## The Kings of Rhythm and the Name That Wasn’t Hers to Choose
Ike Turner was already an established figure in the St. Louis R&B scene when Anna Mae Bullock began attending his performances at the Club Manhattan through her sister Alline, who was dating one of the band’s drummers. Turner had written and performed “Rocket 88” in 1951, widely credited as one of the foundational rock and roll recordings, and his band, the Kings of Rhythm, was a tight, professional outfit that played regularly in St. Louis.
The story of how Bullock joined the band has been told many times, and its outline is documented in the accounts that have survived. She was watching from the floor during an intermission when she got hold of the microphone and began singing. The version of the story she told consistently is that she didn’t plan it, that she simply picked up the microphone when it was available and sang. Turner heard what she could do and began including her in rehearsals.
Her recording debut came under the name “Little Ann” — a billing she didn’t choose — on a 1958 recording called “Boxtop.” She was not yet Tina Turner.
The transformation into Tina came in 1960, under circumstances that illustrate the specific power dynamics of the Revue and of the recording industry as it operated for Black artists in that era. A singer named Art Lassiter had been scheduled to record a song Ike Turner had written. Lassiter didn’t show up for the session. Anna Mae Bullock sang the lead. The recording became “A Fool in Love,” and the label that acquired it — Sue Records, which paid a $25,000 advance for the recording and publishing rights — wanted more from whoever that voice belonged to.