Tina Turner -- Private Dancer (single)

 

It's been over a year since legendary singer Tina Turner left this mortal coil. I paid tribute to her at the time with a ROY article on her 1984 pop hit "What's Love Got to Do with It". It was also a track on Turner's multi-Platinum album "Private Dancer" when it was released in May of that year.

As much as I have liked "What's Love Got to Do with It", however, I have to admit that I've had an even bigger attraction to the title track "Private Dancer". I remember standing ready with the tape recorder on the radio to tape the long version of the song from any of the easy-listening stations because I'd become so enamored with it. The reason is the same reason that I've loved Sade's "Is It a Crime?" and Anita Baker's "Sweet Love", both from 1986..."Private Dancer" straddles that fine line between Quiet Storm and sophisticated pop...two districts within the city of urban contemporary that I've appreciated for decades. In fact, the long version was sought out by me specifically because of that additional bluesy nocturnal saxophone along with the piano.

Thinking all these years that "Private Dancer" had been created by someone in the soul genre, I was gobsmacked on realizing that it was Mark Knopfler from Dire Straits who had come up with the song. Just knowing about Knopfler and Dire Straits, my image of them was always T-shirts, headbands and rock n' roll...not tuxedos, exclusive nightclubs and crisp linen which is what I think whenever I listen to "Private Dancer". According to Wikipedia's article on the song, Knopfler had meant it for the band's 1982 album "Love Over Gold" but ditched it when he found it to be unsuitable to be sung by a male singer. With those lyrics...uh, well, yeah, and thank you, Ms. Turner for picking up the baton on that one.

On Canada's RPM chart, "Private Dancer" managed to rank in at No. 11 while in the United States, it broke the Top 10 by reaching No. 7. The single was released in October 1984 so what were the Top 3 on Oricon in that month?

1. Kyoko Koizumi -- Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge （ヤマトナデシコ七変化）

2. Checkers -- Hoshikuzu no Stage （星屑のステージ）

3. Masahiko Kondo -- Eien ni Himitsu sa（永遠に秘密さ）

Tina Turner -- What's Love Got to Do with It

 

Yesterday, the news came down that the iconic Tina Turner had passed away in Switzerland at the age of 83. As a result, I wrote up a special ROY article then to describe the song where I first got to know Turner, "Proud Mary" from 1971. Her presence on the stage to perform that hit had basically been the lone image that I would have of the singer when I was a kid.

It was going into the 1980s that I actually started getting interested in music on both sides of the Pacific Ocean, so as I was getting into kayo kyoku in Japan, I also got into and purchased American, Canadian and European pop music. What certainly helped was the blossoming of music videos on MTV and Canada's MuchMusic and all of the local music video shows such as "Toronto Rocks". 

Well, a few years into that, I got reacquainted with the Queen of Rock n' Roll after many years through a song titled "What's Love Got to Do with It" which was released on May 1st, 1984. A story of someone going through internal turmoil about falling in love again after getting romantically burned previously, the song by Graham Lyle and Terry Britten struck me as this very calm and grounded tune very much of the 1980s. Naturally, hearing it again brought lots of nostalgia and warm feelings, especially with the sunny video of Turner taking a leisurely walk through New York City. And man, those 80s fashions!😎 To be honest, that image of her in the denim jacket, short black skirt and mounds of hair replaced the one of her singing "Proud Mary".

The Wikipedia piece on "What's Love Got to Do with It" has already stated it, but it became Turner's first and only No. 1 single on Billboard (hit the top in Canada, too) with over 2 million records sold globally. Also included in all of the accolades was that the song won three Grammys: Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

I will give my condolences to Turner's family, friends and fans but I have a feeling that the legend is probably and very happily performing all of her discography in another realm.

Seeing that last week's ROY was also a record from May 1984 which I then compared with entries from the Oricon Top 20, this time around, I will go with three of the singles that were released in that month.

Hiroko Yakushimaru -- Main Theme （メイン・テーマ）

ALFEE -- STARSHIP - Hikari wo Motomete （光を求めて）

Mariko Takahashi -- Momo Iro Toiki （桃色吐息）

Ike & Tina Turner -- Proud Mary

 

The news has been rolling in from all sources over the past hour. I hadn't heard anything from Tina Turner in the last few years and I knew that she was getting up there in years, but it's still hard to believe that even in her 80s, the vivacious Grande Dame of R&B and the Queen of Rock n' Roll would be anything but the rapidly sashaying and high-powered entertainer. Alas, her death has been announced today at the age of 83.

This will be a special Reminiscings of Youth then regarding Tina Turner. In the early 1970s, I was too young to know much about Turner aside from her appearances on various music-variety shows on TV. My image of her had been of her in that slinky spangled dress working hard on the stage and behind the mike, and I thought that she vibrated so hard that she threatened to disintegrate the floor beneath her.

The song that I always associated with her in the early days was "Proud Mary" in partnership with her ex-husband Ike Turner. Released as a single in January 1971, I had no idea that it was a cover of the original version by rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival back in 1969. But arguably, Ike and Tina took ownership of "Proud Mary". The part of the Turners' song that I am most familiar with is the latter half where the song clicks into high gear with those horns, and my image of Tina begins shimmying on the stage. She could have powered the electric generator for Memphis with her performance.

"Proud Mary" by the Turners hit No. 4 on US Billboard and it went as high as No. 11 on Canada's RPM charts. I'll be devoting the regular ROY article tomorrow to Tina as well since it's also a song that has remained with my memories as I was growing up in the 1980s.

The following were winners at the Japan Record Awards in 1971.

Grand Prize: Kiyohiko Ozaki -- Mata Au Hi Made （また逢う日まで）

Best New Artist: Rumiko Koyanagi -- Watashi no Joukamachi (わたしの城下町）

Performance Award: Hiroshi Itsuki -- Yokohama Tasogare（よこはま・たそがれ）