Ike Turner, the legendary American musician who was perhaps more famous for his abusive relationship with his former wife, Tina Turner, than for his contribution to the history of rock’n’roll, died at his home in San Diego last night at the age of 76.

It was not immediately known what caused his death.

Turner is often credited with recording the first rock’n’roll track: Rocket 88, released in 1951, featured one of the earliest examples of guitar distortion. His amplifier had been damaged by rain after he left it in a car overnight.

It was Turner’s relationship with a mixed-race Tennessee girl called Anna Mae Bullock, however, that came to define his public image — much to his later despair and frustration.

Turner hired a teenage Ms Bullock as his backing singer in the late 1950s, after hearing her perform a BB King song at a St Louis nightspot. He later changed her name to Tina Turner and they became the Ike & Tina Turner Revue.

Sixteen years of hits followed, including River Deep — Mountain High and Nutbush City Limits. The couple married in 1962, one of Turner’s reported 14 marriages.

The relationship was doomed, with Turner allegedly cheating on his wife and becoming addicted to cocaine. The drug addiction culminated in his allegedly beating his wife before a concert in Dallas in 1976. Tina Turner later described how she fled with only 36 cents and a petrol station credit card, and spent months in hiding.

After nearly a decade of struggling to get her records heard and paying off concert promoters and tax debts, Tina Turner staged a comeback in 1984 with Private Dancer, which ultimately turned her into one of the biggest acts of the decade. She went on to write the biography I, Tina, which was turned into the film What’s Love Got to Do with It, starring Laurence Fishburne in the deeply unsympathetic role of her ex-husband.

Meanwhile, Ike Turner descended ever further into a life of drugs, and missed his 1991 induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame because he was in prison at the time.

He became increasingly bitter about his image as the years went on. He denied his former wife’s claims of abuse and said that he had been demonised in the media, with his role in the creation of rock’n’roll largely forgotten.

“You can go ask Snoop Dogg or Eminem, you can ask the Rolling Stones or Eric Clapton, you can ask anybody, they all know my contribution to music,” he said.

His career recovered slightly in his twilight years, but many found his denials of abuse towards his wife unconvincing. In his 2001 autobiography, Taking Back My Name, Turner wrote: “Sure, I've slapped Tina. There have been times when I punched her to the ground without thinking. But I never beat her.”

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