The Song That Made Tina Turner

The Song That Made Tina Turner

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(Photo by Graham Wiltshire/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

It remains Tina Turner's biggest hit, and the legacy of 1984’s “What’s Love Got To Do With It” - and the album Private Dancer - lives on.

It has a Grammy

While at the time it may not have received more than chart accolades, in 2012 “What’s Love Got To Do With It” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, giving Turner her 11th gong at the awards. It was also her third Hall of Fame Grammy. In 1985, the song also earned Turner Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, Song Of The Year, and Record Of The Year for Private Dancer.

But, it’s Tina Turner’s first and only US Number One

Incredibly, it took till Turner’s fifth album and this single for the star to top the Billboard charts in her home country. It also went Number One in Australia and Canada, and was the second biggest single of the year in the US.

 

Turner’s biopic is named after it

The acclaimed 1993 big-screen story of Turner’s early life and career saw the two leads - Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne - nominated for Academy Awards. Some scenes were even filmed in a house Turner lived in, while Whitney Houston almost landed the lead role except she was pregnant with her daughter Bobbi Kristina at the time. Halle Berry and Janet Jackson were reportedly among the other stars considered for the gig.

 

The song was first offered to British singer Cliff Richard

In a serious case of the one that got away, the song penned by Terry Britten and Graham Lyle, was offered to Cliff Richard and Donna Summer in 1981 but passed on. It was then picked up by Eurovision Song Contest act Bucks Fizz the following year, but it was Turner who took it on and made it her own.

 

It was some seriously good PR

The single, and Private Dancer, sent Turner’s solo career interstellar. It led to her iconic role in Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome and saw her jump from the club stages to arenas. It also established Turner in her own right, away from her abusive ex and collaborator Ike.

The album's meaning has been misunderstood

It wasn’t until after the album's title track release that Turner learnt people thought it was about a sex worker. “I can be naive about some of these things,” she says. “I took it because it was an unusual song.”

Tina The Musical is now showing in London's West End

Featuring her much loved songs, TINA – The Tina Turner Musical is written by Olivier Award-winning playwright Katori Hall and directed by the internationally acclaimed Phyllida Lloyd.

Listen to the album on Spotify, here...

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