Alline Bullock was an American songwriter and the older sister of singer Tina Turner. She was also the manager of the girl group the Ikettes and wrote songs for Ike & Tina Turner as well as their band the Kings of Rhythm. She died on September 4, 2010, at the age of 73, but the cause of her death remains unknown. This article will explore the life and legacy of Alline Bullock, as well as the mystery surrounding her death.
Early Life and Family
Alline Bullock was born on December 1, 1936, in Haywood County, Tennessee. She was the second child of Zelma Priscilla (née Currie) and Floyd Richard Bullock. She had a half-sister, Evelyn Juanita Currie, who was two years older, and a younger sister, Anna Mae Bullock, who would later become famous as Tina Turner.
Alline’s family lived in Nutbush, Tennessee, where her father worked as an overseer of the sharecroppers at Poindexter Farm. During World War II, her parents moved up north for work and she stayed at her maternal grandparents’ home while her younger sister stayed with their paternal grandparents.
After the war, Alline and her sisters were reunited with their parents in Knoxville, Tennessee. Shortly after, the family returned to Haywood County and she attended Flagg Grove Elementary School. In 1950, her mother left without notice, moving to St. Louis, Missouri, to escape her volatile marriage. Her father remarried soon after and moved to Detroit, Michigan. Alline and her sisters were sent to live with their grandmother Georgeanna Currie in Brownsville, Tennessee.
As a teenager, Alline’s half-sister Evelyn died in a car crash alongside her cousins Margaret and Vela Evans. After graduating from Carver High School in Brownsville, Alline moved to Detroit to live with some relatives for a short while before reuniting with her mother in St. Louis.
Music Career and Relationship with Tina Turner
In 1956, Alline’s grandmother Georgeanna died and her sister Anna Mae joined them in St. Louis. Alline introduced her sister to the club scene in St. Louis and the neighboring East St. Louis, Illinois. Alline worked as a barmaid at the Manhattan Club where the house band was Ike Turner and his Kings of Rhythm. Turner had the most popular band in the Greater St. Louis area.
Alline was dating Kings of Rhythm drummer Eugene Washington when he gave Anna Mae the microphone during an intermission in 1957. Anna Mae joined the band as Little Ann, one of Turner’s vocalists. In 1960, Turner renamed Little Ann, giving her the name Tina Turner, and formed the Ike & Tina Turner Revue. The duo released a string of hit records, including “A Fool in Love” (1960), “It’s Gonna Work Out Fine” (1961), and “I Idolize You” (1961).
Alline eventually relocated to Los Angeles and lived with Ike and Tina’s four sons while they toured across the country. She worked in the business side of the Ike & Tina Turner organization. She also served as the manager of the Ikettes, the female backing vocalists and dancers for the Revue.
Alline wrote songs for Ike & Tina Turner as well as their band the Kings of Rhythm. Her most famous song was “Funkier Than a Mosquita’s Tweeter”, which she wrote in 1969 for Ike & Tina’s album Come Together. The song was later covered by Nina Simone in 1974 and became a cult classic.
Alline was very close to her sister Tina and supported her throughout her abusive marriage to Ike Turner. In 1976, Tina left Ike after a violent altercation and filed for divorce. Alline helped Tina rebuild her life and career as a solo artist.
Death and Legacy
Alline Bullock died on September 4, 2010, in Valley Village, California. She was 73 years old. The cause of her death is unknown. People said she died a natural death as she wasn’t ill before her death.
Her ashes were spread in Redondo Beach, California after her corpse was burned according to Jukebugs.
Alline Bullock is remembered as a talented songwriter and a loving sister to Tina Turner. She contributed to the success of the Ike & Tina Turner Revue and influenced many artists with her funky style.
Tina Turner paid tribute to her sister in her 2018 memoir My Love Story:
“My sister Alline passed away in September 2010 at age seventy-three from natural causes; she had been living alone in Los Angeles for many years by then…She was my big sister who always looked out for me when we were kids…She was also my first manager, my first confidante, and my first friend. She was the one who introduced me to Ike Turner and his band, and she was the one who helped me escape from him. She was always there for me, and I will always love her.”
