From CNN.com

I know no one really cares like I do, but he was very musically inclined, and had an ear for rock n' roll. The problem is he'll always be known as the "guy who beat Tina". .-.

"The problem is he'll always be known as the 'guy who beat Tina'. .-."

Well, he did have the option of NOT beating the shit out of her all the time... I mean, it's rare that abusers get as much disdain as Ike did-- usually the blame goes to the abused one for "bringing it upon themselves" or we completely ignore it because it's a "private matter." I don't know how much of it was drug-induced-- but yeah... Well, even if he was out of his mind on drugs that's still a weak excuse. Though at the same time there are plenty of other musicians and celebrities that are/were just as abusive and it gets glossed over. Hm... Klaus Kinski was extremely abusive to his partners (Sup, Minhoi?) and everyone knew about it, but he's hailed as a genius actor who was just "a bit crazy." But Ike was a black dude, so, of course we'll constantly bring up that aspect about him cause it affirms stereotypes...

But RIP.

If anything, the autobiography and movie of Tina's, "What's Love Got to Do with it" probably drove that nail into coffin so to speak. Otherwise people wouldn't have known about the abuse, and he would've sailed into semi-obscurity. That movie alone brought Tina's popularity back, and with it that shame upon Ike.

Tina's popularity seemed to soar in the 80s, imo, after she'd "gotten away from Ike".

That aside, he was a talented musician, just a lousy husband.

I agree with Codi, I don't think the abuse thing was hyped by the media so much because he was black, but rather because one of the biggest names in pop music wrote a book about it. It would be like if today Hannah Montana came out about physical and sexual abuse by her producers, and how her parents fed her into the exploitive and corrupt child star factory that is Disney. If TLC suddenly came out and told everyone about the time they were gangraped by the cast of RoundHouse no one would give a shit.

I also agree with Jupi, I think the whole "woman standing up and going out on her own" thing helped fuel her career and popularity. After that every woman with a victem complex, abused woman, or girl with a chip on her shoulder could do that whole "identifying with her" thing.