Private Dancer is the fifth solo studio album by
Tina Turner. It was released on May 29, 1984, through
Capitol Records and was her first album released through the label. After several challenging years of going solo after divorcing
Ike Turner, Private Dancer propelled Turner into becoming a viable solo star, as well as one of the most marketable crossover singers in the recording industry. It became a worldwide commercial success, earning
multi-platinum certifications, and remains her best-selling album in North America to date.
A&R manJohn Carter of
Capitol Records is credited with relaunching the career of
Tina Turner in the 1980s.[4] In 1983, despite opposition from within Capitol, he signed her and managed her first album for the label, Private Dancer. Recording sessions for the album took place at several studios in
England and was overseen by four different production teams, including
Rupert Hine, and
Martyn Ware of
Heaven 17.[5] A radical departure from the
rhythm and blues sound Turner had performed with her former husband and performing partner
Ike Turner, the tracks in the album are a mixture of
uptempos and
ballads, inspired by
pop and
rock genres; it also features elements of
smooth jazz and
R&B.
In 1997,
EMI, the parent label of
Capitol Records, released a digitally remastered Centenary Edition of the Private Dancer album on CD. This version includes four additional demo tracks recorded in late 1983 and early 1984 with the producer
John Carter, first released as B-sides to some of the Private Dancer singles; it also includes three extended 12" remixes.
A 177 date tour to promote the album took place from February 8, 1985, to December 28, 1985. Called the Private Dancer Tour, there were 60 shows in Europe, 105 in North America, 10 in Australia, and 2 in Japan. Opening acts in North America included
Glenn Frey and
Mr. Mister. As well as songs from the album, Turner performed hits from her time with
Ike & Tina, such as "
River Deep – Mountain High", "
Nutbush City Limits", and "
Proud Mary".
The album received a positive reception from critics. The Los Angeles Times wrote that Turner's voice "melts vinyl".[17]
Debby Miller, in a July 1984
Rolling Stone review, felt that the album was a powerful comeback, with Turner's voice "rasping but strong", and a range of songs that were all good in a "modern rock setting" that was "neither detached nor very fussy".[6]Robert Christgau of The Village Voice felt that she embraced the "middlebrow angst of contemporary professional songwriting". He said that "four different production teams" on the project was a "sign of desperation", despite the resulting "seamless authority" of the album.[18]
Legacy
Alex Henderson, in a retrospective
AllMusic review, says that the album was slicker than her
R&B classics recorded with
Ike & Tina, but she was still able to sing with a throaty passion to deliver her finest solo production.[8]Stephen Holden has written in The New York Times that by using her English producers to soften her raw
Southern soul style, discarding the "blaring horns, frenzied percussion and gospel calls and responses", the album became a "landmark" in the "evolution of pop-soul music".[5]
Michael Lydon, in Robert Dimery's 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, says that the album's lyrical themes embodied her persona of a "tough, sexy woman schooled in a tough world", and that her vocal delivery overcomes the slick production, with her "indomitable soul" unifying the multiple producers.[19] In 1989, the album was ranked number 46 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 100 Greatest Albums of the '80s. In 2001,
VH1 named Private Dancer the 95th greatest album of all time. Slant Magazine listed the album at number 63 on its list of "Best Albums of the 1980s", saying, "Both a personal liberation and sonic redemption, Private Dancer established Turner not only as a genuine diva, but a bona fide force of nature".[20]
The album was released on May 29, 1984, and became an outstanding global commercial success.[22][23][24] The album peaked at number three on the Billboard 200 chart for ten consecutive weeks[25] and remained in the top ten for 39 weeks from August 1984 to May 1985. In the United States it was certified 5× platinum.[26] In Germany, the album went 5× gold becoming
one of the best selling albums in history. It peaked at number two on the
UK Albums Chart, where it was certified 3× platinum, remaining on the charts for 150 total weeks. It was certified 7× platinum for the shipment of over 700,000 copies in Canada by the
Canadian Recording Industry Association. The album has sold more than 12 million copies worldwide.[27][28] At the 1985
Grammy Awards, Private Dancer won four of the six awards for which it was nominated.
^Bakker, Machgiel; Inglis, Cathy (December 23, 1985).
"Pan-European Awards 1985"(PDF). Eurotipsheet. Vol. 2, no. 51/52. p. 7.
OCLC29800226 – via World Radio History.