- Included among the Record Descriptions of Favorite Albums (Part 1).
- Tina Turner’s resurgent career as a solo artist is one of the greatest comebacks in music history. Private Dancer is Tina Turner’s most successful album.
Tina Turner – Private Dancer (1984): Tina Turner is one of the greatest vocalists in soul music, male or female, and she already achieved legendary status on the strength of the recordings that she made with her ex-husband Ike Turner (she filed for divorce in mid-1976, and the divorce was finalized in early 1978). When Tina Turner was professionally separating from Ike Turner, she unreservedly signed over all of the rights to the music that the two made together as Ike & Tina Turner. In this time period, Tina Turner had a role as the Acid Queen in the film version of the Who’s Tommy (1975), singing the song “The Acid Queen”. For many years, Tina Turner made occasional television appearances and toiled as a nostalgia act, releasing four solo albums with limited success. Her career received a boost when she became the opening act for the Rolling Stones in November 1981 during their American tour. Her first success as a solo recording artist was with a side project of the British new wave/synth-pop band Heaven 17 called B.E.F. (standing for British Electric Foundation). A recording of the Temptations hit “Ball of Confusion” by B.E.F. features lead vocals by Tina Turner and was released in 1982 on their album Music of Quality and Distinction Volume One.
Tina Turner filmed a music video for “Ball of Confusion” that was one of the first videos by an African American recording artist to be shown on MTV. “Ball of Confusion” attracted some attention and made the Top 5 in Norway; as a result, Tina Turner was signed to Capitol Records and released a cover of the Al Green song “Let’s Get Together” that was produced by B.E.F. The song was a surprise hit single, charting in several European countries and reaching #6 on the U.K. singles chart. In the U.S., “Let’s Get Together” reached #1 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs, #3 on Hot Black Singles, and #26 on the Hot 100. At this point, Tina Turner began working on her fifth solo album, Private Dancer that was released in May 1984. The second single from the album, “What’s Love Got to Do with It” is Tina Turner’s first #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100; at age 44, she is the oldest woman to top the singles chart. The follow-up singles “Better Be Good to Me” and “Private Dancer” are both Top Ten hits, and “Let’s Get Together” is also included on Private Dancer. Tina Turner’s resurgent career as a solo artist is one of the greatest comebacks in music history. Private Dancer is Tina Turner’s most successful album, selling 10 million copies worldwide, and reaching #3 on the Billboard 200 albums chart and #2 in the U.K. “What’s Love Got to Do with It” won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year. The following year, Tina Turner made her second film appearance in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome that spawned another hit single, “We Don’t Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)”. Further hit albums and singles followed; and in 1988, during her Break Every Rule World Tour, she set a then-Guinness World Record for the largest paying audience for a solo performer (180,000). Tina Turner also performed the theme song “GoldenEye” for the 1995 James Bond film GoldenEye (1995). With an estimated 100 million in record sales worldwide, Tina Turner is one of the best-selling recording artists of all time. She has received a dozen Grammy Awards, including eight competitive Grammys, three Grammy Hall of Fame awards, and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. She is the first Black recording artist and also the first woman to be on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. Rolling Stone ranks her among the “100 Greatest Artists of All Time” and the “100 Greatest Singers of All Time”. Tina Turner is a two-time inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, with Ike Turner in 1991 and as a solo artist in 2021. She also received the Kennedy Center Honors in 2005.