Tina Turner
Martyn Ware
The producer and Heaven 17 musician recalls the humble star who gave him tea and biscuits, and who could record a hit track in one take
A few weeks before I met Tina A Turner in 1982, I saw her playing in London. I was a big fan. Even though I was known for making electronic music, River Deep, Mountain High was my favourite song. But back then, she didn't have a recording contract. The only way she could earn money independently was by doing what they called the chicken-in-abasket circuit in America, touring her old hits.
How I got involved was like an alignment of the stars. I'd been putting together an album of old songs reframed in new contexts and James Brown had just backed out at the last minute or, rather, his lawyers had. So there I was in the Virgin Records office, wondering who on earth was going to sing the Temptations' Ball of Confusion, and the head of A&R, who knew Tina's new manager, Roger Davies, overheard me. The next minute, [Heaven 17's] Glenn Gregory and I were flying out to LA to meet her, literally in her front room.
Tina was as sweet as she could possibly be, making us tea and bringing out biscuits. She seemed quite easy with herself, which is amazing given what she'd been through in the very recent past [she divorced her abusive husband, Ike, in 1978]. She didn't volunteer lots, but she didn't avoid it either. She told me a couple of difficult things about Ike beating her, and the level of his cocaine addiction - how he'd pour a pile of it in the studio and say everyone couldn't leave until it was finished; how the only person who took it was him.
Being in the studio with her was incredible from the start. The first time she walked in, she just walked to where the band was and got on with the job. We recorded Ball of Confusion and later, [her 1983 comeback single] Let's Stay Together, which I produced, both in one take.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة December 22, 2023 من The Guardian Weekly.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة December 22, 2023 من The Guardian Weekly.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
If kids get protected from online harm, how about the rest of us?
The Australian government has proposed a ban on social media for all citizens under 16.
'It's not drought - it's looting'
Spain is increasingly either parched or flooded - and one group is profiting from these extremes: the thirsty multinational companies forcing angry citizens to pay for water in bottles.
Life in the grey Zone
Neonatal care has advanced so far that babies born as early as 21 weeks have survived. But is this type of care always the right thing to do?
Out of tune? Band Aid under fire for Africa tropes as it turns 40
Forty years ago this month, a group of pop stars gathered at a west London studio to record a single that would raise millions, inspire further starry projects, and ultimately change charity fundraising in the UK.
Deaths shine spotlight on risks of drinking on party trail
Vang Vieng is an unlikely party hub. Surrounded by striking limestone mountains and caves in central Laos, it morphed from a small farming town to a hedonistic tourist destination in the early 2000s.
Different strokes My strange and emotional week with an AI pet
Moflin can develop a personality and build a rapport with its owner - and doesn't need food or exercise. But is it comforting or alienating?
Strike zone Waking up to the rising threat of lightning
When the Barbados National Archives, home to one of the world's most significant collections of documents from the transatlantic slave trade, reported in June that it had been struck by lightning, it received sympathy and offers of support locally and internationally.
Cheap pints and sticky carpets: the old-school pub is back
In the Palm Tree pub, east London, barman Alf is taking only cash at the rattling 1960s till.
Brain gain Can a radical tax scheme convince the country's brightest to stay?
In the autumn of 2018, I moved to Lisbon for a month-long course at the Universidade .de Lisboa.
Fear and sympathy in small town divided over asylum camp
A year after anti-immigration riots, a site for asylum seekers faces hostility while some locals try to help new arrivals
