--- title: The Story of Tina Turner's 'What's Love Got to Do With It' description: The song, which debuted in 1984, spent 28 weeks on the Billboard chart—including three at No. 1—but Turner almost didn't record it. canonical: https://time.com/6282800/tina-turner-whats-love-got-to-do-with-it/ author: Solcyré Burga article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2023-05-25T20:20:19.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T15:56:38.044Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: 'What's Love Got to Do With It' Was Tina Turner’s Defining Hit. It Almost Didn’t Happen og:description: The song, which debuted in 1984, spent 28 weeks on the Billboard chart—including three at No. 1 og:url: https://time.com/6282800/tina-turner-whats-love-got-to-do-with-it/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9a22061c02227e94/698a3d5c0116820dc3983133/tina-turner-whats-love-got-to-do-with-it.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Tina Turner 1985 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'What's Love Got to Do With It' Was Tina Turner’s Defining Hit. It Almost Didn’t Happen twitter:description: The song, which debuted in 1984, spent 28 weeks on the Billboard chart—including three at No. 1 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9a22061c02227e94/698a3d5c0116820dc3983133/tina-turner-whats-love-got-to-do-with-it.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 'What's Love Got to Do With It' Was Tina Turner’s Defining Hit. It Almost Didn’t Happen  by [Solcyré Burga](https://time.com/author/solcyre-burga/)  ## Solcyré Burga Reporter May 25, 2023 8:20 PM UTC  Tina Turner holds up a Grammy Award at the 27th Annual Grammy Awards in 1985. Tina Turner holds up a Grammy Award at the 27th Annual Grammy Awards in 1985.Nick Ut—AP  by [Solcyré Burga](https://time.com/author/solcyre-burga/)  ## Solcyré Burga Reporter May 25, 2023 8:20 PM UTC When Tina Turner died on Wednesday after a half-century career full of legendary anthems, many remembered her as the “Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll.” But the chart-topping hit for which she will perhaps be most remembered isn’t a rock song—and that fact almost got in the way of the song ever being released. “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” which debuted in 1984, [spent 28 weeks](https://www.billboard.com/artist/tina-turner/) on the Billboard chart—including three at No. 1, making it one of just six top-10 hits from Turner’s solo career. The single went gold, and the album on which it appeared [topped 5 million](https://www.riaa.com/gold-platinum/?tab%5Factive=default-award&se=private+dancer#search%5Fsection) units sold; the song also provided the title for a Turner biopic of the same name, for which lead actress Angela Bassett was nominated for an Oscar. **_Read more:_** [_Tina Turner on What Makes Angela Bassett Great_](https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people-2023/6269879/angela-bassett/) But “What’s Love Got To Do With It” was different from Turner’s previous hits. The singer, whose career launched in the 1960s and ’70s, first entered the limelight thanks to the success of her collaboration with then husband Ike Turner. The musical duo released songs like “River Deep-Mountain High,” “Nutbush City Limits,” and “Proud Mary,” which quickly became classics. The end of their marriage, after years of [domestic abuse](https://www.thedailybeast.com/ike-turner-why-i-beat-tina) that Turner [went public about](https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-65673196) in the 1980s, followed closely on the heels of her having been [dropped by her record label](https://people.com/tina-turner-credited-david-bowie-saving-career-abusive-ike-turner-marriage-7503786), Capitol Records. Turner credited David Bowie, who was also signed to Capitol, for helping her get re-signed in 1983\. Turner then released her fifth solo album “Private Dancer,” which featured “What’s Love Got To Do With It” and launched a new, triumphant phase of her career. But Turner originally had reservations about the song. “Did you know that when I first read the lyrics for ‘What’s love got to do with it,’ I rejected the song?,” Turner wrote [in a 2021 Instagram post](https://www.instagram.com/p/CMz45ITHZS4/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&ig%5Frid=7dab85d1-f6c3-482f-b537-6518ad5a3cea). The artist was wary about the fact that the single fit more into the pop genre instead of her typical R&B and rock and roll, even going so far as to call the song “terrible,” according to the 2021 HBO Documentary _Tina_. “What’s Love Got To Do With It,” that documentary revealed, was only released after Turner’s manager, Roger Davies, pushed for Turner to meet music producer Terry Britten. Britten collaborated with engineer John Hudson to rework the song to better fit Turner’s style, convincing her to sing it with a softer tone than the usual belt she was known for, the Washington _Post_ [reports](https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2023/05/25/tina-turner-death-whats-love-got-to-do-with-it/). It worked: “What’s Love Got to Do With It” went on to win three Grammys—including Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6282800/tina-turner-whats-love-got-to-do-with-it/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6282800/tina-turner-whats-love-got-to-do-with-it/"},"headline":"'What's Love Got to Do With It' Was Tina Turner’s Defining Hit. 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