The Mirettes

3 former backing singers former backup singers for Ike & Tina Turner, then known as The Ikettes, became The Mirettes from 1966-1970. The Mirettes featured Venetta Fields who left the Ike & Tina Turner revue, along with fellow Ikettes: Jessie Smith and Robbie Montgomery. The trio signed to Mirwood Records and they formed as a way to break out from under Ike Turner's oppressive thumb. Unfortunately, despite a promising start, they were mired in legal problems, and even bullied and intimidated out of performing by Turner and his allies. With Tina's sister Alline Bullock as their manager, the Ikettes left Ike and set up their own sixty-date tour. But Ike put restraining orders out and had people physically prevent them from going on stage. They tried billing themselves as "the Mirettes, formerly the Ikettes," but Ike would have nothing to do with it. Finally, they emerged as the Mirettes without any recognition of the popular act they had been only months earlier. While no big hits followed, the Mirettes proved they didn’t need Ike to make great records. Their first single, the smooth and soulful "He’s Alright With Me," was released in 1966, on Mirwood Records, but it’s the Mirettes’ gritty version of "In The Midnight Hour," that R&B fans claim as their favourite. Still, without hit records or big-name recognition, money from touring was not as lucrative as returning to session work, and the Mirettes disbanded in1970. Venetta Fields went on to acclaim as a desirable studio backing vocalist, touring with Humble Pie and Pink Floyd, and appearing in the 1976 film A Star is Born as one of Barbara Streisand's two backing singers (The Oreos)