Ike Turner Jr., Son of Tina Turner, Dead at 67

The music world is mourning the loss of Ike Turner Jr., the son of legendary rock ’n’ roll duo Tina Turner and Ike Turner Sr. He was 67.

Tina’s niece, Jacquline Bullock, confirmed the news, sharing an emotional tribute. “It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of my cousin, Ike Turner Jr. ‘Junior’ was more than a cousin to me — he was a brother, as we grew up in the same famed household together,” she said.

Bullock described Ike Jr. as a natural musician from childhood. “There wasn’t an instrument he didn’t want to play,” she said, recalling how his early love of drums evolved into a passion for the piano. “Junior would end up helping to run Bolic Sound Studios,” she added, referring to the Los Angeles recording studio founded by his father.

Ike Jr. became a respected sound engineer and even took home a Grammy in 2007 for Best Traditional Blues Album for his work on his father’s record, Risin’ With the Blues. TMZ reports that he died of kidney failure, though his family has not confirmed a cause.

Born in 1958 to Ike Sr. and Lorraine Taylor, Ike Jr. was adopted by Tina Turner when he was a toddler. “Tina raised me from the age of 2,” he once said. “She’s the only mother I’ve ever known.”

But life in the Turner household was anything but ordinary. Ike Jr. said he was often raised by housekeepers while his parents toured the world. His father pulled him out of school at just 13 years old to join him on the road, where he learned the music business firsthand. “They made a lot of money on tour,” he recalled in a 2018 interview. “My father used to make me count it until my hands were grey.”

That early experience set him on a lifelong path in music production and performance, though it also exposed him to the darker sides of fame and family life.

Ike Jr.’s relationship with both of his famous parents was strained. He claimed in 2018 that he hadn’t spoken to Tina in nearly two decades. “She doesn’t want to have anything to do with the past,” he said, noting that she had long since moved on to her peaceful life in Europe.

He also opened up about abuse at the hands of his father, alleging that Ike Sr. once “beat me in the head with a nickel-plated .45 pistol” after discovering that he was working as Tina’s sound engineer following their messy split.

Ike Sr. died in 2007 from a cocaine overdose. Tina passed away in 2023 at age 83.

In May 2023, just weeks before Tina’s death, Ike Jr. was arrested in Texas for drug possession and tampering with evidence after police allegedly found crack cocaine and methamphetamine during a traffic stop. He was sentenced to jail 18 days before his mother’s passing.

Ike Jr. is survived by his sister Mia and had three brothers — Raymond Craig Turner, Michael Turner, and Ronald “Ronnie” Turner. Ronnie died in 2022 at 62 after a battle with colon cancer, marking yet another tragedy for one of music’s most storied families.

As Bullock wrote in her statement, “We, as a family, appreciate the outpouring of condolences and request privacy at this time.”