1984 was a good year for Tina Turner. Long known as the singer in Ike and Tina Turner, Turner filed for divorce from Ike in July 1976. Thereafter she slowly and methodically built her solo career, with a little help from old friends including the Rolling Stones, who she opened for on their 1981 US tour. In 1982 she was a special guest on a Chuck Berry Television special. In November 1983 she released a cover of Al Green’s Let’s stay Together which was a surprise hit around the world.
The success of the Al Green single led to Capitol Records green-lighting a new Tina Turner album. Recorded in two weeks, Private Dancer was released in May 1984. The LP went to #2 in the UK and #3 on the Billboard 200. The single What’s Love Got To Do With It gave Turner her only US Billboard 100 #1. It was followed by the hit singles Better Be Good to Me and Private Dancer. In November 1984, she released Tonight, an Iggy Pop song on which she duetted with David Bowie, as a single. Let’s look:
The single Tonight made #53 on both the UK charts and the Billboard Hot 100, oddly enough. The version we have just seen is from the CD/DVD combo Tina Live in Europe. Released in 1988, the live performances were recorded between 1985 and 1987. In 1989, the CD earned Turner the Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. Kay Hinton comments on YouTube: “She made a lot of good music, but this is one of my firm favourites with the iconic David Bowie. Pure Magic!”
Vintage Paint states “I was privileged to be at this concert. David Bowie stepping from the shadows was a complete surprise. The audience went wild and the atmosphere was electric. Two legends together, two great lights have been extinguished”. Vintage paint is referring, of course, to the death of Tina Turner on 24 May 2023, and the earlier passing of David Bowie on 10 January 2016. Turner was 83, Bowie 69. Here’s a fun Turner and Bowie live mashup of Jim Lee and Bowie’s songs Let’s Dance
Jim Lee’s Let’s Dance was a 1962 hit single for Chris Montez. The David Bowie song is well known. The performances on both the videos in this article were recorded on the same night in 1985 at the NEC in Birmingham (UK), on Turner’s Private Dancer tour.
The concluding quotation is from Wikipedia: “She was noted for her “swagger, sensuality, powerful gravelly vocals and unstoppable energy”, along with her well-publicized history with ex-husband Ike Turner and her famous legs”. RIP Tina Turner and David Bowie.