The foremost shouter of Kansas City was "Big" Joe Turner, the former partner of boogie pianist Pete Johnson, now a proto-rocker who constantly challenged the conventions of rhythm'n'blues, from Cherry Red (1939) to the demonic Shake Rattle An Roll (1954), while balancing between melodic and jazzy ballads, such as Henry Van Walls' Chains Of Love (1951) and Sweet Sixteen (1952), and exuberant novelties, such as Honey Hush (1953), with Lee Allen on sax, and T.V. Mama (1954), with Elmore James on guitar, and the Scottish traditional Corinna Corinna (1956). His stormy, booming vocals lifted blues music into a higher orbit.

Joe Turner was born in Kansas City and spent his childhood accompanying a blind bluesman through the streets of the city. In the 1930s, he became a regular attraction in local nightclubs, performing as a duo with boogie-woogie pianist Pete Johnson. In 1938, the two were invited to a concert at Carnegie Hall, where they thrilled the audience with their wild style. They then accepted a residency at New York’s Cafe Society and recorded Roll 'em Pete, the track that launched them nationally and marked the arrival of boogie-woogie. In the 1940s, despite the success of Cherry Red (1939), Turner joined West Coast jazz musicians, effectively abandoning his colleague. He returned to New York only in 1951 when Atlantic Records offered him a contract. Within five years, he produced several classics—pop songs with heavy arrangements sung with a bluesy breathiness, such as Chains Of Love (1951), Sweet Sixteen (1952), Honey Hush (1953), and TV Mama (1954), as well as novelty blues like Shake Rattle And Roll (recorded February 1954) and Flip Flop and Fly (1955), both composed by Charles Calhoun (Jesse Stone). He was eventually swept aside by rock and roll (even though one of Haley’s first hits was a cover of Shake Rattle And Roll) and ended up singing in Johnny Otis’s orchestra.

His wife Tina (Ann Mae Bullock), a former conservative gospel singer from Tennessee, married him in 1957 and became the sex symbol of his "revue," achieving her own fortune: A Fool In Love (1960), I Idolize You (1961), It's Gonna Work Out Fine (1961), I'm Blue revealed to the world Tina’s sexual vocal expressions and Ike’s pornographic-choreographic skill. Full success came when they began recording rock songs in a funky style: Phil Spector’s River Deep Mountain High (1966, arranged by Jack Nitzsche) and Otis Redding’s I've Been Loving You Too Long (1969). Ike’s abusive behavior eventually destroyed Tina, who attempted suicide in 1968, but Come Together (1970) remains perhaps Ike’s best album.

Tina Turner would go on to achieve much greater success than him.