tina turner tiny dancer tour

Private Dancer Tour (1985)

Private Dancer Tour  features selected tracks from the legendary concert at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, England on March 23, 1985 as part of Tina's  Private Dancer Tour . It includes also special appearances by David Bowie and Bryan Adams and was broadcasted from the Westwood One Radio Network in America. The video was reissued in 1994 as part of a limited edition CD & Video Double Pack, featuring the original VHS cassette and an exclusive compact disc. In 2010 it was also released on DVD under the different title „The Exciting Tina Turner Live“.

Director : David Mallet Photographer :  Paul Cox Release : June 08, 1985 (TV) / 1985 (VHS) / 1994 (Double Pack) / 2010 (DVD) Label : PMI / EMI / Immortal Format : VHS / Video 8 / LaserDisc / VHD / DVD Charts : USA: #2 Grammy : Best Long Form Music Video (Nomination 1986) Time : 55 Min.

• Show Some Respect (Live) 3.47
• I Might Have Been Queen (Live) 4.03
• What’s Love Got To Do With It (Live) 3.53
• I Can’t Stand The Rain (Live) 3.23
• Better Be Good To Me (Live) 6.34
• Private Dancer (Live) 6.20
• Let’s Stay Together (Live) 5.06
• Help (Live) 5.57
• It’s Only Love (Live Tina & Bryan Adams) 3:43
• Tonight (Live Tina & David Bowie) 5:22
• Let’s Dance (Live Tina & David Bowie) 5.18

Billboard - June 08, 1985

The Westwood One Radio Network and Home Box Office will join forces June 8 at 7:45 p.m. (Eastern and Pacific) to present the premiere of Tina Turner: Private Dancer , an exclusive digital stereo concert simulcast starring the Grammy-winning, stiletto-heeled singer of soulful songs. Recorded in Birmingham, England, the exciting show features 25 years of Tina's hits including all the big ones from her blockbuster Private Dancer album, plus duets with special guests David Bowie and Bryan Adams. Don't miss Tina Turner: Private Dancer - your chance to dance with rocks reigning queen of romance, only from the leader in stereo simulcast exclusives.

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Tina Turner: Private Dancer Tour '85 - Tina Turner

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Essaying the pop culture that matters since 1999

She Wants Her MTV: How ‘Private Dancer’ Made Tina Turner a Video Queen

In this PopMatters exclusive, the directors, choreographers, and dancers behind Tina Turner’s platinum-selling Private Dancer video 45 recall how the Queen of Rock went from MTV to number one.

13 September 1985 — A standing ovation greets Tina Turner at Radio City Music Hall. It’s the evening of the Second Annual MTV Video Music Awards and David Lee Roth has just announced Turner as the winner of “Best Female Video” for “What’s Love Got to Do With It”, her number-one single off Private Dancer (1984). Prevailing in a category with strong contenders like Madonna, Sheila E., Sade, and Cyndi Lauper, Turner’s win completes a trio of year-long victories that began with multiple GRAMMY Awards and American Music Awards.

“To have this now with all the others, is really a triumph for me,” she says from the stage. “I’ve been really winning!”

“What’s Love Got to Do With It” had been an MTV mainstay ever since its premiere in June 1984. Original VJ Nina Blackwood was among the first to see Turner attired in a mini-skirt and denim jacket, strutting through New York’s West Village neighborhood. “The video was powerful,” she says. “All she’s doing in that video is walking, but you can’t take your eyes off of her. She has this dignity and this gravitas about her. It’s a very special way of carrying herself and that’s really on display in that video.”

Those same qualities shaped each of the four videos Turner made for Private Dancer , amplifying the singer’s undeniable magnetism. “Tina was special,” says Gale Sparrow, who presided as MTV’s Director of Talent and Artist Relations. “Everybody had a pick, each week, of someone that they really wanted to promote. Tina? Everybody wanted to promote.” Indeed, MTV executives regularly placed Turner’s videos in heavy rotation at a time when the channel had amassed 27 million subscribers over a four-year period. 

While music videocassettes had been on the market since the early-’80s, they became a key product line for record companies in the wake of MTV’s emergence as a groundbreaking promotional platform. In December 1984, Capitol Records and Sony Video announced their partnership on Tina Turner — Private Dancer (1985), a seventeen-minute “Video 45” featuring the four clips that fueled Turner’s comeback. It inaugurated Billboard Magazine ‘s “Top Music Videocassettes” chart at number one in March 1985 before reaching platinum certification just a few months later.

As viewers await the premiere of Daniel Lindsay and T.J. Martin’s forthcoming HBO documentary Tina (2021), PopMatters revisits the four videos that sparked Turner’s career resurgence in 1984. For the first time ever, video directors David Mallet (“Let’s Stay Together”), John Mark Robinson (“What’s Love Got to Do With It”), and Brian Grant (“Better Be Good to Me”, “Private Dancer”) join legendary choreographers Toni Basil and Arlene Phillips (CBE), video cast members Cy Curnin (the Fixx), Ann Behringer, Ming Smith, and Jay T Jenkins, plus original MTV VJ Nina Blackwood and former MTV executive Gale Sparrow for an exclusive discussion about how Tina Turner — Private Dancer propelled Turner from MTV to number one.

“Rolling on the River” … and on the Screen 

The story of Tina Turner — Private Dancer began 20 years earlier on LA’s Sunset Strip, specifically Ciro’s nightclub. “That was the club,” says David Mallet. “Sonny Bono took me because I was working for [producer] Jack Good on Shindig!. I was nineteen years old. The Ike & Tina Turner Revue just blew the place apart. I’d never seen anything like it in my life.” As an assistant producer for Shindig!, Mallet was so struck by the singer’s performance that he booked her on ABC-TV’s weekly music series, furnishing one of Turner’s earliest prime time television appearances. 

Toni Basil, assistant choreographer on Shindig! , had also seen Ike & Tina Turner during their engagement at Ciro’s. “It changed me!” she exclaims. “You’d never seen anything like it. I was also assistant choreographer on The T.A.M.I. Show (1964) — that’s when I saw James Brown, but I had seen Tina before I saw James Brown. There were so many other great singers that you wanted to hear them sing or watch them sing, but Tina and James? You wanted to see them dance as much as you wanted to hear them sing. What they were doing was actually what a Gene Kelly or a Fred Astaire were doing, but they were doing it from ‘street dance’ vernacular. They took street and really made it into a theatrical event.

“I think The Ed Sullivan Show did a damn good job with James Brown and Tina Turner because the white American audience really had never had any access to anything like that. Shindig! was featuring these people before Ed Sullivan but that’s more of a younger audience. The Ed Sullivan Show reached all ages, shapes, and sizes.” 

Nina Blackwood first saw Ike & Tina Turner on Sullivan’s Sunday night program in January 1970. The act’s rendition of “Proud Mary” exploded onscreen. “I was blown away,” she says. “Ed Sullivan seemed to be, as weird as it sounds, the MTV of the ’60s, where you saw artists like the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and Ike & Tina Turner for the first time. The Ikettes, with these wonderfully wild dance moves and this freedom of movement and expression, were so dynamic. I can’t think of anybody prior to Tina, other than James Brown, who had that powerful persona.”

Across the UK, Ike & Tina Turner had rocked television audiences during their 1966 appearance on the pioneering music series Ready, Steady, Go! “I was a mod,” says Brian Grant. “Mods listened to Black American music, which was Tamla and Stax and Atlantic, and they listened to two bands in England — the Small Faces and the Who. ‘River Deep-Mountain High’ was probably the first Ike & Tina track I ever heard … and danced to it as a mod, probably!” Though it stalled in the US, “River Deep-Mountain High” reached the UK Top Five during the summer of 1966, securing Ike & Tina Turner’s invitation to open for the Rolling Stones later that fall. 

Whether standing in concert halls or seated behind small black and white television screens, viewers were mesmerized by Tina Turner’s kinetic performance. “I remember being absolutely blown away, not just by the voice but by the speed at which Tina moved and sang,” says Arlene Phillips. “It was like two separate instruments were working together, each one more powerful than the other, and vice versa. As I think about it, there was a style that was completely invented by Tina Turner and the Ikettes. It was just phenomenal .”

Applause notwithstanding, the singer left Ike Turner in 1976 after enduring years of his physical and emotional abuse. She embarked on the first phase of her musical reinvention a year later, rounding out her repertoire with ballads and disco numbers alike. Toni Basil was hired to choreograph Turner’s new solo show, which now featured two pairs of male and female dancers. She recalls, “I do not know how Tina knew about me but I got a call: ‘Tina has left Ike. She’s in hiding. When she comes out of hiding she wants to know if you’d be her choreographer.’ I remember the phone call. I remember where I was standing. Sure enough, it happened.

“When Tina asked me to work with her, I thought I was going to get to do Ikettes stuff. I was surprised. Tina wanted a whole new look when she left Ike. This was a different approach, with guys and girls. I had to turn my brain around. She wanted to have a jazz edge and be very sophisticated. She did different music and it was a lot of different dance styles. The music dictates steps. I choreographed ‘Disco Inferno’ … and ‘Disco Inferno’ was not ‘Proud Mary’!”

Turner sizzled onstage during her March 1979 UK tour, recasting Little Willie John’s “Fever” as a playful striptease before she and her dancers set the stage afire with the Trammps’ “Disco Inferno”. She’d recently released her first post-Ike solo album Rough (1978) on United Artists and would soon team with producer Alec R. Costandinos in London to record the follow-up Love Explosion (1979). Though neither album spawned a hit single, Turner’s concerts inspired all kinds of superlatives. “She showed that she’s still the female equivalent of Jagger and James Brown combined, and that her style, which embraces both wild rock and ballads, is based firmly on her strengths with the blues,” The Guardian noted about Turner’s show at Hammersmith Odeon (Apollo) in London. “She had no elaborate settings and she needed none” (17 March 1979). 

Brian Grant joined the crew of camera operators who filmed that concert, later released on videocassette with different titles including Tina Turner Live at the Apollo , Wild Lady of Rock and The Queen of Rock ‘n Roll .”I was a freelance cameraman at that point,” he says. “As far as that concert is concerned, it would have been a gallery shoot. In other words, shot as live with a vision mixer cutting live in a mobile control room. A bit like they do at sports events. It was recorded on two-inch video, so a long time before the advent of digital and all pretty crude. I’d made a couple of videos for Scott Millaney at Island Records and was looking to get my first proper job. A month later in April is when I shot ‘Pop Muzik’ (1979) by M, which really started my career as a director.” 

Grant’s video for “Pop Muzik” aired on the UK-based Kenny Everett Video Show , a music/comedy series hosted by former BBC Radio 1 personality Kenny Everett. Directed by David Mallet, the show featured a blend of subversive humor and risqué musical numbers, especially with Arlene Phillips’ dance troupe Hot Gossip as the show’s resident vamps. Turner also appeared on the program in April 1979 singing her cover of Dan Hill’s “Sometimes When We Touch”, but would soon toss middle-of-the-road pop ballads from her set, permanently, in a major career overhaul. 

LA-based dancer Ann Behringer helped fashion a fresh sound and style for Turner. As a teenager, she’d seen the Ike & Tina Turner Revue perform in Phoenix. “When I saw these beautiful Black women with these legs and hips, I totally resonated with it, with the whole vibe, the music and everything,” she says. After moving to Los Angeles, Behringer met Toni Basil through her longtime affiliation with the Tubes, dancing to David Bowie’s “Suffragette City” in “Toni Basil’s Follies Bizarre” at the Fox Venice. She wrapped production on Xanadu (1980) just a few months before auditioning for Turner. At the time, the singer still featured a quartet of male and female dancers, including David Werthe, Geronne Turner, and former Ikette, LeJeune Fletcher. Turner needed one more dancer to replace Deborah Jenssen, who’d recently been cast on Solid Gold.

“Toni Basil recommended me along with around ten other girls,” Behringer continues. “I had a few months sobriety when I went for the job. I was basically detoxing. I’ve been sober for 41 years. Tina said that I was the only one who came in with my portfolio, ready to sing and dance. The tape that I sang to was for a singing class, so I could learn how to sing. I’d never sung ever before. Tina said, ‘Can you sing?’ Of course I said Yes — that’s what you do in the business! I sang ‘Heat Wave’. She said, ‘ Girl , you can sing !’ She had me sing a slower song, ‘Since I Fell For You’, a cappella. She called me back and said, ‘I’m gonna give you the job.’ I said, ‘There’s two things I won’t do.’ She gave me that look like, Oh no … she’s trouble already. I said, ‘I don’t drink or use no matter what.’ She said fine. After Ike Turner, that was no big deal. I had hair down to my butt. I said, ‘I’m not cutting my hair.’ She said, ‘Oh, I don’t want you cutting it at all! I want that hair next to me!’ It was a dream come true, really. It was 1979 when I got the job. I started touring with Tina in the beginning of 1980. I jumped on that road like a duck takes to water.”

From the Ritz to “Let’s Stay Together” 

“Tina Turner is back, and nothing else can possibly matter much at all,” declared the Daily News on the eve of Turner’s three-night stand at the Ritz in May 1981. New York audiences were about to experience the singer’s newly revamped stage show. Over the past year, Australian manager Roger Davies had helped steer Turner from the Vegas trappings of numbers like “Big Spender” to stripped-down rock ‘n roll, discharging her male dancers and replacing almost every musician except pianist/vocalist Kenny Moore.

Turner performed more than a dozen concerts at the Ritz between 1981-1984, but her first string of dates in May 1981 set the tone for the star power she’d regularly draw at every show. “I look up, there’s Mick Jagger, there’s David Bowie, there’s Diana Ross,” Behringer recalls. “It was like every star on the planet was there to support her. There was so much electricity in the whole building. When I look back, it still blows my mind because it was kind of like her coming-out party.” 

Three months later, a coming-out party of another kind rocked the music world — the premiere of MTV. Directed by Russell Mulcahy, the Buggles’ “Video Killed the Radio Star” launched the network on 1 August 1981, along with several videos helmed by David Mallet, including David Bowie’s “Fashion” and “Boys Keep Swinging”. At the time, Mallet and Mulcahy, along with producer Lexi Godfrey, ran a production company called MGM before partnering with fellow director Brian Grant and producer Scott Millaney to form the London-based MGMM Studios in December 1981.

“We thought that it would be better to have all three of the main people at the time directing videos under one roof,” Mallet explains. “The three of us being together had the whole industry covered, as it were. We were all different. Russell was by far the most avant garde of the three of us. He was a great surrealist and made these wonderful mini-films. Hugely talented. I was kind of reinventing the way that you cut pictures to music and Brian was halfway between the two.” Mallet and Grant had advanced the form’s conceptual possibilities, directing full-length video albums for Blondie’s Eat to the Beat (1979) and Olivia Newton-John’s Physical (1981), respectively, while Mulcahy’s theatrical, New Romantic-themed video for Kim Carnes’ “Bette Davis Eyes” garnered praise from no less an auteur than Steven Spielberg.

Mallet, Grant, and Mulcahy’s growing library of videos kept MTV afloat during the channel’s first few months, especially since several American record companies wouldn’t even fund music videos. “In the beginning, we didn’t have any videos,” says Gale Sparrow. “When we were looking for videos, I called [production company] Gowers, Fields, and Flattery in LA because they had done the Queen long-form video [‘Bohemian Rhapsody’]. Paul Flattery was really helpful on where to find videos.

“Most of our videos came from England. In London, MGMM were the biggest and the best. They were an extremely creative company. Millaney was a great producer. Mallet was so prolific and everybody loved him. Brian Grant knew how to work with women! Russell Mulcahy — his videos are the reason we could launch because I think more than eight of the videos were Rod Stewart!

“We were financed by Warner Communications, so we had Warner, Elektra, and Atlantic Records. Then there was Chrysalis. They were with us at the beginning. Island Records was really good. The American record labels, if I can be honest, some of them really almost lost a year-and-a-half of breaking artists on MTV. I was a CBS ex-employee. John Sykes, who was a VP, had also worked at CBS, and artist managers would just give us videos. Billy Joel actually decided he was going to pay for his own videos so he could decide where they were going to go. ‘The record company doesn’t want to give it to you, but I own it.’ Springsteen — same thing.”

Nina Blackwood and fellow VJ’s Mark Goodman, Alan Hunter, J.J. Jackson, and Martha Quinn quickly became the public face of the burgeoning music channel. When Turner resumed her Ritz residency in the fall of 1981, Blackwood joined Gale Sparrow to witness the singer’s heralded return. “We launched in August, so MTV had just started,” says Blackwood. “I was kind of shy and Gale would shepherd me to these events. Gale was so responsible, in the early days especially, of getting the caliber of artists that we had involved with MTV because some of them thought, ‘What is this?’ Gale brought me, her assistant Roberta Cruger, and I don’t remember who else, down to see Tina perform. She was incredible! She was gorgeous. Her band was awesome. Her command of the stage, and that voice …  It is the quintessential voice with everything going for it — the power, the rasp, the soul, the rhythm. Everything.”

In a matter of months, Turner would make her MTV debut with “Ball of Confusion”, the opening track to British Electric Foundation’s Music of Quality and Distinction, Volume One (1982). Heaven 17 producers Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh coupled thunderous synthesizers with Turner’s raw, razor-sharp delivery, outfitting the Temptations’ classic for modern listeners. It had been years since the singer had sounded so vital on record.

David Mallet was hired to direct a video for “Ball of Confusion” during the spring of 1982. “I think the person that really had the foresight was Roger Davies,” he says. “The first time I met him was when we did ‘Ball of Confusion’. He was the one that saw that Tina wasn’t just an out-of-date club singer. I agreed with him.” Mallet also filmed Turner’s tour stop at Hammersmith Odeon in April 1982, shaping the show into a full-length concert video, Nice ‘n Rough (1982). “I didn’t get to see Tina that night,” he clarifies. “You put the cameras there, you do it, and go home.”

Mallet worked more closely with the singer on “Ball of Confusion”, keeping the special effects to a minimum and focusing instead on Turner’s magnetizing stage presence. “We were all part of a huge learning curve,” he continues. “I remember thinking that what we did must be based around live performance. We can’t do something with a story, and a this and a that. We can’t do an Ultravox-type of thing with it. I don’t think Tina had done an awful lot of what you might call ‘single camera’ filming up to then. I remember thinking, Ah, we got a problem here because Tina is a great live act, but how is she, as it were, more or less being a film person, doing the same thing time and time again? I remember trying to set it up as much as possible in big chunks so she could get into it. She got the hang of filming after that, obviously. She’s a quick learner.”

Between the video’s London set, British Electric Foundation’s production, and a UK-based label, Virgin Records, supporting the single, “Ball of Confusion” arrived at MTV as an import release. In promoting the video, the channel also broadcast Mallet’s Nice ‘n Rough concert, which typified the excitement of Turner’s shows at the Ritz. The singer even stopped by the channel’s studio on W. 33rd St. to film a station ID for the network’s “Knock Knock” promo featuring Boy George and Thomas Dolby. 

“Tina was wonderful,” Blackwood recalls. “It was in our first studio that I met her. We would wake up to go into the studio and it was virtually a parade of artists in and out. Tina was a spiritual person — grounded, strong, kind, warm, optimistic — a joyous person. It sounds fawning, but trust me I would not fawn . I don’t believe in false praise and all that. She’s somebody that you’d want to hug as soon as you met her. There’s some people that you just know that they’re good souls. She is one of them.”

Most significant of all, Turner became one of the first Black female artists to appear on MTV, along with Joan Armatrading and Grace Jones, at a time when Album Oriented Rock (AOR) still governed the station. “MTV was built around a very strict radio format and it took us awhile to finally get it — that we weren’t a radio channel, we were a visual channel,” Sparrow explains. “We finally realized that our audience was smarter than we thought. They liked the visual as much as the song. Thankfully, we evolved.” MTV continued to expand its musical format throughout 1983, with Michael Jackson’s game-changing videos for “Billie Jean” and “Beat It” opening the door for several more pop-oriented Black artists like Lionel Richie and Donna Summer to join Prince and Tina Turner in rotation on the network. 

Turner’s next video tilled the foundation for one of the most dramatic comebacks in popular music history. Since signing with Capitol Records in 1982, the singer had recorded a series of tracks with A&R VP John Carter, including covers of the Motels (“Total Control”) and the Animals (“When I Was Young”). She’d also worked with Pointer Sisters producer Richard Perry on Robert Palmer’s “Johnny and Mary” and Perry’s engineer Dennis Kirk on “Crazy in the Night” for the Summer Lovers (1982) soundtrack, plus other tracks for a potential full-length album that never materialized.

Martyn Ware re-teamed with Turner to record a new single for her fall ’83 European tour. Turner and Ware listened to several R&B classics before settling on Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together”. In just one take, Turner completely remodeled the song, transforming it into a showstopping tour de force of unbridled yearning and passion. 

While Capitol prepared “Let’s Stay Together” for single release, Turner and her dancers flew to London for a video shoot with David Mallet. Ann Behringer recalls, “We were in the US doing two shows a night for probably a solid two weeks and then they said, ‘You’re getting on a plane tomorrow to go to London. You’re going to be doing a video the next day.’ The video took eleven hours. We were so exhausted when we did that video. It was intense. I’ve never worked so hard!”

Mallet’s precision had a purpose. “I just wanted do so something more ambitious than the last video,” he says. “I thought we’d broken the mold for Tina Turner on ‘Ball of Confusion’ and I remember thinking, Now we’ve got to outdo that one some how, but still keep her slightly live performance-oriented .” For “Let’s Stay Together”, Mallet would craft a three-and-a-half minute showcase for the singer’s smoldering appeal.

A lone spotlight illuminated Turner in the video’s introduction. She projected an alluring combination of strength and sexuality, animating the words with heart and intention. “Tina takes direction but you don’t really have to give her much,” says Behringer. “Her persona onstage is just this raw, sensual, elegant woman. The essence of a woman, really. I think she and David Mallet were in sync.”

The transition between the intro’s celestial ambience and the track’s infectious beat revealed a softly lit stage, flanked by a group of tuxedoed percussionists, while Behringer and Fletcher danced at Turner’s side. “A lot of it was choreography from the show,” Behringer continues. “That’s what Tina would do. She would take pieces of choreography dating back to the Ikettes and basically we would re-work the patchwork quilt of choreography — Toni Basil’s choreography, I threw in some moves, LeJeune threw in some moves. It was always this mix.”

However, the impulse behind the video’s defining moment belonged to Behringer. “The whole movement of us going down Tina’s legs was my idea,” she says. “That was my choreography. Have you seen her legs? Okay. Nuff said! They kept it, but when they showed the video in London, they blocked us out because they thought it was too racy. It’s crazy. That was during the time of Boy George. There was a rumor going around that we were guys, that we weren’t really women, which I thought was hilarious!” [laughs] In fact, the trio coyly replicated the provocative pose during Norman Seeff’s photo session for the “Let’s Stay Together” single sleeve. 

A backdrop of flickering flames framed the singer and her two dancers for the second half of the video. “Fire is always good,” chuckles Mallet, who used a similar effect in Billy Idol’s “Eyes Without a Face” video. However, Turner’s bond with Behringer and Fletcher is what gave the scene its soul, like a trio of glamorous “Wonder Women” ready to soar. “We were tight,” notes Behringer. “We were close. We worked together non-stop all the time. We were doing two shows a night, traveling on the tour bus with the band. I’m still very close to LeJeune to this day. She’s like my sister.”

“Let’s Stay Together” entered the UK chart in November 1983, where it became the singer’s first Top Five hit as a solo artist, though “River Deep-Mountain High” had essentially served as a solo vehicle for Tina Turner years earlier. The singer bookended the single’s debut with a pair of appearances on the UK music program The Tube in October and December. The camera even spied a besotted Annie Lennox dancing in the audience during Turner’s performance.

Capitol quickly rushed a single release in the US, where “Let’s Stay Together” bowed on the Hot 100 the week ending 21 January 1984. Two months later, it topped the dance chart for two weeks and peaked at #27 in the Top 40. Capitol had a hit single. Now the label needed a hit album and another hit single. Fast. 

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Tina Turner Online

Private dancer tour 1985.

The 179-date tour encompassed Europe, North America, Australia and Asia. Turner also played a show in Budapest, the only show of the tour behind the Iron Curtain.

* For the final two performances in Japan, Tina Turner closed the show with a cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark". * During the performance at the NEC Arena in Birmingham, England (on 23 March 1985), Tina Turner was joined onstage by David Bowie to perform "Tonight" and "Let's Dance". * During the performance at the NEC Arena in Birmingham, England (on 24 March 1985), Tina Turner was joined onstage by Bryan Adams to perform "It's Only Love".

The Band Jack Bruno - Drums Timmy Cappello – Percussion,Keyboard, Saxophone and Vocals Bob Feit – Bass Jemie West-Oram – Guitar and Vocals Kenny Moore – Piano and Vocals James Ralston – Guitar and Vocals

March 1985 1 March 1985 - Basketballhalle - - Münich Germany - 11000 2 March 1985 - Jahrhunderthalle - Frankfurt - Germany 3 March 1985 - C.C.H. - Hamburg - Germany 4 March 1985 - Eissporthalle - Berlin - Germany 7 March 1985 - Boeblingen - Germany 8 March 1985 - Hallenstadion - Zürich - Switzerland - 12000 - S.O. 9 March 1985 - Karl Diehm Halle - Würzburg Germany 11 March 1985 - The Brighton Centre - Brighton UK 12 March 1985 - B.I.C. - Bournemouth - UK 14 March 1985 - Wembley Arena - London - UK - SO 15 March 1985 - Wembley Arena - London - UK - 12000 - S.O. 16 March 1985 - Wembley Arena - London - UK - 12000 - S.O. 17 March 1985 - Wembley Arena - London - UK - 12000 - S.O. 20 March 1985 - The Playhouse - Edinburgh - UK 21 March 1985 - The Apollo - Manchester UK - 3500 - S.O. 23 March 1985 - N.E.C. - Birmingham - UK - 12000 - S.O. 24 March 1985 - N.E.C. - Birmingham - UK - 12000 - S.O. 26 March 1985 - Zenith - Paris - France - 7000 - S.O. 27 March 1985 - Garnier - Lyon - France - 17000 28 March 1985 - Chapiteau - Marseilles - France 29 March 1985 - Palace Lido - Milan- Italy 31 March 1985 - Sportshalle - Klagenfurt - Germany - 5000 - S.O.

April 1985 1 April 1985 - Sportshalle - Graz - Austria - 4500 - S.O. 2 April 1985 - Sportshalle - Budapest - Hungary 3 April 1985 - Stadthalle - Vienna - Austria - 10000 4 April 1985 - Sportshalle- Linz - Austria - 6000 - S.O. 6 April 1985 - Olympiahalle - Münich - Germany - 9500 7 April 1985 - Saarlandhalle - Saarbrücken - Germany 8 April 1985 - The Ahoy - Rotterdam - The Netherlands 9 April 1985 - The Ahoy - Rotterdam The Netherlands 10 April 1985 - Forest Nationale - Brussels - Belgium 11 April 1985 - Jahrhunderthalle - Frankfurt - Germany 12 April 1985 - Jahrhunderthalle - Frankfurt - Germany 13 April 1985 - Stadthalle - Bremen - Germany 14 April 1985 - Westfalenhalle - Dortmund - Germany - 12000 15 April 1985 - Philipshalle - Düsseldorf - Germany 18 April 1985 - C.C.H. - Hamburg - Germany 19 April 1985 - Rhein-Neckar-Halle - Heidelberg - Germany 20 April 1985 - Olympiahalle - Münich - Germany - 10000 21 April 1985 - Hallenstadion - Zürich - Switzerland - 12000 - S.O. 22 April 1985 - Frankenhalle - Nürnberg - Germany - 8500 - S.O. 24 April 1985 - Deutschlandhalle - Berlin - Germany 25 April 1985 - Stadthalle - Bremen - Germany 26 April 1985 - Philipshalle - Düsseldorf - Germany 27 April 1985 - Festhalle - Frankfurt - Germany 28 April 1985 - Münsterlandhalle - Münster - Germany 30 April 1985 - Ostseehalle - Kiel - Germany - 7100 - S.O.

May 1985 1 May 1985 - Sporthalle - Cologne - Germany 3 May 1985 - Deutschlandhalle - Berlin - Germany 4 May 1985 - Niedersachsenhalle- Hannover - Germany 5 May 1985 - Aisterdorferhalle - Hamburg - Germany 7 May 1985 - Boblinger - Sporthalle - Stuttgart - Germany 8 May 1985 - Basketballhalle - Münich - Germany - 10800 9 May 1985 - St. Jakob´s Hall - Basel - Switzerland

July 1985 8 July 1985 - Memorial Stadium - St. Johns - Canada 9 July 1985 - Memorial Stadium - St. Johns - Canada 10 July 1985 - Memorial Stadium - St. Johns - Canada 11 July 1985 - Memorial Stadium - St. Johns - Canada 13 July 1985 - Live Aid - Philadelphia - USA - 100000 - S.O. 14 July 1985 - Aiken Center - Fredricton - Canada 15 July 1985 - Coliseum - Moncton - Canada - 8000 - S.O. 16 July 1985 - Metro Halifax - Canada - 10000 - S.O. 17 July 1985 - Metro - Halifax - Canada - 10000 - S.O. 19 July 1985 - Forum - Montreal- Canada 21 July 1985 - Worcester Centrum - Worcestor- USA- 12000 22 July 1985 - Worcester Centrum - Worcestor - USA - 12000 25 July 1985 - Civic Center - Providence - USA 26 July 1985 - Civic Center - Portland - USA - 8462 27 July 1985 - Civic Center - Hartfore - USA 28 July 1985 - Meadowlands - East Rutherford - USA 31 July 1985 - Spectrum - Philadelphia - USA - 3500

August 1985 1 Aug. 1985 - Madison Square Garden - NYC - USA - 17000 - S.O. 2 Aug. 1985 - Madison Square Garden - NYC- USA - 17000 - S.O. 3 Aug. 1985 - Fairground - Allentown - USA 5 Aug. 1985 - Capitol Center - Lanover - USA 7 Aug. 1985 - Jones Beach - Long Island - USA - 14000 - S.O. 8 Aug. 1985 - Jones Beach - Long Island - USA - 14000 - S.O. 9 Aug. 1985 - Raindate - Long Island - USA 10 Aug. 1985 - Hershey Park - Hershey - USA 11 Aug. 1985 - War Memorial - Rochester - USA 12 Aug. 1985 - Saratoga Perf. Arts C. - Saratoga - USA - 25000 15 Aug. 1985 - Olympic Center - Lake Placid - USA 17 Aug. 1985 - CNE - Toronto - Canada 18 Aug. 1985 - CCE - Ottawa - Canada - 15000 21 Aug. 1985 - Centennial Hall - Toledo - USA 22 Aug. 1985 - Richfield Co - Cleveland - USA 23 Aug. 1985 - Civic Arena - Pittsburgh - USA 24 Aug. 1985 - Civic - Charleston - USA 25 Aug. 1985 - Revermont C. - Cincinnatti - USA 28 Aug. 1985 - Joe Louis Arena - Detroit - USA 29 Aug. 1985 - Joe Louis Arena - Detroit- USA 31 Aug. 1985 - Castle Farms - Charlevoix- USA

September 1985 1 Sept. 1985 - Atwood Stadium - Flint - USA 4 Sept. 1985 - Wings Stadium - Kalamazoo - USA 5 Sept. 1985 - Coliseum Ft. - Wayne - USA 6 Sept. 1985 - Rupp Arena - Lexington - USA 7 Sept. 1985 - Market Square - Indianapolis - USA - 18000 8 Sept. 1985 - Roberts Stadium - Evansville- USA - 12500 10 Sept. 1985 - Assembly Hall - Champaign- USA 11 Sept. 1985 - Horizon - Chicago - USA 12 Sept. 1985 - Horizon - Chicago - USA 13 Sept. 1985 - MTV Awards Show - USA 14 Sept. 1985 - Mecca- Milwaukee- USA 15 Sept. 1985 - Dane City Arena - Madison - USA 18 Sept. 1985 - Civic Aud. - St. Paul - USA 19 Sept. 1985 - Carva Arena - Iowa City - USA 20 Sept. 1985 - Hilton Coliseum - Ames - USA 21 Sept. 1985 - Civic Arena - Omaha - USA - 10000 24 Sept. 1985 - Saddledome - Calgary - Canada - 20000 - S.O. 25 Sept. 1985 - Coliseum - Edmonton - Canada - 13000 - S.O. 27 Sept. 1985 - PNE Coliseum - Vancouver - Canada 29 Sept. 1985 - Dome - Tacoma - USA 30 Sept. 1985 - Coliseum - Portland - USA

October 1985 2 Oct. 1985 - Lawlor - Reno - USA 3 Oct. 1985 - Coliseum - Oakland- USA 4 Oct. 1985 - Coliseum - Oakland- USA 5 Oct. 1985 - Irvine Meadows - Irvine - USA 8 Oct. 1985 - Universal Amphitheatre- Los Angeles - USA - 6000 9 Oct. 1985 - Universal Amphitheatre - Los Angeles - USA - 6000 10 Oct. 1985 - Universal Amphitheatre - Los Angeles - USA - 6000 11 Oct. 1985 - Universal Amphitheatre - Los Angeles- USA - 6000 12 Oct. 1985 - Universal Amphitheatre - Los Angeles - USA - 6000 18 Oct. 1985 - ASU Activities - Tempe - USA 19 Oct. 1985 - Pan America Center - Las Cruces - Mexico 20 Oct. 1985 - Tingley Coliseum - Albuquerque - USA 23 Oct. 1985 - Kansas Coliseum - Wichita - USA 24 Oct. 1985 - Hammons - Springfield - USA 25 Oct. 1985 - Myriad - Oklahoma City - USA 26 Oct. 1985 - Kemper - Kansas City - USA - 12000 27 Oct. 1985 - Kiel - St. Louis - USA 28 Oct. 1985 - Kiel - St. Louis - USA 31 Oct. 1985 - Ass Center - Tulsa - USA

November 1985 1 Nov. 1985 - Reunion Arena - Dallas - USA - 12000 2 Nov. 1985 - Erwin Events - Austin- USA 3 Nov. 1985 - Summit - Houston - USA - 11000 6 Nov. 1985 - LSU Assembly - Baton Rouge - USA 7 Nov. 1985 - Gulf Coast 8 Nov. 1985 - Auburn Memorial Center - Auburn - USA 9 Nov. 1985 - UTC - Chatanooga- USA 10 Nov. 1985 - MidSouth - Memphis - USA 13 Nov. 1985 - Hersht Coliseum - Shreveport - USA 14 Nov. 1985 - Humphrey - Starkville - USA 15 Nov. 1985 - Jeff Co. Civic - Birmingham - USA 16 Nov. 1985 - Murphy Center - Murfrebor - USA 17 Nov. 1985 - Stokely Center - Knoxville - USA 20 Nov. 1985 - W.V.U. Gym. - Morgntown - USA 21 Nov. 1985 - Civic - Roanoke - USA 22 Nov. 1985 - Hampton Coliseum - Hampton - USA - 13000 23 Nov. 1985 - Civic - Greensboro- USA 24 Nov. 1985 - Coliseum - Columbia- USA 27 Nov. 1985 - Coliseum - Richmond - USA 29 Nov. 1985 - Coliseum - Charlotte - USA 30 Nov. 1985 - Civic Center - Savannah - USA

December 1985 1 Dec. 1985 - Omni - Atlanta- USA 4 Dec. 1985 - O´Connell Center - Gainesville - USA 5 Dec. 1985 - Conv. Center - Orlando - USA 6 Dec. 1985 - Sundome - Tampa - USA 7 Dec. 1985 - Baseball Stadium - Miami- USA 10 Dec. 1985 - Chandler Velodrome- Brisbane - Australia 12 Dec. 1985 - Entertainment Centre - Sydney- Australia - 11500 - S.O. 13 Dec. 1985 - Entertainment Centre - Sydney - Australia - 11500 - S.O. 15 Dec. 1985 - Entertainment Centre - Sydney - Australia - 11500 - S.O. 17 Dec. 1985 - Entertainment Centre - Melbourne - Australia 18 Dec. 1985 - Entertainment Centre - Melbourne - Australia 19 Dec. 1985 - Entertainment Centre - Melbourne - Australia 20 Dec. 1985 - Entertainment Centre - Melbourne - Australia 23 Dec. 1985 - Entertainment Centre - Perth - Australia - 7000 24 Dec. 1985 - Entertainment Centre - Perth - Australia - 7000 27 Dec. 1985 - Festival Hall - Osaka - Japan 28 Dec. 1985 - Budokan -Tokyo - Japan

S.O.= Sold Out

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Tina Turner  

• No longer touring
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Tina Turner (born November 26, 1939) is the stage and recording name of Anna Mae Bullock, a critically acclaimed, world renowned R&B and soul singer-songwriter, actress and dancer, hailing from Nutbush, Tennessee, U.S.

Tina Turner’s earliest musical excursion came when she began singing in her teens under the name Little Ann, and later became a backing singer for Ike Turner’s Kings of Rhythm. It wasn’t long however before Anna Bullock’s soaring vocals stole the show and in 1960 the group transitioned into the Ike and Tina Turner Revue. Alongside Ike, Tina earned critical acclaim and commercial success with the singles “A Fool in Love”, “River Deep – Mountain High”, “Proud Mary”, and “Nutbush City Limits”. The singles earned the duo both national and international esteem, and resulted in a slot opening for the Rolling Stones. In 1974 plagued by Ike’s drug habits and tumultuous behaviour Tina Turner left the group to pursue a solo career.

A year later in 1975 Turner was offered the role of the Acid Queen in The Who’s film version of “Tommy”. Despite providing an unforgettable performance, the film was all too forgettable, and soon passed from public’s consciousness. Turner’s first few solo releases “Acid Queen”, “Rough” and “Love Explosion” all charted poorly and could all too well have deterred a singer of a lesser disposition. However with backing from the likes of Rod Stewart, The Rolling Stones, Chuck Berry and David Bowie, Tina Turner bounced back and released the Al Green Cover “Let’s Stay Together” in 1983. The single catapulted Turner into U.S. and a number of European charts, and resulted in the singer inking a three-album deal with Capitol Records.

The album “Private Dance” was subsequently released in June 1984 charting at No. 3 on the Billboard 200. Selling over 11 million copies, the album spawned the Grammy-winning, No. 1 single “What’s Love Got to Do with It”, along with “Better Be Good to Me”, and “Private Dancer”. Following the release Turner played the role of Aunty Entity in the film “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome” for which she later won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress. In 1986 the singer released the single “Typical Male” after which Turner’s music moved away from the upper echelons of the chart. The albums “Foreign Affair” in 1989, “Wildest Dreams” in 1986 and “Twenty Four Seven” in 2000 earned strong reviews from critics and all saw respectable chart placing. The best-of compilation “All the Best” arrived in 2004, followed by a performance alongside Beyoncé at the 2008 Grammy Awards.

Live reviews

Tiny Turner is arguable the best female performers ever! The power and tone of her voice, the energy of her performance and her sheer love for the stage. Very few have got gigs rocking the way Tiny Turner could! She has sold more concert tickets than any other live performer EVER! She has enjoyed success as a singer, dancer, writer and as an actress. She has received an enormous amount of respect from peers, many honours and awards, including 8 grammy awards and record sales of over 100 million! After breaking into the music scene in 1960 whilst part of the Ike & Tina Turner Revue she soon became known worldwide as an unbelievable live act! With amazing songs such as “Proud Mary”, “River Deep- Mountain High”, “A Fool in Love” and “Nutbush City Limits” there was no doubting they’re ability to get a crowd going. She certainly had something quite special, an ability to bring a room alive! To get the room dancing! Even, at the age of my nan, she would be rocking a stage at a stadium sized gig! Considered by many as the great female rock singer ever, the ‘queen of rock and roll’ and a performer who is still performing at the highest level after over 50 years!

Still need convincing? Ok! Once again! Tiny Turner has sold more concert tickets than any other live performer EVER!!!!!

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There are few vocalists who are completely incomparable due to the uniqueness of their tones, 80s soul/pop siren Tina Turner is very much one of those. She has a whole plethora of hits and is an icon within her own right and despite the hair not being quite outrageous these days, the stage show very much is. She is an impassioned performer even in her later years and really knows how to work the stage, her accompanying musicians and of course the adoring crowds.

The amount of legendary tracks included tonight could make your head spin 'River Deep, Mountain High' 'Private Dancer' and 'We Don't Need Another Hero' all feature along with covers of iconic rock musicians proving Tina very much lives and breathes the genre. A highlight was a downtempo rendition of 'Addicted To Love' by Robert Palmer which allows that sultry, raspy vocal to really shine. It is of course the finale of 'The Best' and 'Proud Mary' that gets the whole crowd singing, dancing and cheering as the fabulous songstress struts from side to side of shade proving she cannot be considered to be past it.

I wld love to see Tina Turner in concert..I grew up listening to all her songs with my parents when I was a kid..love all her songs all the way bk to Ike and Tina Turner..they really new how to put on a show for sure..!..and nothing like proud Mary..!..she is “simply the best”..!

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We’ll Never Live in a World Without Tina Turner

By Rob Sheffield

Rob Sheffield

Tina Turner didn’t just pull off the greatest comeback in music history — she invented the whole concept of the comeback as we know it. She became a solo superstar when she was 44. Things like that simply don’t happen. That’s how old Brandy, Usher, Adam Levine, Lance Bass, and John Legend are right now. At that age, Tina Turner was just beginning.

Her defining hit was “What’s Love Got To Do With It,” a shocker from the summer of 1984. The song has gotten so familiar, it’s easy to overlook how it shocked the audience, on the radio in between Madonna, Prince and Cyndi Lauper. Unlike anyone else near her age, she had zero interest in passing for young. This woman had lived . She’d stared down more hard times than your miserable Smiths-loving teenage mind could imagine. The audience didn’t know what she’d been through — she wasn’t telling those stories yet. But even a kid could hear the rage and pain in her voice. A grandmother, and tougher than anyone.

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She had a new audience of Eighties fans, but hardly any of them knew any of the music she’d made with her ex-husband. For them, Tina Turner was right now. Neither she nor they wanted to recall her past. “Rhythm and blues to me has always been a bit of a downer,” she said. She couldn’t stand it when the press used the word “victim.” She had rocking to do.

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She epitomized the story of rock if anyone did. She sang her ferocious “Come Together” just three months after Abbey Road, breathing more sex and dread into it than even John Lennon could have imagined. Many years and several lives later, she was onstage with Paul McCartney in 1986, when he sang “Get Back” live for the first time since the rooftop . It’s a star-studded charity event with Elton John, Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler, etc. Yes, obviously, Phil Collins is on drums. Tina sings the verse about Sweet Loretta, an American girl who leaves a home she can’t get back to. She’s the only Black artist here, almost the only American, definitely the only woman. She lived Loretta’s story before Paul even wrote the song. The jam keeps rolling, but after Tina, nobody goes near that microphone. She has just shut up the planet’s most un-shut-uppable men. She’s the grown-up on this stage. Every other rock star here is a child.

JANUARY, 1975: Ann-Margret Olsson , a TV variety special, from the golden days of TV variety specials. Ann-Margret introduces Tina as her best friend. They duet on “Nutbush City Limits,” Tina’s life story, and then “Honky Tonk Women,” the Rolling Stones’ ode to Memphis queens. (Ann-Margret screams the line “He blew my nose and then he blew my mind!”) Then they bump and grind to — what else?— “Proud Mary.”

But here they are singing about rollin’ on the Mississippi River steamboats. They’re laughing so hard as they dance, they’re practically falling over. Neither of them really belongs on a steamboat, and neither did the guy who wrote the song, a white suburban kid from El Cerrito named John Fogerty. He’s never set foot on the bayou, but he’s gotten drafted, served his time, and worked his way back into the bar-band scene with Creedence Clearwater Revival. This song is a fantasy, but all three of them traveled a long distance to get here, and the song is a generous river that carries them all. “ You on a riverboat?” A-M asks. “There hasn’t been one of those around in 75 years!” Tina laughs, “I wear my eighties well!” 

Tina already had a hit with “Proud Mary” in the Sixties, but in 1975 she has no idea what this song will mean to her in years to come. She’ll turn “Proud Mary” into a feminist rock anthem, representing all the unspeakable (and unspoken) violence she escapes and her determination to claim her own story. But right now, she’s still trapped in her marriage to Ike. In less than a year, she will finally leave him, on the Fourth of July. She’s got nothing to her name but 36 cents, a gas-station credit card, and the blood-stained white suit on her back. Ann-Margret takes her in, hooking her up with designer Bob Mackie and a divorce lawyer.

But right now, it’s just Ann-Margret and Tina, singing on a TV soundstage in London. They can’t stop laughing hysterically. Two women sharing a weirdly private joke in a public place. The big wheel keeps on turnin’.

Tina sang “Ball of Confusion” with them, in one take. To her amazement, it took off on a brand new cable network the kids were into. MTV had a nationwide audience and a playlist full of unconventional Black rockers who didn’t fit into radio: Prince, Grace Jones, Joan Armatrading, Peter Tosh, Bob Marley. “Ball of Confusion” made her an MTV star, even though American radio wouldn’t touch her. She cut another single and video with Martyn Ware, a remake of Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together,” an even bigger hit.

That led to the night that changed her life, in NYC, January 1983. David Bowie was having dinner with his new record label, right before Let’s Dance came out, getting wined and dined, but he informed them he had plans for the night: He was going to see Tina Turner live. He wouldn’t dream of missing her. He dragged everyone along with him. Her manager Roger Davies got a last-minute call, asking for 63 spots on the guest list. “My Cinderella moment,” she called it in her book. “That night at the Ritz was the equivalent of going to the ball (minus the part about Prince Charming) because it changed my life dramatically.” 

After the show, she raised hell all night with Bowie, Keith Richards, and Ron Wood, sitting around the hotel piano, singing Motown classics, guzzling Dom Perignon. They posed for one of the coolest rock photos of all time: Tina, Keith and Bowie all drinking from the same bottle of Jack Daniels. She was a rock star now, forever. Her story was just beginning. 

It was funny for fans how she was so into old-school rock, but she spiced up her live set with ZZ Top’s “Legs” (she had them) and Robert Palmer’s “Addicted to Love” (she wasn’t). At Live Aid, dueting with Mick Jagger, the song they did was “It’s Only Rock & Roll But I Like It.”

ROLLING STONE BLEW up Private Dancer with one of the most influential reviews the magazine has ever run, from the brilliant critic Debby Miller. The review framed the Tina Turner comeback narrative, as the world has known it ever since. The final lines: “Last year, I heard Tina Turner sing that awful Terry Jacks song ‘Seasons in the Sun’ on television, and she found something in it that broke her heart. Imagine her doing the same thing to good songs.” 

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Really, she spent her whole life doing that. And that’s why Tina Turner’s voice will never go silent. In the end, she is the big wheel who keeps on turning, forever.

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Private Dancer by Tina Turner

Album Reviews 1984 Albums , 2014 Reviews , Album Reviews by Ric Albano , American Artists , Jeff Beck , Mark Knopfler , Tennessee Artists , Tina Turner 0

Buy Private Dancer

Just a few years earlier, no one could have imagined that this longtime star of the soul genre would become the top performer on the pop charts, and do so without compromising her musical repertoire. In the late 1970s, Turner made her living through various television appearances and Las Vegas-style gigs and her initial solo albums reflected this strategy musically. In 1982, Turner met A&R man, John Carter, who promised her a new record deal.

Carter also set about finding the right songs for Turner, which she recorded at several different studios and with several different producers. However, while recording was in process a new regime of executives at Capitol and initially planned to drop Turner. The new label president called Roger Davies and summarily dropped Tina Turner from the roster. Carter fought hard to keep her on and the label was more than rewarded when Private Dancer spawned seven singles.

Bassist and producer Rupert Hine was enlisted to work on several tracks on Private Dancer , starting with the opener “I Might Have Been Queen”. The song was co-written by Jamie West-Oram , lead guitarist of The Fixx, a band which Hine had recently produced with great success. The song was written specifically for Turner and its lyrics reflect Turner’s belief in reincarnation. “What’s Love Got to Do with It” is the most popularly sustained song from the album, due in part to the later movie of the same name. Turner’s vocal and melodic delivery are masterful in both their ascent and constraint. Written by guitarist Terry Britten and Graham Lyle , the song topped the charts in the Summer of 1984 and marked the undeniable moment of Turner’s comeback success.

“Show Some Respect” is another song written by Britten with a decidedly eighties synth and funk approach. One of the later songs released as a single, this track became a Top 40 hit in 1985. Britten also produced the next track, “I Can’t Stand the Rain”, a remake of of the 1974 hit for Ann Peebles. The album’s title song was written by Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits, who wrote the song for his band’s Love Over Gold album, but ultimately decided he didn’t want to sing a song from a female perspective. Ironically, Knopler is the only member of Dire Straits not to appear on Turner’s version of the song, which also features a guitar solo by the legendary Jeff Beck .

Private Dancer ‘s second side begins with a cover of Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together”, which turner released in late 1983, well ahead of the album. While Turner remains faithful to the original, she also adds some unique delivery to this track which topped the Billboard Dance chart. “Better Be Good to Me” is the most pop/rock oriented song on the album, originally intended for Pat Benatar. Produced by Hine and composed by the team of Holly Knight, Mike Chapman, and Nicky Chinn, the song reached #5 on the pop charts.

The album winds down with three lesser known recordings. “Steel Claw” was written by Paul Brady and features a lineup similar to “Private Dancer”, with members of Dire Straits (sans Knopfler) and Beck adding a solo. The Beatles’ “Help!” is delivered in a gospel-tinged by Turner, in a rendition she had been working on since the early eighties. David Bowie’s “1984” concludes the album as an electronic track that pays homage during the actual year it was written about.

Private Dancer reached the Top 10 in over a dozen countries, sold over eight million copies, and won four Grammy’s for Turner. Capitalizing on this immense popularity, Turner went on a World tour through 1985, which included over 170 dates on three continents.

Part of Classic Rock Review’s celebration of 1984 albums.

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UK & IRELAND TOUR

About the Show

About the show.

West End mega-hit TINA – The Tina Turner Musical , is on its first ever UK & Ireland tour.

From humble beginnings in Nutbush, Tennessee, to her triumphant transformation into a multi award-winning global superstar, Tina Turner didn’t just break the rules, she rewrote them, winning 12 Grammy Awards.

Set to the pulse-pounding soundtrack of her iconic hits, including The Best , What’s Love Got To Do With It? , Private Dancer and River Deep, Mountain High , discover the heart and soul behind the Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll.  Experience her inspiring story live on stage as this exhilarating celebration reveals the untold story of a woman who dared to dream fiercely, shatter barriers and defy the bounds of age, gender and race to conquer the world against all odds.

Presented in association with Tina Turner , written by Olivier Award and Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Katori Hall ( The Mountaintop ) and directed by the internationally acclaimed Phyllida Lloyd ( Mamma Mia! ), this five-star show is “simply the best” ( Daily Mail ).

TINA IS ROLLING ACROSS THE UK & IRELAND

THU 6 – SAT 22 MAR 2025

Wed 26 mar – sat 5 apr 2025, empire theatre, tue 8 – sat 26 apr 2025, hippodrome theatre, tue 6 – sat 24 may 2025, grand opera house, tue 27 may – sat 14 jun 2025, bord gáis energy theatre, tue 17 – sat 28 jun 2025, tue 1 – sat 12 jul 2025, theatre royal, tue 15 jul – sat 2 aug 2025, tue 12 – sat 23 aug 2025, tue 26 aug – sat 6 sep 2025, cliffs pavilion, tue 9 – sat 20 sep 2025, lyceum theatre, tue 23 sep – sat 4 oct 2025, king’s theatre, tue 7 – sat 18 oct 2025, southampton, mayflower theatre, tue 28 oct – sat 8 nov 2025, marlowe theatre, tue 11 – sat 22 nov 2025, playhouse theatre, tue 25 nov 2025 – sat 3 jan 2026, palace theatre, tue 13 – sat 24 jan 2026, tue 27 jan – sat 7 feb 2026, milton keynes, milton keynes theatre, tue 10 – sat 28 feb 2026, wales millennium centre, tue 3 – sat 14 mar 2026, tue 17 mar – sat 4 apr 2026, grand theatre, sign up now.

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Beyoncé's 'cowboy carter' is a portrait of the artist getting joyously weird.

Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter has ignited discourse about the place of Black musicians in country music. But it's also evidence of its creator's desire to break genre walls by following her most eccentric impulses. Mason Poole/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter has ignited discourse about the place of Black musicians in country music. But it's also evidence of its creator's desire to break genre walls by following her most eccentric impulses.

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After two months of anticipation, Cowboy Carter has been out in the world for nearly a fortnight, and the discourse is thick as sawdust on a honky-tonk floor. Beyoncé's spangled opus, as lengthy and florid as a Sergio Leone classic — it really could have been called The Good, the Bey and the Ugly -- has generated more think pieces than any pop phenomenon since her friendly rival Taylor's Eras tour.

I've kept track of the coverage of Cowboy Carter and it's, well, something. Actually it's everything, ranging from paeans to (not too many) pans . Not weighing in hasn't been an option for most music writers, who have spilled tons of ink documenting the album's backstory, tracing its references, and examining its work of legacy building. What could I add to the discourse? Well, this: Whether it's considered a champion's walk, an overlong stumble, a powerful political gesture or a highly personal cri de couer — one thing Cowboy Carter is, undeniably even if no one has said it, is weird. And that's a wonderful thing.

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Not that Beyoncé herself would ever admit to her own eccentricity. She's declared herself a diligent student of the genre she sought to revise, and many of the touchstones on this massive grab bag of ballads and bangers check the boxes of cultural intervention. She features Dolly and Willie; shows us her boots, brand-name jeans and whiskey bottle; includes a murder ballad and her perspective on that ultimate country emblem, the American flag. (She sees it as red: blood, Alabama clay, indigenous people.)

Her inclusion of the undersung Black Grand Ole Opry pioneer Linda Martell as a collaborator nods to efforts to rectify historical omissions that have been going on in and around Nashville for years — shoutout to the Black Opry crew, to artist and radio host Rissi Palmer and to Martell's granddaughter, who continues to crowd-fund a documentary that Beyoncé really should just finance.

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But the way she assembles these hardly unique elements is startling. Sidestepping either a conventional foray into country's traditional sounds or a risk-averse pop approach that would just use those elements as window-dressing, she and her dozens of collaborators assemble a cosmic omnibus of reference points while drilling down on her long-standing obsessions. While it's correct to call this album an epic and a strong political statement, it's an idiosyncratic one, more akin to Jim Jarmusch's off-kilter visions of American heritage — especially Mystery Train -- than, say, Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon .

It may seem off to identify eccentricity in a project that includes radio-ready Miley Cyrus and Post Malone collabs, and which was quickly endorsed by none other than the Vice President. Yet the first thing I thought of when I sat down to listen to Cowboy Carter was an album from 1967 that's beloved by many rock cognoscenti for its very peculiarness. Van Dyke Parks 's Song Cycle was the first solo album by the noted composer, arranger and producer. It is a shambling, sunnily psychedelic portrait of California living from the perspective of a transplanted white East Coaster with Southern roots. (Parks was born in Mississippi but grew up in Princeton singing in a boys' choir.)

Rich with strings and gorgeous melodies and rife with punnily poetical lines like, "Nowadays a Yankee dread not take his time to wend to sea" in a song about Parks's own experience trying to make it within the L.A. music biz hustle, no less, Song Cycle features Parks's birdlike warble, and by birdlike, I don't mean Beyoncé's operatic forays on new songs like "DAUGHTER" or "FLAMENCO," but Tweety Bird or the Peanuts ' Woodstock. Parks made the unfinished psychedelic masterpiece Smile with Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys and later worked with 21st-century visionaries Joanna Newsom and Gaby Moreno, among others. But Song Cycle is his strange baby. Though it's a rich work that offers real insight into the melting late 1960s American West Coast dream, Song Cycle is not for everyone. Parks experimented joyfully with song structure, sound effects and lyricism, painting a floating world that requires time and sympathy to comprehend.

Cowboy Carter sounds absolutely nothing like Song Cycle , yet I thought about the latter as I sunk into the non-linear, fragmentary experience of listening to it. I appreciate how Beyoncé sticks to her guns throughout, just as Parks maintained his whimsicality and dreaminess. Stacked harmonies do here what strings do on Song Cycle , lending grandeur to the opening "American Requiem" and tenderness to the ballads "MY ROSE" and "FLAMENCO" (the latter pairs them artfully with Andalusian hand-claps); yet those vocals also set a kind of Broadway stage for the songs, rendering them winsomely surreal. The album's employment of banjo and pedal steel signify country, sure, but they're used in unusual ways, as Parks uses accordion and balalaika. The distortions are highly individualistic, nothing like what current country sounds like. (Exception: that Post Malone duet, "LEVII'S JEANS.") Same with the roots references. The interlude "OH LOUISIANA" speeds up a Chuck Berry vocal to turn that rock and roll founder into helium. On the tour de force Tina Turner tribute "YA YA," Beyoncé begins with a spoken exchange with her background singers that calls back to her campy turn in Austin Powers in Goldmember as well as to Southern rap's most glorious weirdo breakthrough, Outkast's "Hey Ya!" Sure, this is historical work, but it's hardly textbook.

These tracks stand alongside others in a sprawl of concepts, tempos and tones until Cowboy Carter turns into a full-on megamix, its final four tracks returning to the dance party of Renaissance , abruptly concluded with a literal showstopper, the Broadway-ready "AMEN." The album is immersive, but it's a jerky, bucking rodeo ride, not a narrative that lends itself to easy absorption. And through it all Beyoncé bends country and blues tropes — those two genres are inseparable, something Cowboy Carter acknowledges — to the themes she can never abandon: the perils of attempted monogamy, the joy and terror involved in mothering and her own determination to be great, an ambition that she views as a responsibility more than a privilege.

Concept albums can be relatively straightforward, like Willie Nelson's classic Red Headed Stranger , but often they do come out ornate and leaky as their makers dump all of their ideas within the frame. Beyoncé nods sonically to a few that came after Song Cycle . At certain points, Sly and the Family Stone's murky funk on There's a Riot Goin' On comes to mind. Michael Jackson never made a full-on concept album, but that tarnished legend requires mention because Beyoncé's massive ambition rivals his more than anyone's. (Maybe Madonna's; she did make a concept record, Erotica . Or that soundtrack-maker Prince's.)

More recent touchstones include the high-concept forays of Janelle Monaé, whose " Tightrope " seems as much a touchstone for "YA YA" as does Tina Turner's shimmy, and the efforts of two of her collaborators on Cowboy Carter . Raphael Saadiq, who co-produced several tracks, released a similarly massive and emotionally affecting concept album , Jimmy Lee , in 2019. And the Virginia-born multihyphenate Shaboozie, a visionary character whom Beyoncé has apparently recognized as a kindred soul, paid tribute to the landscapes and culture of his native state on his own 2022 disquisition on the same themes as Cowboy Carter . Its title? Cowboys Live Forever, Outlaws Never Die .

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When I associate Cowboy Carter with these equally adventurous and strange concept albums and the outsiders who made them, I don't mean to reduce the impact of her work or her centrality as an era-defining artist. Instead, I'm trying to free this fun and unfettered music from the burden of predefined significance. Beyoncé has, by her own will as well as her fans's needs, become what Doreen St. Felix calls an "übermatriarch," not only a biological mother but the nurturing, burdened mother of all of her faithful — and of Black America, a role she inherited and claimed from the equally eccentric and more reluctantly ennobled Aretha Franklin. The seriousness of her responsibilities has earned her a lot: millions nearing billions of dollars, a place among heads of state and a fan base that strikes fear in the hearts of naysayers. But for an artist, such success ultimately confines. Only a few have been able to remain playful and light-footed as their public images have hardened into marble.

Two such artists, as it happens, are ones Beyoncé directly takes on in Cowboy Carter : The Beatles, whose members never stopped releasing humorous and even nonsense songs alongside their wedding-and-funeral ballads and politicized anthems; and Dolly Parton, the most agile pop star of all, who's crossed into nearly every category that's interested her with her own birdlike laugh and dimpled smile. Dolly herself has deep and strange predilections: her many songs about dead children, for example, or her way of turning sexuality cartoonish not only as comic relief, but as a weapon. It's her oddball side as well as her musical genius that's allowed her to slip through so many doors.

Beyoncé did not create Cowboy Carter to honor white artists like Parton, but she made a wise decision by invoking her as a partner and a patron saint. In the spoken interlude that precedes Beyoncé's rewrite of her classic "Jolene," Parton refers to Beyoncé's famous line about a white woman's allure for her Black husband, "Becky with the good hair," as "that hussy with the good hair." She drawls out the insult, though, as if she's in the middle of a Hee Haw skit: huzzzzy . It's a goofy, enjoyably destabilizing moment — an eccentric gesture that reminds us that as serious as music can be, it's most powerful when its subversions are also fun.

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