P.P. Arnold

P. P. Arnold (born Patricia Ann Cole, October 3, 1946, Los Angeles, California) is an American soul singer who enjoyed considerable success in the United Kingdom in the 1960s and beyond. Born into a family of gospel singers, Arnold married early and had two children. She had a series of menial jobs until the early 1960s, when Maxine Smith, an ex-girlfriend of her brother contacted her with an offer. Maxine and her friend Gloria Scott had managed to arrange an audition for three girls to replace the original Ikettes, the dancer/singer troupe that provided vocal and dance accompaniment for the Ike & Tina Turner Revue. Initially, Smith and Scott were stood up by a third girl, and they were desperate for another vocalist to make up the trio, Smith contacted Arnold, whom she knew to be a singer. At the audition the three young women were offered the job on the spot, but Smith convinced Arnold to attend a concert in Fresno that night before making a final decision. When she arrived home at 6:00 the next morning, Arnold's furious husband struck her. Arnold left him immediately, and after placing her children in the care of her parents, joined the Ike & Tina Turner Revue.