“In the late ’70s, Tina Turner was dropped from her record label after two consecutive solo albums tanked. Following a protracted, acrimonious divorce from Ike — her husband, musical collaborator, and tormentor — she preened and growled through a blistering cover of Elton John’s “The Bitch Is Back”; if you lived in the United States, you might’ve missed it unless you’d caught one of her simmering cabaret shows or picked up 1978’s Rough. A decade earlier, Tina taught Mick Jagger his moves and was recruited to open for the Rolling Stones, while Janis Joplin sang the Tennessee legend’s praises to Dick Cavett. By ’79, Tina had made appearances in the Stones’ Gimme Shelter documentary, the Who’s silver-screen adaptation of Tommy, and the Bee Gees’ Sgt. Pepper film. But United Artists (before it got devoured by EMI) refused to schedule a U.S. release for her next album, Love Explosion, a grab bag of expertly sung if overproduced funk, soul, and disco tracks. Money was tight, bookings were thinning out, and Tina was making unglamorous, unpopular plays to keep from fading into obscurity, like performing in Vegas or in South Africa during apartheid. She had given up a great deal in the divorce to free herself from a pattern of abuse and manipulation. Now, she had children to feed and songs to sing.”
