IKE: Single

I’m Tore Up (1956)

I’m Tore Up features two non album tracks with lead vocals by Billy Gayles feat. Ike Turner’s Rhythm Rockers. Both sides were recorded on March 12, 1956 in Cincinnati. This single is the first one of a dozen Federal releases by Ike Turner’s Kings Of Rhythm featuring various vocalists, all from Cincinnati sessions between February 1956 and April 1957. Both songs were reissued in 1991 on the sampler Trailblazer and Ike Turner released a new recorded version of the title track on his Grammy nominated album Here And Now in 2001. The promo single features extendend infos on the label for Dee Jay’s.

Producer: Ralph Bass
Release: April 1956
Label: Federal
Format: 7“ Vinyl
Album: Non album tracks

From the promotional label

A brand new addition to the Federal roster is Billy Gayles. Billy, we think, is a most unusual find and we hope that the public agrees with our choice. Gayles projects all of a basic blues song with modern intonation and as one disinterested person who heard him sing said, "I never liked the blues until I heard this boy sing.“ Billy is only 23 years old and lives in St. Louis. During a recent battle of the blues in St. Louis with a well known blues artist, Ike Turner's Rhythm Rockers and Billy Gayles, who is vocalist with the band, broke up the house. We feel that Billy is no copy of any other blues singer and is a distinctive new addition to a long line of blues singers that we have been proud to introduce to the listening public.