Let's Get Physical

Rip It Up, Issue 100, 1 November 1985, Page 12

Let's Get Physical

George Kay

Talking Turner with Tina

It’s the last Saturday in October and Tina Turner’s tour director Rob Walker is telling me from LA that Tina has a hoarse voice and she’s due to play in Dallas that night. Flicking through two sheaves of questions I assure him I won’t keep her long. “Hi,” a voice croaks. Too much singing? “Yeah, changing climates, flying, it could be anything.” At the time of the phone call Tina is in the middle of the American leg (sic) of the Private Dancer tour:

“It’s going terrifically well. I’ve always had a market in Europe so we were all a little concerned how we’d do. We’re all very surprised by the turn-out, the response and the reviews. It’s all so positive it’s staggering.”

Her voice is sounding better. Why are you more popular in Europe? “I don’t know, that's getting into culture. You're asking me now why Europeans like R&B more than Americans. That’s like asking me why some Americans like Latin music or whatever. The Europeans have studied and appreciated the roots of American music and they hold onto classic acts. If you've got something they'll wait for you and you'll last, whereas in America you only last as long as your record.”

Celluloid Heroes

Tina Turner has been 25 years in the business but for most people she's the Private Dancer or Entity, the anti-heroine of George Miller’s third Mad Max movie. She’s had movie parts before, her classic portrayal of the Acid Queen in Ken Russell's 1975 adaptation of Tommy springs to mind. What attracted her to the Mad Max role? “I like that kind of film. I like the rough guys,

the cars, the dirt and the crazes of the period. I own both of the previous Mad Max tapes and I thought it would be great to do a movie like that. "When I was offered the part I was really excited as I thought I'd get to do a lot of physical stuff but since it was my first straight dramatic part and I was only opening the door to acting I'm happy enough with the result. And yet when George saw my performance he said he could’ve done so much more with Entity’s part. But it was

a gas." What did you find to be the most difficult aspect of acting as compared to performing? "On stage I'm very physical. But for the movie part you’ve got to let the magic of the camera do it and you’ve got to become the part. It was very hard for me to be still and express myself from within without being so physical or too big or exaggerated for the camera. But after about a week I started mellowing out and sliding into it.” Have you ever felt restricted by your sexual image when it comes to the choice of movie parts? “Yeah, I did, I became type-cast up to the Acid Queen. All the parts that came in were very cheap hooker parts but I stood firm and said no, I’m not gonna be on something I’m really embarrassed about. There were some things in Acid Queen I wasn’t pleased about but that was my first role and I didn’t know what was involved. Now and after that I’ve simply said NO, because I didn’t have to because I still had my singing career. “Entity had nothing to do with that sexuality. When the costumes were being cut I said ‘you can't cut it that high or that will not be out and this will’. I still have a bit of pride as to how much I want to show or how much I want to give.” In a recent Life magazine it was stated: “She hankers for more rough-and-tumble film roles.” “Yeah, the movie Colour Purple had a part there for me but it was another singing semiprostitute feeling thing. I’m not interested in playing those. It doesn't have to be a rumble-tumble part but it has to be interesting and uncommon. I have to be able to act and not do something I can relate so closely to.”

Vinyl Villains

Born Anna Mae Bullock in Nutbush, Tennessee, Tina Turner got her first break in the R&B Club Manhattan where Ike Turner, leader of the Kings of Rhythm (the band often credited as having released the first rock ’n’ roll record, ‘Rocket 88! in 1951) worked her into his show. Twenty five years ago Ike and Tina cut their first record, ‘A Fool In Love’ and their career together spanned the classic Phil Spector-produced ‘River Deep, Mountain High’ in 1966, Tina’s 'Nutbush City Limits’ single in 1973 and some 30 albums. Three years ago and eight years after she’d left Ike, Tina recorded the Temptations’ ’Ball of Confusion’, one of the few tracks that did work on BEF’s (Heaven 17) Music of Quality and Distinction album:

“I've never liked that song. I’ve never been that much of a fan of the Temptations after David Ruffin left. I like the music of the song but I didn’t know what song I was going to do for that album until I arrived in Europe to record it. And I thought how am I gonna sing this song as four guys originally did the vocals on this. It was really amusing as it wasn’t in the right key so we had to make all kinds of adjustments. It came out terrifically

well but it was just a record, I’ve never tried to do it on stage.” The Heaven 17 connection continued with a rousing version of Al Green’s ‘Let’s Stay Together; a single that hit the Top Five in Britain in 1983: “That song’s a lover from way back. There are few R&B songs that I enjoy singing but that’s one. When Roger (since 1980 her manager) and I were trying to decide on a song to put out as a single for Europe we came up with that one even though I don’t particularly care for R&B anymore. It’s still wonderful to listen to.” From there it was to Private Dancer and Tina Turner was suddenly peaking at the age of 45. Fairytale stuff, especially for an album that has more brass than class, yet its sass and strong, varied covers have meant triple platinum status: “It was such a sporadic album. It was like running from here, rehearsing, doing a rough vocal. I was just two weeks with all the guys in the studio and when I left they had to do the mixing. There was such a confusion of things going on that I was forgetting what I was doing or how anything sounded. “When it all came together I sat and listened to it and I felt it sounded strange as it wasn’t a one theme album with one producer having the same sound, but strangely enough every song fits in. I just felt I had an album full of good songs and I had something to put out for the people.”

Was there a sense of make-it-or-break-it with Private Dancer due to your earlier lack of success?

“No, that’s not a problem for me. I don’t dwell on a hit record, I dwell on performance. I was basically enjoying my life and I never really knew

what it would be like to have this many hit records and be this successful. In America there are a lot of stars, and I say they're dimly lit stars, who are popular for just doing covers and a few originals. I know that well because that’s basically how I started in St Louis.

"I used to wonder how you could pack a football stadium and Roger said to me “you've got to get a sleeve of hit records," it's not done just by one record or performance. That’s when I realised what success in the business meant.” The title track to Private Dancer was written by Dire Straits' Mark Knopfler, a song that perfectly suited the Tina Turner persona:

“Mark wrote it for himself and it had been on the shelf for a while as he thought it would be a good song for a girl. When I heard the song I was really taken by it because one of my little dilemmas is that people never put a label on me as a singer, it’s always been ‘yknow, the dancer, Tina Turner.” That song really showed my ability to sing, my vocal talents of range, depth and mood.”

Why do 'Help? “I’ve never heard it done before except by the Beatles and the version I got was from Australia’s Little River Band, I think. This was two years before I recorded it and I did it live on stage and the response was just incredible. So I just wanted to record my own version of it. In feet we failed

to capture my delivery of it on Private Dancer , to do that we would have to record it live. “I think a lot of people can relate to a song the way I sing it. The Beatles sang it sort of happy-go-lucky whereas I do it as a plea. Some journalists don’t like it, they find it too contrived, but I get a standing ovation from the crowd, so ..."

Private Person "A Canadian journalist said to me that it’s strange coming up with a song like ‘We Don’t Need Another Hero’ after something like 'What’s Love Got To Do With It?’. Actually, if you look at it you can relate it to my past life, like coming out of one life into another where you don’t need someone to guide you.” Tina’s stormy relationship with Ike ended 10 years ago when she left him, with 36 cents in her handbag. Since then she has been into Buddhism and chanting. A reaction to the tough years with Ike?

"I started chanting the last two years with Ike. I was just getting into learning the practice and studying and getting to accept it. I was a Baptist before. It didn’t take long for me to change my mind as most of our religions or philosophies were passed down from my parents and after we're old enough we can make a decision as to what we want and that’s what happened to me when I was 35 years old.” In a recent interview Ike has claimed the credit

for the sex angle of the Ike and Tina Turner Revue (the Ikettes in mini skirts and suggestive routines and Tina’s famous phallic microphone stint): “The idea came from some of the songs that were chosen and I act out my songs as I’m singing them as I have my idea of what I get from a song. For instance, I always thought Foreigner’s 'I Wanna Know What Love Is’ to be very sexual and some people see it as very spiritual. So I think some of the songs I performed in the earlier days came off sexual because that’s the message I saw in them.” To what extent is your highly publicised sex image a natural part of your personality? “I don’t know. It’s like asking you what makes you the way you are when you get a bit tipsy. That inner side of you that you don’t necessarily know on a day-to-day basis just comes out in a performance. It’s the same with an actor. I call it naughtiness, I don’t call it sexiness as my idea of that is women like Marilyn Monroe and a lot of other sexy over-the-top women. I think most women are sexy anyway and if you put one on a stage in a short dress then there’s bound to be sex appeal there. But that’s not a priority in my work. It’s part of my performance and my idea of that covers sadness, joy, a bit of naughtiness, sex and a bit of life.”

Tina’s life with Ike could launch a thousand Hollywood TV movies: “It’s been 10 years since I left Ike and to tell you the truth I don’t think that much about it. I finished part of my life there. I gave all of my time and I gave everything and I left everything. “I’ve experienced a kind of freedom that most people wouldn't realise as you would have to have lived that life with Ike. Also I’ve found myself, my

limitations, the areas where I need help, and my own strengths.” Ike has said recently that you never wanted to be black:

“No, I’ve never said that. I’ve always felt there are other races to choose from other than just the white race whom a lot of our people pattern themselves on.

“My taste in friends has been a mixture since Ike as I haven’t been around a lot of black people. So a lot of black people could think that I never wanted to be black but that’s not true. With my work I don’t have the time to go out and search for a particular type of colour or friend.” Yet unlike most other black performers you’ve opted for rock ’n’ roll over R&B: “For me that was natural. I’m physical, I’m a dancer. Black music sorta grooves and I’ve always liked energy, tempo and the rock feeling. In the early days most of the songs that Ike produced were R&B songs but I always covered that extra physical side that I needed with songs by the Stones or Rod Stewart or whatever. Even now I have to do covers to fill my needs as a performer. “The first half of my show is a straight performance delivery. Then I make a costume change and then I go into covering as those are the songs I need for my physical performance.”

Star Survivor Tina's TV room in her LA house is covered with platinum records: “There’s no place to hang them anymore, they’re filling up the room. In fact I've taken a few to my mother’s house, which is only 15 minutes away. I thought I'd fill the wall during the remainder of my musical life but I didn't expect to fill it in one year” You live in Beverly Hills? “No, I live in the Valley side, under Beverly Hills. I like it a lot, it’s small and it’s like getting away. I don’t live in Beverly Hills because I’m always in the city, in the hotels. My house is out from that and it has a country feeling.” Has material success been important to you? “I’d have to honestly say yes and no. It is important but it’s not a priority because I’m not a material girl but my taste is expensive and there’s a lot of things I want. Aside from that, a lot of things you earn you get an inner peace from, so I’m taking care of myself spiritually and materially as well.”

Private Dancer begins with ‘I Might Have Been Queen (Soul Survivor)! To what extent do you see yourself as a survivor? “When you talk about someone who survives it often means that someone has come out of a plane accident or something horrible. But when someone has strived since childhood and climbed to the top then you have to put the title of survivor on that person —me, a girl from the South, cottonfields, black, rough marriage, violence, everything taken from the beginning to the middle of life and then finally not being broken in spirit to decide at 35 that you can still have time to go and get your dreams You’d have to put the term of survivor on me.”

Even survivors call it a day, so at what age or stage does Tina Turner call it quits? “I can’t speak for the future. I read a lot of what people say they won’t do at certain ages but you change. Some miraculous change may occur and I might not be in the business or I might leap one step higher. I’m not planning.”

‘ 'There are few R&B songs that I enjoy singing... I don't particularly care for R&B anymore."

"It's been 10 years since I left Ike and to tell you the truth I don't think that much about him."

"With my work I don't have the time to go out and search for a particular type of colour or friend."