R&B Music legend Ike Turner (real name Izear Luster Turner) said he holds no grudge against St. Louis’ mayor for a decision not to issue a City Hall proclamation in his honor. Yahoo reports that Mayor Francis Slay has turned down a request from organizers of the Big Muddy Blues Festival to make Sept. 2 “Ike Turner Day.” Turner, 75, is scheduled to perform that day at the blues festival in St. Louis. Turner says he never asked for the honor. He notes he already has a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame, and said he doesn’t worry about whether he’s given those honors. “I just care about making people happy in the audience,” he said. Turner has attributed many problems off the stage to his drug and alcohol addiction and intense use of cocaine, resulting in his abusive behavior and relationship with his wife and children. In his 2001 autobiography, Turner admitted that he had hit his former wife, Tina Turner, but said the movie depiction is what hurt his career. “All I can say, and I would say this only to her, is `I’m sorry,'” he told The St. Louis Post-Dispatch in Sunday’s edition. “But I can’t undo yesterday. I don’t owe anybody else that.” The mayor suggested, through a spokesman, that Ike Turner could visit a St. Louis center that provides services to domestic violence victims to call attention to the issue. Ike is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and in 2001 was inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame.
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