Tina Turner Had a Big Hit in 1984 With a Song Mark Knopfler Wrote for Dire Straits

In 1984, Tina Turner had a Top 10 hit with “Private Dancer”. The song is the title track of one of Turner’s most pivotal albums. The Grammy-nominated record, the most successful one of her career, has several hit singles, including “What’s Love Got To Do With It”, “Better Be Good To Me”, and the title track.

Of course, Private Dancer never could have been made without the song that started it all. Interestingly, although “Private Dancer” remains one of Turner’s most well-known hits, the song was never intended for her. Rather, “Private Dancer”, written by Mark Knopfler, was originally intended for his group, Dire Straits.

“Private Dancer” says, “I’m your private dancer / A dancer for money / I’ll do what you want me to do / I’m your private dancer / A dancer for money / And any old music will do.“

The Story Behind “Private Dancer” by Tina Turner

Even more interesting, it’s Knopfler who personally pitched it to Turner, after realizing “Private Dancer” would not work for a male voice.

“Mark said this song is not for a man. It’s a girl’s song,” Turner recalls. “He recorded it but won’t use it. So when he put the demo on, he sang, ‘I’m a private dancer, dancer for money, do what you want me to do.’ I told him, ‘I think you’re right; it’s not a song for a guy. I liked it a lot. I wasn’t sure whether the girl was a hooker or a very classical private dancer, but I thought I’d take it.”

Surprisingly, although Turner was 45 years old at the time, she did not initially know what the term “private dancer” meant, even as she agreed to sing the song.

“I can be naive about some of these things. … I took it because it was an unusual song,” Turner explains. “I’d never sung a song like it. And I wish you could hear Mark’s version of it. He’s got a very English-sounding voice… and it was really quite beautiful.”

Knopfler may not have thought the song would work for Dire Straits, and he was probably correct. But Dire Straits did get to be part of the song. Some of the members of the band played on the “Private Dancer” track.

Knopfler liked almost all of “Private Dancer”. Unfortunately, he did not like the guitar solo in the song. Done by Jeff Beck, Knopfler later called it the “world’s second ugliest guitar solo.”

Not only is this one of Turner’s most successful songs, but “Private Dancer” also gave her one of the most viewed videos of her career.

Photo by Paul Natkin/Getty Images

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