATLANTIC. PHIL and LEONARD CHESS of CHESS RECORDS. The BIHARI BROTHERS at MODERN and SID NATHAN from KING RECORDS. (Ike's first contract at King Records paid him 1/4 of a cent per record sold. Outrageous by today's standards.) On the other side of the coin however; Ike reminds us that these companies were the standard bearers of Black music and were responsible for the giant steps that brought Blues and Rhythm and Blues to the forefront of American popular music and that without these independent record companies and the men that ran them, these genres may have died out completely. Ike speaks out about RAP and the negative values of the genre regarding African Americans. Parts 3 and 4 of a four part series.

John Rhys/BluePower.com

Listen to Part 3 | Listen to Part 4