Tina Turner's Family Story: A Look Back At Motherhood

Ike Turner Jr., the son of music legends Tina Turner and Ike Turner, has died at the age of 67, according to Page Six and TMZ. The Grammy winner passed away on Oct. 4 at a Los Angeles hospital due to complications from kidney failure, after a long history of heart issues and a recent stroke in early September, according to Tina Turner’s niece, Jacqueline Bullock, TMZ noted.

“It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of my cousin, Ike Turner, Jr.,” Bullock shared in a statement to Page Six. “‘Junior’ was more than a cousin to me, but rather a brother, as we grew up in the same famed household together.”

Turner, who passed away in 2023 at the age of 83, enjoyed a remarkable career, earning eight Grammy Awards and releasing a string of chart-topping hits like “What’s Love Got to Do With It” and “River Deep, Mountain High.” However, beyond the spotlight, she had a complicated and often painful relationship with all four of her sons. Here’s what we know about the music icon’s difficult journey through motherhood.

The life of Tina Turner’s son, Ike Turner Jr.

Born in 1958 to Ike Sr. and Lorraine Taylor, Ike Jr. was adopted by Turner, along with his brother Michael, during her marriage to Ike Sr. He went on to work professionally with both of his parents, including serving as Tina’s sound engineer after her separation from the famous Ike & Tina Turner Revue bandleader. Bullock reflected on his early musical talent and upbringing in a home shaped by two iconic parents. 

“As the son of Tina and Ike Turner, from an early age, his talents were evident as there wasn’t an instrument he did not want to play. While he favored the drums early on, my aunt and his mother, Tina Turner, insisted that he break down his drum kit after each practice. This led him to favor the keys. Eventually, Junior would end up helping to run Bolic Sound Studios, the recording studios founded by his father, Ike Turner,” she said.

“While he faced the same challenges that many of us have, he would become a sought-after sound engineer, musician, and Grammy winner for Best Traditional Blues Album in 2007 for his father’s ‘Risin’ With The Blues,’” she continued. Bullock concluded by thanking the public for their condolences and asking for privacy during this time.

RELATED CONTENT: Angela Bassett Pens An Emotional Tribute To Tina Turner: ‘She Gave Us Her Whole Self’

Sadly, Ike Jr.’s relationship with his adoptive mother grew distant in later years. The musician told the Daily Mail in 2018 that he hadn’t talked to his mother in over a decade.

“Tina raised me from the age of two. She’s the only mother I’ve ever known. But I haven’t talked to my mother since God knows when – probably around 2000,” he said at the time. “I don’t think any of my brothers have talked to her in a long time either.” 

He described the relationship as estranged, noting that the singer had been “living her life” with her new husband, Erwin Bach, in Europe. The couple dated for over two decades before tying the knot in 2013. 

“She doesn’t want to have anything to do with the past,” he claimed. 

According to PEOPLE, in a 2017 interview with Bobby Eaton, Ike Jr. recalled how Tina had a direct influence on his early musical development. 

“My first instrument was drums, until my mother started making me break my drums down every day, so the piano was always there. So I started playing piano. I play guitar and bass. Everything except horn.”

Craig Raymond Turner

The death of Ike Jr. marks the latest tragedy to rock the Turner family, a unit that has experienced deep loss over the years. Turner’s eldest son, Craig Raymond Turner, born in 1958 to saxophonist Raymond Hill, was adopted by Ike Sr.—with whom she was married from 1962 to 1978—and took his surname. Tragically, Craig died by suicide in 2018 at the age of 59. 

“On Thursday, July 19, 2018, I said my final goodbye to my son, Craig Raymond Turner, when I gathered with family and friends to scatter his ashes off the coast of California,” Tina wrote on Twitter at the time, according to PEOPLE. “He was fifty-nine when he died so tragically, but he will always be my baby.”

In an interview with BBC News later that year, the “Proud Mary” hitmaker shared that she still didn’t understand what drove Craig to take his own life. 

 “I still don’t know what took him to the edge,” Turner admitted, adding that he had recently started a new job in real estate and had a girlfriend he was excited to introduce to her. 

“He was bringing her to meet me [for] his birthday in August. He had decorated his apartment, that I bought him years ago,” she continued. “He had gotten a new job with a prominent real estate company in California, [which] he was very happy with.” Turner added, “I have no idea what pulled him down, except something that followed him with loneliness. I think it was something with being alone.”

Ronnie Turner

Tuner’s youngest son, Ronnie Turner—her only biological child with Ike Sr.—was born in 1960. Despite being given many opportunities, Ronnie struggled with substance use and legal issues in his youth. 

“He was put through private schools and given allowances and clothes and everything you can give a kid,” the singer told TV Week in 1989. “But Ronnie was determined to be self-destructive. You have to draw the line. I keep an eye on him.”

She elaborated in a 1986 Rolling Stone interview that California wasn’t a good environment for Ronnie’s mental health. 

“He was very influenced by drugs and didn’t want to go back there because of that reason. I cut him off financially, but I always had a string to find out what was going on and to get money there to help him if he needed it. Finally, he’s on his own two feet.” 

By 1997, Turner told Larry King that her son was doing better. 

“There were a few problems with drugs with the youngest [son, Ronnie]. They’re [doing] fine.”

Sadly, Ronnie died at the age of 62 in 2022 from colon cancer, just three weeks after his diagnosis. His widow, Afida Turner, shared the emotional toll his sudden passing took on her and Tina. 

“It destroyed me. It traumatized me,” Afida told the Daily Mail in 2023. “It was hard for me to stay in the house. I lost weight. Tina was already extremely sick [when Ronnie was diagnosed]. She could not fly to Los Angeles and [care for him]. I had to do it all on my own.”

Turner’s tumultuous marriage with Ike was no secret. The famous star spoke openly about the hellish abuse she endured at the hands of her late husband. In her 1986 memoir, I, Tina. The “Simply The Best” crooner revealed that her ex-husband punched her nose numerous times and gave her third-degree burns after throwing a scalding hot pot of coffee at her face, among other atrocities.

Afida revealed that Tina had long feared Ronnie might inherit the abusive tendencies of his father. 

“‘You don’t want to stay with him. He is going to be like his father,’” Afida recalled Tina warning her. “It is pretty rare for a mother to say that.”

Early in their relationship, Afida admitted that Ronnie showed signs of troubling behavior. 

“At first, he was kind of like his father, but after that, he was doing very well. He made a very big effort to keep me. Initially, it was very hard because I was unwilling to stay with him.”

Ronnie had a history of drug-related issues, including arrests for cocaine possession in 1999 and for selling a controlled substance in 1987. Afida feared he might meet the same end as Ike Sr., who died of a cocaine overdose in 2007.