Tina Turner topped the charts with “What’s Love Got to Do with It”

What’s Love Got to Do with It Tina Turner

Writer(s): Graham Lyle, Terry Britten (see lyrics here) Released: May 1, 1984 First Charted: May 19, 1984 Peak: 13 US, 13 CB, 2 RR, 8 AC, 2 RB, 51 AR, 3 UK, 13 CN, 11 AU, 4 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, 0.4 UK, 1.5 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 2.0 radio, 105.8 video, 447.46 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Ike and Tina Turner were an active recording duo from 1960 to 1976 scoring notable R&B and pop songs with “River Deep – Mountain High” and their cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Proud Mary.” The pair married in 1962 and after years of spousal abuse, Tina left with “36 cents, a gasoline charge card and the clothes she was wearing.” FB After their split, Tina little success with solo releases in the latter half of the ‘70s and it looked like her career might be over. However, in 1983 a remake of Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together” was a surprise #3 R&B hit and top 30 pop song. It launched what some have called the greatest comeback in rock history. The follow-song, “What’s Love Got to Do with It,” went to #1 on the pop charts, making Tina – then 44 – the oldest solo female artist to top the Billboard Hot 100. WK It also set a record for the longest time between the first chart entry by an artist (Ike & Tina Turner’s “A Fool in Love” in 1960) and first #1 hit. SF Billboard ranked it the #2 song of 1984, only behind Prince’s “When Doves Cry.” The song was written from the point of view of someone who enjoys the physical aspects of a relationship, but doesn’t want the emotional attachment. Before it fell in Turner’s hands, it was offered to Cliff Richard, Phyllis Hyman, Donna Summer, and British pop group Bucks Fizz. The latter recorded it in 1984, but didn’t release it after Turner’s became a hit. She initially balked at recording the anti-love song but her manager, Roger Davies, was convinced it would be a hit. SF Turner “invests the song with one of the most passionate vocal performances of her career.” AMG Mark Millan of the Daily Vault called it “three minutes and 48 seconds of pop perfection.” WK People magazine noted that the song had “the characteristic flair and energy that have made Tina the envy of every singer this side of Aretha.” WK The song took home Grammys for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. MTV gave her the Best Female Video award for the song in 1985. The song was also inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Tina Turner AMG All Music Guide review by Stewart Mason FB Fred Bronson (2003). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (5th edition). Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 593. SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 11/26/2020; last updated 10/28/2022.

 

Al Green hit #1 with “Let’s Stay Together”

Let’s Stay Together Al Green

Writer(s): Al Green, Willie Mitchell, Al Jackson (see lyrics here) First Charted: November 27, 1971 Peak: 11 US, 12 CB, 2 GR, 2 HR, 36 AC, 19 RB, 7 UK, 43 CN, 19 AU, 2 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, 0.25 UK, 1.25 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 2.0 radio, 128.6 video, 454.17 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Al Green was booked at a Midland, Texas club on the same night as Willie Mitchell, who had just been named Hi Record’s vice president. FB Mitchell, enamored with “Green’s seductive voice,” NPR asked him to come to Memphis to record. Green responded that he didn’t care for Memphis, but Mitchell persisted. FB As for how “Let’s Stay Together” came about, Mitchell said, “All My life I have tampered in jazz chords. One Saturday afternoon I was tampering around on the piano and came up with this melody…I played it for Al on the piano…About fifteen minutes later he came back with some words and we started messing with the song.” TC Still, it took Mitchell two more days to convince Green to record it. RS500 Recording finished late on a Friday night RS500 after over one hundred takes.” NPR The single was pressed the next Monday and by Thursday, Green learned that the song would enter the charts at number eight. RS500 Green and Mitchell would continue to make many more great records together, “but none quite so perfect as this.” AMG The song “radiates compassion and understanding… [and] tolerance and love with no strings attached.” AMG It is, understandably, a popular wedding song, SF but also holds a strong spiritual appeal, serving as “a Memphis soul sermon for a nation ripped apart by assassinations, riots, and betrayals.” AMG It doesn’t address any specific issues, it just offers “the heartfelt plea not to give up.” AMG This song was Green’s only #1 on the pop charts and established Hi Records as “the new benchmark in soul.” TB It also bears the distinction of revitalizing Tina Turner’s career. When she covered it in 1983, it took her back to the charts in the UK and US for the first time in more than a decade. Resources: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Al Green AMG All Music Guide review by Craig Lytle FB Fred Bronson (2003). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (5th edition). Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 306. TC Toby Creswell (2005). 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time. Thunder’s Mouth Press: New York, NY. Page 39. NPR National Public Radio (1999). “The Most Important American Musical Works of the 20th Century” RS500 Rolling Stone (2003). “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time“ SF Songfacts TB Thunder Bay Press (2006). Singles: Six Decades of Hot Hits & Classic Cuts. Outline Press Ltd.: San Diego, CA. Page 125. Last updated 7/11/2023.