Voice from beyond: Ike Turner

On Dec. 12, I helped my colleague Jon Pareles report on the death of Ike Turner for an obituary. Times standards demand that we make every effort to confirm the news independently, and this was a high-priority obit that had come in late.

I was having trouble reaching family members or business reps with any credibility — one guy, whom I won’t name, refused to answer questions, telling me “I don’t care” whether accurate news was reported about his world-famous client — when a source gave me Ike’s home phone number. Here is the outgoing message; Ike also gave his cell number, which I called, and got another message.

RIP, burn in hell, etc.