"What's Love Got to Do with It" is a song recorded by the American singer Tina Turner, released in 1984. It was taken from her fifth solo album, Private Dancer and became Turner's most successful single.
Although Turner had already scored a UK Top 10 and US Top 30 hit some months earlier with her rendition of "Let's Stay Together", "What's Love Got to Do with It" gave Turner her first and only US number one.
The song ranked number 309 on Rolling Stonemagazine's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". It also ranked number 38 on the Songs of the Century list. It was the second-biggest single of 1984 in the US and the 17th-biggest in the United Kingdom. In 1993, the song's title was used as the title for the biographical film about Turner's life.
In 2012, "What's Love Got to Do with It" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame giving Turner her third Grammy Hall of Fame Award and her eleventh Grammy Award.
The song was written by Terry Britten and Graham Lyle, who originally offered it to Cliff Richard, but it was rejected. It was then given to Phyllis Hyman, who wanted to do the song, but Arista Records head Clive Davis would not allow her. The song then was offered to Donna Summer, who has stated that she sat with it for a couple of years but never recorded it.
Some months before Turner recorded the song, the British pop group Bucks Fizz were offered it. Member Jay Aston requested to sing lead on the track after hearing the demo, but was told by the producer that it was unsuitable for a female lead vocal. The group went on to record it in February 1984, but sung by male group member Bobby G.
Aston recalls that the demo was very similar to the eventual Tina Turner version, but their finished version was in a very different style.It was intended for possible inclusion on their next album I Hear Talk but was shelved when Turner released her version first.
The Bucks Fizz version went unreleased until it was included on a re-issue of their Are You Readyalbum in 2000. The Original Bucks Fizz went on to include the song in their reunion concert tour in October 2009.
The name of the song was used as the title of a 1993 film depicting the early career of Tina Turner, in which the abusive relationship between Tina and Ike Turner was depicted.
