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Ike Turner poses with his Grammy for Best Traditional Blues Album for 'Risin With the Blues' at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, Feb. 11, 2007.
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Rock 'n' roll pioneer Ike Turner, an influential guitarist, died on Wednesday at the age of 76 in his home near San Diego.
The cause of death was not immediately known.
"Ike Turner passed away this morning. He was at his home," in San Marcos, Calif., said Scott Hanover of Thrill Entertainment, the performer's management company.
After slipping into obscurity in recent decades, Turner was on a comeback trail of sorts. He won his first Grammy since 1972 earlier this year for a blues album and was collaborating on a project with producer Danger Mouse.
Ike turned his wife Tina Turner into a superstar in the 1960s but later saw his career collapse amid drugs and claims of spousal abuse.
He invented rock 'n' roll with his 1951 song "Rocket 88" and enjoyed huge fame in the 1960s and 1970s with Tina Turner, his achievements were overshadowed when Tina Turner launched a comeback in the 1980s and accused her former husband of beating her and reducing her to servitude.
He formed his first band in high school and by 1951 was the man behind the Kings of Rhythm.
As a guitarist and pianist, Turner played with the likes of B.B. King, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters and Willie Dixon in the 1950s, and his band performed in the popular style of a revue featuring different vocalists.
Ike and Tina enjoyed such hits as "River Deep, Mountain High," "Proud Mary" and "Nutbush City Limits," and they renamed the band the "Ike & Tina Turner Revue." In 1972, they won a Grammy in 1972 for "Proud Mary."
Tina Turner was believed to be in Zurich and unavailable for comment.
(China Daily via Agencies December 13, 2007)