What's Love Got to Do with It (1984)

"What's Love Got to Do with It" is a song written by Graham Lyle and Terry Britten, and recorded by Tina Turner for her fifth studio album, Private Dancer (1984). Capitol Records released it as a single from Private Dancer in May 1984 and it eventually became Turner's biggest-selling single.

Although Turner had already scored a late-1983 top 30 hit with her rendition of Al Green's "Let's Stay Together", "What's Love Got to Do with It" became her biggest hit single on the Billboard Hot 100, reaching #1 and selling over 2,000,000 copies worldwide. At the time, aged 44, Turner became the oldest solo female artist to top the Hot 100. It was the second-biggest single of 1984 in the United States and the 17th-biggest in the United Kingdom, where it peaked at number three on the UK Singles Chart. "What's Love Got to Do with It" received three awards at the 27th Annual Grammy Awards: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. In 1993, the song's title was used as the title for the biographical film based on Turner's life.

In 2003, it was included in VH1's list of the "100 Best Songs of the Past 25 Years".

In 2012, "What's Love Got to Do with It" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, marking Turner's third Grammy Hall of Fame award. The song ranked number 309 on Rolling Stone's list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" and at number 134 in their 2021 updated list. It also ranked number 38 on RIAA's "Songs of the Century" list. Several musical artists have covered "What's Love Got to Do with It" and experienced commercial success with their renditions. American rapper Warren G released a hip hop version in 1996, and in July 2020, Norwegian DJ and producer Kygo released a remix of the song.

Background and recording

The song was written by Terry Britten and Graham Lyle, who originally offered it to Cliff Richard, but it was rejected. Some months before Turner recorded the song, the British pop group Bucks Fizz were offered it. Member Jay Aston asked to sing lead on the track after hearing the demo, but was told by the producer that it was unsuitable for a female lead vocal. The group went on to record it in February 1984, but sung by male member Bobby G. Aston recalls the demo was very similar to the eventual Tina Turner version, but their finished version was in a very different style. It was intended for possible inclusion on their next album I Hear Talk but was shelved when Turner released her version first. The Bucks Fizz version went unreleased until it was included on a re-issue of their Are You Ready album in 2000. The Original Bucks Fizz included the song in their reunion concert tour in October 2009.

Composition

The sheet music for the song shows the key of G♯ minor in common time with a suggested tempo of "moderate groove" at 98 beats per minute. Turner's vocal range in the song spans from the low note of D♯3 to the high note of D♭5

Critical reception

Mark Millan of The Daily Vault described "What's Love Got to Do with It" as "three minutes and 48 seconds of pop perfection". He noted that it is a "soft synth-driven track countered by Turner's battle weary voice, barely hiding the cynic in her", and stated that the song "reeks of attitude". A reviewer from People Magazine noted "the sophisticated pop" of the song, adding that it has "the characteristic flair and energy that have made Tina the envy of every singer this side of Aretha."

Chart performance

Until the release of "What's Love Got to Do with It", Tina Turner had not had a US top-ten single since the early 1970s. The single went to number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 and remained there for three weeks, giving Turner her first and only solo number-one hit in the U.S. Turner was 44 when the song hit number one, at the time making her the oldest female solo artist to place a number-one single on the US Hot 100. The song also spent five weeks at number two on the Billboard Hot Black Singles chart, from July 14 to August 18, 1984, "When Doves Cry", by Prince, being the reason it never reached its number-one spot. At the end of the year, the song was ranked the second-best-performing song of 1984 on the Billboard Year-End Hot 100, behind the aforementioned "When Doves Cry".

Worldwide, the song did well on the music charts, reaching number one in Australia and Canada. It peaked at number three in New Zealand and on the UK Singles Chart, becoming her highest-charting single on the latter chart alongside "River Deep – Mountain High" and "We Don't Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)". Elsewhere, the song reached the top 10 in many European countries, including the top five in Ireland, Sweden, and Austria. It also reached number two in South Africa.