Tina Turner Said One of Her Biggest Hits Was “Awful” at First

Tina Turner had a career that spanned more than 60 years. First starting out as a duo with her husband, Ike Turner, Tina Turner spent the bulk of her career as an incredibly successful solo artist.

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In 1984, Tina Turner released “What’s Love Got To Do With It”. On her Private Dancer record, the song became a multi-week No. 1 single, and remains one of her signature songs decades later. So it’s surprising that when Turner first heard “What’s Love Got To Do With It”, written by Graham Lyle and Terry Britten, she hated it.

“It was terrible. It was awful,” the rock star recalls in her HBO documentary, Tina. “I was rock and roll. … This was a pop song.”

It’s her manager at the time, Roger Davies, who thought Tina Turner could have a hit with “What’s Love Got To Do With It”. He also arranged for Turner and Britten to meet.

“She came in, and immediately she said, ‘Well, you know I don’t like that song. I don’t want to do that song. Roger wants me to do it,’” Britten later recounts. “I said, ‘If it doesn’t work out, we won’t use it. So let’s give it a go.’”

The Success of Tina Turner’s “What’s Love Got To Do With It”

“What’s Love Got To Do With It” gave Tina Turner two Grammy Awards. It also sold more than 20 million copies worldwide.

The song says, “What’s love got to do, got to do with it? / What’s love but a second-hand emotion? / What’s love got to do, got to do with it? / Who needs a heart when a heart can be broken?”

She later reflected on how she completely changed her mind about “What’s Love Got To Do With It”. 

“Did you know that when I first read the lyrics for ‘What’s Love Got To Do With It’, I rejected the song?” Turner later said. “Crazy to think about that now. Hearing the song in the documentary TINA was one of the most touching moments for me in the movie. It reminded me how far I’ve come.”

Donna Summer reportedly passed on “What’s Love Got To Do With It”.

Photo by Paul Natkin/WireImage