By: DENIS DEVINE and TERI FIGUEROA -- Staff Writers
It was same drug that landed him in jail

A cocaine overdose killed legendary musician Ike Turner, the San Diego County medical examiner's office said Wednesday morning.

"A high amount of cocaine" exacerbated the controversial rhythm and blues and rock pioneer's hypertensive cardiovascular disease and pulmonary emphysema, a medical examiner's spokesman said in explaining the cause of death. Turner died on Dec. 12 at the San Marcos home he rented.

Turner's daughter, Mia, said Wednesday that the family was "in shock" at the medical examiner's toxicity report, which was finalized Monday, and that it "overstates the situation."

"Daddy at that point was not doing drugs to the level it leads to believe," she said in a telephone interview.

She said her father's drug use was "an ongoing struggle."

"I know where he was the last seven or eight months (of his life)," Mia Turner said. "I know what he has accomplished in that battle."

But one month ago, Mia Turner told the North County Times that the idea that her late father had drugs in his home at the time of his death was "an out and out" lie.

The drummer with Turner's band, the Kings of Rhythm, was in the home when Turner was found. He said in December, before the medical examiner's report was publicized, that he did not see drugs or paraphernalia.

"He was a man who knew he was going to pass away," drummer Billy Ray said, "and if smoking bud or cocaine gave him solace in his final days, what difference would it be if he had a bottle of bourbon or Paxil?"

The 76-year-old singer, whose formidable musical legacy was overshadowed by his infamous abuse and mistreatment of one of his many ex-wives, pop star Tina Turner, was widely reported to have kicked cocaine in his later years. But his drug abuse was almost as legendary as his musical achievements.

When Ike and Tina Turner were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991, Ike Turner was serving 18 months at the California Men's Colony state prison in San Luis Obispo for a parole violation after 11 drug-related arrests.

In Turner's autobiography, he estimated that he had spent $11 million to support his cocaine habit in the 1970s and 1980s. As with so much about the man's legend, conflicting stories abound about when he first tried the drug. But he told a Chicago Tribune reporter in 1991, "I used to fire people if I caught them with even a roach, and now I got a hole in my nose that you could put your ink pen in."

Drug allegations also figure in a court struggle between Turner's most recent of many wives ---- accounts, often supplied by Turner himself, vary widely about how many wives he had over his tumultuous life ---- and his children.

Turner's would-be heirs are feuding over a modest estate that court documents say amounts to $200,000, and lawyers are contending with a contradictory set of handwritten wills purportedly penned by Turner.

Turner's place in music history is secure. Born in Clarksdale, Miss., in 1931, Turner was a musical mover-and-shaker in the world of blues music by his teens, with a popular DJ gig and working as a talent scout for major record labels.

He learned at the feet of blues legends like Pinetop Perkins and played guitar and piano with Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon and B.B. King while before his mid-20s.

In 1951, Turner's band, the Kings of Rhythm, recorded what is widely considered the first rock 'n' roll song, "Rocket 88," though the label issued what would become a hit song under the singer's name, Jackie Brenston.

But Tina Turner's 1986 autobiography and the 1993 film based upon it, "What's Love Got to Do With It?" portrayed Ike as a violent thug. The movie's popularity and salacious details became a pivotal moment in American culture, spurring public interest in solving the often-hidden problem of domestic violence.

Turner contended that he was mischaracterized in the book and film, and told a North County Times reporter last year, "I'm not the person that they made me in the movie."

But he also wrote in his 2001 autobiography "Taking Back My Name," "Sure, I've slapped Tina. ... We had fights and there have been times when I punched her without thinking. But I never beat her. I did no more to Tina than I would mind somebody doing to my mother in the same circumstances."

On Wednesday, Turner's daughter said she hoped that people would remember that her father was "an icon, a major contributor to the industry," rather than the drugs or the violence.

"I don't want anybody dwelling on the movie status, this quote unquote autopsy," Mia Turner said. "So what. They need to dwell on the positive influences. The negative does not define us."

Contact staff writer Denis Devine at (760) 740-5415 or ddevine@nctimes.com. Contact staff writer Teri Figueroa at (760) 740-5442 or tfigueroa@nctimes.com.