Every single artist who has ever entered the music industry has had the odds stacked against them in one way or another. It would have been impossible to see anyone breaking into the industry without a massive push behind them back in the day, but Tina Turner needed to have superhuman strength to conquer the world all over again.
But a lot of this story doesn’t have to revolve around the same old cliches that people like to talk about between Tina and Ike Turner. Suffice to say, Ike Turner was an absolutely despicable person behind the scenes, and while it was hard for Tina to even think about breaking free from that marriage, her decision to move on is one of the bravest things that any artist has ever done. Now it was a matter of making the kind of record that set her up as a superstar in her own right.
After all, she was the one singing all of those great tunes, but as soon as she struck out on her own, it took a while before everyone started paying attention. She was going solo in the age when disco was one of the biggest genres in the world, and while she could dance her ass off whenever she got onstage, she was not exactly a Donna Summer type. She wanted to leave the audience stunned, and that meant getting the right people behind her.
Despite most of the music industry not thinking twice about her anymore, every musician knew the kind of power she had. Rod Stewart had brought her out onstage during her comeback, and her way of playing off Mick Jagger with The Rolling Stones is only further proof that she practically taught the frontman everything he knew about dancing.
That was all good for the public image, but once she started making her own original music, she did have a few concerns over what to roll out first. A cover of Al Green’s ‘Let’s Stay Together’ was definitely a safe choice, but when she was presented with the song that would make her a star, Turner baulked at the idea. There was nothing wrong with ‘What’s Love Got to Do With It’, but the ‘Queen of Rock and Roll’ knew it wasn’t for her.
The initial idea for the track was to get a more delicate performance across, but since Turner didn’t like the tune to begin with, her brash voice is exactly what was needed to get everything off the ground. She hadn’t built her empire singing soft ballads, and her reinterpretation of the song felt like her remaking ‘Proud Mary’ for a new generation.
And even if the synthesisers take a little bit of getting used to, it actually fits like a glove once heard in context. Turner was already a star before, and while the age of MTV had more time for modern day starlets like Madonna, Turner showed all of the amateurs what a real professional looked like when they got on the mic.
But the real message behind the song wasn’t about the quality of the song, the vocal performance, or even the context of having to deal with her traumatic past. This was Turner standing in front of the crowd after years out of the spotlight and forcing her way onto the hit parade again. And for anyone who thinks that there’s a time limit on rock and roll, Turner was more badass when she reached her 40s than most frontmen could hope to be in their 20s.
