Tina Turner: five favourite songs

Singer Tina Turner performs after the Walt Disney Pictures premiere of “Brother Bear” at the New Amsterdam Theater October 20, 2003 in New York City.
| Photo Credit: AFP

A pick of the most memorable hits from U.S. pop icon Tina Turner:

‘Proud Mary’ (1971)

With her husband Ike Turner, Tina found fame with their version of the gospel-influenced “Proud Mary”, which had been released by Creedence Clearwater Revival two years earlier.

The duo’s take on the song, with its famous chorus about a Mississippi steamboat “rolling, rolling on the river”, was more rock and raunchy than the original, winning them a Grammy.

Tina continued to perform the piece when she went solo, and it would become one of her signature sounds.

‘What’s Love Got To Do With It’ (1984)

Another of Turner’s defining songs, this was her sole U.S. number one and brought her four Grammys, also providing the title for the 1993 Oscar-nominated biopic of her life.

Its release marked her establishment as a successful solo artist following her professional and marital split from Ike in 1976.

A track on her fifth solo album “Private Dancer”, the song had been turned down by Cliff Richards and Donna Summer before Turner picked it up.

Lyrics such as “Who needs a heart when a heart can be broken” took on deeper significance following revelations in the 1990s of her abuse during her marriage.

‘We Don’t Need Another Hero’ (1985)

The song is the title track to Mel Gibson’s post-apocalyptic “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome” film in which Turner plays ruthless, blonde community leader Aunty Entity, dressed in chainmail.

She wears a similar Amazon-style get-up for the video of the choral-backed piece, which warns against false hope and oppression.

‘The Best’ (1989)

Turner’s cover of the Bonnie Tyler original released a year earlier was the major success of her album “Foreign Affair”.

Renamed “Simply the Best”, it was used to promote Australian rugby league in 1990, the video featuring players of the day with an unforgettably-styled Turner.

It went on to become a classic sports anthem, chanted at baseball matches and football games worldwide.

‘GoldenEye’ (1995)

As a mark of her pop megastar status, Turner was picked to perform the coveted title track to the James Bond film “Golden Eye”, written by U2’s Bono and The Edge.

In the music video for the song, which became a Top Ten hit in many countries, Turner’s signature white gown highlights her image as pop’s all-glamour diva.