Throwing back to the week of June 4, 1983, we find Irene Cara on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with her soundtrack smash ‘Flashdance… What a Feeling.’
Watching clips from Adrian Lyne’s Flashdance, I’m reminded of the crush I had on lead actress Jennifer Beals at the time. I assume I caught up with the film on video, because I don’t think I saw the R-rated film in theaters as an 11-year-old.
It took six years and two more solo albums, but Tina Turner finally had her post-Ike breakthrough success with 1984’s Private Dancer. The album went 5X platinum in the U.S. and was a top five hit in countries all over the world. It rocketed her to international stardom and led to a string of successful albums through her last studio release in 1999.
Private Dancer features the first — and only — #1 hit of Turner’s career in ‘What’s Love Got to Do with It,’ as well as a #5 hit in ‘Better Be Good to Me.’ The title track, written by Mark Knopfler, made it to #7.
Tina Turner released her first two solo albums — Tina Turns the Country On! and Acid Queen — while still recording with Ike Turner. But in 1976, the two split for good after he beat her up in a Dallas hotel. Turner fled to a Ramada Inn across the street, carrying only “36 cents and a Mobil card,” and was given a room by the understanding manager. This event is dramatized in the great 1993 film What’s Love Got to Do with It.
Tina was granted a divorce in 1978, after which she released her third solo album and first without the influence of Ike. If life were a movie, that album — Rough — would have been a massive success. Alas, none of its singles charted, though the album was well-received by critics.
The title track of 1973’s Nutbush City Limits was the first hit song Tina Turner wrote, and signaled a shift in her career from creative reliance on her abusive husband Ike. A year later she would record her first solo album.
‘Nutbush City Limits’ is a tribute to Tina’s Tennessee hometown. I can’t imagine tourism to the rural town increasing after these lyrics hit the airwaves, but it must be cool for any community to have a signature song.
Nine years and a dozen albums after their debut, Ike & Tina Turner released their top-selling album, 1970’s Workin’ Together. The tracklist featured five Ike Turner originals and a half dozen covers, including two Beatles songs.
The standout track — one that would become the duo’s biggest hit and signature song — was a cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s ‘Proud Mary.’
Meet Me In Montauk 