Tina and Ike Turner Case - Essay Example

A Paper on the Tina and Ike Turner Case A BRIEF BACKGROUND Crime As this is a criminal justice paper, it is not surprising that the topic to be discussed is a specific crime or case. However, it is not always that we define some terms before delving into a deeper discussion of an issue. Take for example crime, people always use this word but not everyone defines it or even understands it. According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, a crime is "an act of the commission of an act that is forbidden or the omission of a duty that is commanded by a public law and that makes the offender liable to punishment by that law." (Crime, 2008) Moreover, a crime is a gross violation of the law, whatever country it may be. It may also be something that offends morality. Meanwhile, the most famous forms of grave crime might just probably be murder and rape. But the majority of reported crimes involve non-stranger violence, consisting of property and drug crimes. (Koski, 2002) According to Koski (2002), the crimes that arouse the greatest fear in people are violent, personal attacks by strangers. He went on to say that interpersonal crime is deeply damaging seeing as it also causes emotional and financial toll on its victims. Another kind of crime that might apply to the case to be discussed in this paper is predatory crime. Such consists of a "motivated offender" and a "suitable target." However, the most frequent form of crime might just arguably be abuse, in any form. Abuse is often defined as "a corrupt practice or custom or an improper or excessive use or treatment." (Abuse, 2008) This word seriously condemns any unjust physical maltreatment. And in the discussion of such crimes, it would be just right to also include in the discussion the victim, the offender and the crime itself. The Offender Defined properly, an offender is one who causes "difficulty, discomfort, injury, dislike, anger, or vexation to another." (Offend, 2008) Koski (2008) said that in such cases of people wanting to discuss the root of some crimes, they would straight away go to the offender for answers. However, stereotypes of such persons do not always match their real characteristics. In order to help people properly understand offenders, he outlined the core characteristics of a criminal offender. First is the age of onset. According to such a character, a criminal offender might have started on such a path or life trajectory of committing crimes at an early age or early stage of his or her life. Second is childhood environment. With this, Koski (2008) attributes his offending tendencies to having been brought up or raised in an unstable environment. He or she might have experienced "severe physical abuse, emotional trauma, and showed signs of 'hypermasculinity' engendered by the absence of a father." Third is substance abuse. Of course this would entail taking in a lot of alcohol or illegal narcotics, which more often than not, were caused by deeper, darker reasons that caused the future offender to be scarred physically, mentally and emotionally. Fourth is male role model. Such a core characteristic says that certain outlooks, beliefs and practices of potential offenders might have stemmed from being exposed to different kinds of people, especially to people to whom a person can relate to the most. Fifth is psychosocial development. Aside from having different addictions and problems, Koski (2008) said that he might have experienced other "psychosocial maladies." Sixth are predatory inclinations. Koski (2008) in this case says that if a person who has undergone a turbulent childhood baffled by physical abuse, he is more likely to engage in relationships that would have violence integrated in its core, with him or her as the offender and not the victim anymore. And, in order to clearly illustrate the picture of an offender, it is a must that we take on the discussion of the life of Ike Wister Turner, one of the major characters in the case this paper hopes to look into. On November 5, 1931, he was born to Beatrice Cushenberry and Izear Luster Turner in Clarksdale, Mississippi. At the age of eight, he got interested in music after meeting a disc jockey who would later on help him increase his interest in such things. After such, Ike would then be carrying amplifiers for blues singer Robert Nighthawk, who mesmerized the kid with his playing. However, his experience of hearing Pinetop Perkins play the piano for the first time made a difference in his musical upbringing. This would then be the same piano player to teach Ike to the play the said instrument. Ike became an American musician, talent scout and record producer taking on the genres of blues, soul, rock and funk. The first stages of his musical career began in the late 1940s when he formed the group "The Kings of Rhythm." The band recorded for a label in St. Louis while appearing on local television. However, his career changed after meeting Anna Mae Bullock, a young singer from Nutbush, Tennessee. After witnessing Anna perform a song, he made the teenager join his band as a background singer. Anna's days as a background singer were short-lived after she recorded what was intended to be demo for a male vocalist. Ike was impressed at her vocals and allowed it to be released under an independent label and under the new name of Anna, which is Tina Turner. The band, on the other hand, became "Ike and Tina Turner Revue." After releasing more chart-topping hits in a span of thirteen years, the duo became one of the best and the most famous in rock and soul music. Their success led to the creation of Bolic Sounds Studio in Los Angeles. However, facts about his marriage to the now Tina Turner were very controversial. People believed that Ike married Tina in 1962 for legal issues, something which he denied repeatedly. Their marriage was plagued by the constant abuse that Tina received from Ike. Rumors said that he openly cheated on her with other women, one of whom was even a background singer for their band. Ike admitted in his 2001 autobiography: "Sure, I've slapped Tina... There have been times when I punched her to the ground without thinking. But I have never beat her." Tina left Ike in 1976 after a violent confrontation, leaving the male musician in an unfavorable place in the music market. In the mid-1980s, he was convicted of drug-related charges and sentenced to several years in jail. He was released in 1993 after which he tried not to use drugs anymore. He then slowly tried to regain lost ground in the music business until he died in 2007 because of cocaine overdose. Having stated the facts about the life of an offender, it is quite valid to surmise that Ike Turner's offender tendencies were brought because of substance abuse, the same manner by which he died. I say this because according to records, he doesn't seem to have had bad parents, a traumatic childhood, or even anything that would have caused him permanent mental and emotional damage. The Victim According to Merriam-Webster, a victim is "one that is subjected to oppression, hardship, or mistreatment," (Victim, 2008) a definition that really describes Tina Turner in this case. Koski (2002) said that in addition to an offender, predatory crimes such as robbery, rape, non-sexual assault, and homicide, require a "suitable target," the victim. He said that according to the researches of Marvin Wolfgang in 1948 and 1952, crimes of interpersonal violence have the following characteristics "(1) they are inter-racial; (2) they are committed by people close in age and of the same gender; and (3) they occur, more often than not, between parties known o one another." Such findings show that most crimes really do happen between who are not strangers to their victims, such as Ike and Tina Turner, who were supposedly married and even had a child together. It is also agreeable when Koski (2008) said that victims are more afraid of "whoever may be waiting for them at home than anyone they are likely to meet in the streets, however dark and ill-lit they may be." Such is the case of the couple involved. However, one must first consider a shot overview of the life of the victim, Tina Turner. Originally known as Anna Mae Bullock, Tina was born on November 26, 1939 in Nutbush, Tennesee to Zelma and Floyd Richard Bullock. She and her sister were abandoned by their father and temporarily by their matter. At the age of 18, Tina became an occasional vocalist for Ike's shows and later on became their lead vocalist. During the 1960s and 1970s, the duo became famous following several successful concerts and album releases. Ike acted as their group's manager and musical director. He was very strict in calling the shots and ruling over Tina. His management of their contracts and performances declined at the same time as his drug usage increased, something which led to several employees leaving and Tina eventually being physically abused by Ike for most of their marriage. Also eventually, her husband's drug use led to more abusive behavior followed by a deteriorating career because of Ike's desire to maintain his alleged cocaine habit. Their touring dates and record sales began to decline. After being beaten up in Dallas during the Fourth of July in 1976, Tina left Ike, with only about 36 cents and a gas-station credit card. She then hid from the former husband after the escape. In 1978, her divorce with Ike was finalized. She accused him of several years of physical abuse and drug addiction in her autobiography which later became a film. Tina is now an eight-time Grammy Award winner, an American singer-songwriter/dancer, best selling author and award-winning actress. Her contributions to rock music earned her the title "The Queen of Rock & Roll." She has also been acknowledged as one of the world's most popular and biggest-selling music artists, selling records exceeding 80 million copies worldwide. THE "CRIME" In 1993, a biographical film titled "What's Love Got to Do with it" about Tina Turner was released. Directed by Brian Gibson, it starred Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishbourne. The screenplay was adapted from the book written by Tina herself. It somehow chronicled her journey from being an innocent girl from another place who wised to use her special voice but was also sucked into a dark drawing of a marriage with Ike Turner. The said movie raked in almost $50 million in the United States and $10 million in the United Kingdom. It was also able to produce about $20 million in US rentals. The film showed Anna Mae (Tina Turner) who after arriving in St. Louis to live with her mother, attracted the band leader and manager Ike Turner. Ike was introduced as an already established songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. Tina becomes the band's singer, Ike's wife and mother to his children. Fueled by jealousy of Tina's fame and his drug addiction, Ike increased his physical assaults on Tina, something which the queen of rock and roll tried to break free from. In the long run, Tina got to break free from the hold of the abusive Ike. She then sets on her solo career and meets Roger Davies, a really famous manager. The film ends with Ike and Tina confronting each other right before a big show of Tina's at the Ritz. Ike actually pulls out a gun but wasn't able to harm her, after which the diva proceeded to go on stage and sand her monumental song which is also the title of the biographical film. And just by bravely stepping up against a seriously troubled offender, it goes to show that if the law or anyone else cannot execute your rights, only you can. BIBLIOGRAPHY Abuse. (2008). In Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Retrieved September 28, 2008, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/abuse Crime. (2008). In Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Retrieved September 28, 2008, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/crime Justice. (2008). In Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Retrieved September 28, 2008, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/justice Koski, D. (2002). Crime and Everyday Life: A 'Routine Activities Theory' Primer. In Sex Offender Law Offender. Offend. (2008). In Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Retrieved September 28, 2008, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/offend TINA TURNER LYRICS - What's Love Got To Do With It (2008). In A-Z Lyrics. Retrieved September 28, 2008, from http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/tinaturner/whatslovegottodowithit.html Victim. (2008). In Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Retrieved September 28, 2008, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/victim What's Love Got to Do with It (1993) - Memorable quotes (2008). In The Internet Movie Database. Retrieved September 28, 2008, from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108551/quotes What's Love Got to Do with It (1993) - Plot summary (2008). In The Internet Movie Database. Retrieved September 28, 2008, from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108551/plotsummary Read More