A lost song from Tina Turner's Private Dancer has been rediscovered
2025-01-23
Category: entertainment

A song recorded for Tina Turner's blockbuster album Private Dancer, that was presumed lost, has been rediscovered and will receive its first play on BBC Radio 2 later.Hot For You, Baby, was cut at Capitol Studios in Hollywood and originally intended to be an album track. But it was ultimately jettisoned in favour of era-defining pop hits such What's Love Got To Do With It, Better Be Good To Me and the album's title track.Presumed missing, the master tape was recently rediscovered as her record label compiled a 40th anniversary re-release of Private Dancer.
An up-tempo rocker, full of showboating guitar chords and an extremely 1980s cowbell, Hot For You, Baby is a prime example of Turner's raspy, physical style of soul.The track will receive its first play on the Radio 2 Breakfast Show on Thursday, between 08:30 and 09:00 GMT.Produced by John Grant, the record executive who masterminded her mid-career comeback, it was written by Australian musicians George Young and Harry Vanda.It had already been recorded once by Scottish-Australian singer John Paul Young, the voice behind disco classic Love Is In The Air. However, his version largely flew under the radar when it was released in 1979.
Private Dancer, released in May 1984, launched an unprecedented second act in Tina Turner's career.She had escaped an abusive marriage to musician Ike Turner at the end of the 1970s, but the divorce left her penniless, living off food stamps and playing ill-conceived cabaret shows to pay her debts.The music industry had largely written her off - but in England, where pop was in thrall to American R&B, she still had some heavyweight fans.In 1981, Rod Stewart invited Turner to play with him on Saturday Night Live; and the Rolling Stones asked her to be part of their US tour. More importantly, perhaps, David Bowie told Capitol Records that Turner was his favourite singer. 
A landmark album
But the turning point came when she hooked up with British producers Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh, of the band Heaven 17, to record a synth-pop version of  the Temptations' 1970 hit Ball of Confusion. A huge hit in Europe, its success persuaded Capitol to let her record an album, but they hardly threw their weight behind it.The budget only paid for two weeks in the studio, and many of the songs Turner recorded were other artists' cast-offs (both Cliff Richard and Bucks Fizz had turned down What's Love Got To Do With It).But she used her time wisely - recording all but one of Private Dancer's songs in the UK with five different British production teams.With the country in the grips of new wave and the new romantics, Turner was steered away from raw, fiery soul that first made her famous. But somehow, her electrifying vocals were a perfect fit for the chilly, programmed grooves she was given."Turner seems to completely understand the touch that each of these songs needed," wrote Debby Miller, in a contemporaneous review of Private Dancer for Rolling Stone magazine.In the New York Times, Stephen Holden described the record as "a landmark, not only in the career of the 45-year-old singer, who has been recording since the late 1950s, but in the evolution of pop-soul music itself".
The album went on to sell more than 10 million copies, and earned three Grammys, including record of the year for What's Love Got To Do With It.Turner also performed the song on the live TV broadcast, wowing audiences with her vocals despite fighting a bad case of the flu. A support slot on Lionel Richie's US tour in 1984 reminded audiences of her ability to tear the roof off any venue she set foot in.By 1985, Turner was one of the world's biggest acts in an era of stadium superstars like Michael Jackson, Madonna and Prince. 
The decision to withhold Hot For You, Baby from the original tracklist of Private Dancer makes sense. It sounds a little cheesy next to the sultry, sophisticated material that eventually populated the record.But fans will welcome the chance to hear Turner let rip, back in her prime, with a promise to "love you all night long".Mark Goodier, who is currently covering the Radio 2 breakfast show, said: "To have something new to hear from Tina Turner is a treat for fans of all generations and a reminder of her unique talent. "I'm lucky enough to have both interviewed Tina and seen her perform live. She was an outrageously good performer and at the same time a remarkable graceful lady, whose every note was shaped by her incredible life."As well as being released as a single, the track will feature on a new five-disc deluxe edition of Private Dancer, which is due for release in March.The collection will also feature B-sides, remixes and live tracks, as well as a film of Turner playing Birmingham's NEC Arena in March 1985, featuring guest appearances by David Bowie and Bryan Adams.Turner died in 2023 at the age of 83. No cause of death was given, but she was known to be struggling with a kidney disease, intestinal cancer and other illnesses.