A lost song from Tina Turner’s Private Dancer has been rediscovered

A song recorded for Tina Turner’s hit album Private Dancer, which was presumed lost, has been rediscovered and was broadcast for the first time on BBC Radio 2.

Hot For You, Baby, was recorded at Capitol Studios in Hollywood and was originally intended to be an album track.

But it was eventually abandoned in favor of landmark pop hits such as What’s Love Got To Do With It, Better Be Good To Me and the album’s title track.

Presumed to have disappeared, the soundtrack was recently rediscovered as his label compiled a 40th anniversary reissue of Private Dancer.

An up-tempo rocker, full of spectacular guitar chords and an extremely 1980s bell, Hot For You, Baby is a great example of Turner’s raspy and physical soul style.

The track was broadcast on the Radio 2 Breakfast Show on Thursdayat 08:50 GMT.

Produced by John Grant, the record executive who engineered his mid-career comeback, it was written by Australian musicians George Young and Harry Vanda.

It had previously been recorded once by Scottish-Australian singer John Paul Young, the voice of the disco classic Love Is In The Air.

However, his version went largely unnoticed upon its release 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 in the late 1970s, but the divorce left her penniless, living on food stamps and performing ill-conceived cabaret shows to pay off debts.

The music industry had largely left her behind, but in England, where pop was under the influence of American R&B, she still had some serious fans.

In 1981, Rod Stewart invited Turner to perform with him on Saturday Night Live; and the Rolling Stones asked him to be part of their American tour. Perhaps more importantly, David Bowie told Capitol Records that Turner was his favorite singer.

But the turning point came when she teamed 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, her success persuaded Capitol to let her record an album, but they hardly threw their full weight behind it.

The budget only paid for two weeks in the studio, and most of the songs Turner recorded were rejects from other artists (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.

As the country grappled with the new wave and the new romantics, Turner was distanced from the raw, fiery soul that had first made her famous. But somehow, his electrifying voice was a perfect fit for the cold, programmed grooves he was given.

“Turner seems to perfectly understand the touch each of these songs needed,” wrote Debby Miller, in a contemporary review of Private Dancer for Rolling Stone magazine.

In the New York Times, Stephen Holden described the record as “a turning point, 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 sold more than 10 million copies and won three Grammys, including Record of the Year for What’s Love Got To Do With It.

Turner also performed the song during the live TV show, wowing the audience with her vocals despite battling a serious case of the flu.

An opening act on Lionel Richie’s 1984 American tour reminded audiences of her ability to rip the roof off any venue she set foot in.

By 1985, Turner was one of the world’s biggest entertainers in the era of stadium superstars like Michael Jackson, Madonna and Prince.

The decision to remove Hot For You, Baby from the original Private Dancer tracklist makes sense. It seems a bit cheesy next to the sensual, sophisticated material that ultimately populated the record.

But fans will be thrilled to hear Turner tear up, back in her prime, with a promise to “love you all night long.”

Mark Goodier, who currently covers the Radio 2 breakfast show, said: “Having something new to hear from Tina Turner is a treat for fans of all generations and a reminder of her unique talent.

“I am fortunate to have interviewed Tina and seen her perform live. She was an incredibly good performer and at the same time a remarkably graceful woman, whose every note was shaped by her incredible life.”

As well as being released as a single, the track will be featured on a new five-disc deluxe edition of Private Dancer, due for release in March.

The collection will also include B-sides, remixes and live tracks, as well as a film of Turner playing at the NEC Arena in Birmingham in March 1985, with 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 have kidney disease, intestinal cancer and other illnesses.