<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t really get nervous going on stage,\u201d the Heaven 17 singer says. \u201cBut at The Tube, I was honestly shaking. She was in that kind of cavewoman outfit, doing her dance with a big wig and the two (backing dancers) going at it. I\u2019m like: \u2018This is really not me.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n You may like<\/p>\n \u201cOh, it\u2019s a spectacular performance,\u201d his bandmate Martyn Ware concurs. \u201c(Turner) came into the dressing room half an hour before the live performance and says to me: \u2018Martyn, when we get to the middle eight, I\u2019m gonna have my dancers run their hands up and down you and Glenn\u2019s legs.\u2019 I\u2019m going: \u2018I don\u2019t think that\u2019s a good idea \u2013 we don\u2019t want any embarrassment on live television, do we?\u2019 We were terrified.\u201d<\/p>\n Let\u2019s Stay Together came about through Heaven 17\u2019s prior project, Songs Of Quality And Distinction. Years ahead of its time, this was a covers album in which Ware, Gregory and their colleague Ian Craig Marsh were essentially a production team, acting in the same way the likes of Massive Attack and Leftfield later would in the 1990s.<\/p>\n The album\u2019s cast of guest singers was a motley crew that included Billy Mackenzie of the Associates, Paula Yates and a pre-fall Gary Glitter, but its star was undoubtedly Turner who sang a version of the Temptations\u2019 Ball Of Confusion.<\/p>\n Turner only joined the project due to a chance meeting at Virgin Records on Portobello Road, after the group\u2019s first choice to sing the track, James Brown, fell through. Ware explained to Super Deluxe Edition<\/a> in 2014: \u201cI was just hanging out there and feeling quite sorry for myself and trying to think, \u2018oh my God, I just need to do this one track just to finish it and who can we get to sing it?\u2019<\/p>\n “As it turned out, Ken Berry, who was the financial controller of Virgin Records at the time, happened to walk past and he said, \u2018I\u2019m going out to LA on Sunday, what do you think about Tina Turner, she\u2019s a mate of mine\u2019. I went, \u2018yeah\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Turner said yes, met Ware and Gregory and got on and came over to EMI studios to record the track. Ware: \u201cThe classic story is \u2013 which I have told many times \u2013 is her and Roger Davies (Turner\u2019s manager) turned up to the studio and said, \u2018where\u2019s the band?\u2019 because she is used to recording with band, and we pointed at the Fairlight and said, \u2018well here it is\u2019. And they just stood with their mouths open.\u201d<\/p>\n Ball of Confusion proved that Turner could still be a current artist. She signed to Capitol the following year and when her first album for the label was being A&Red, Heaven 17 were asked if they would write a song.<\/p>\n You may like<\/p>\n \u201cTo be honest, we were a bit confused as to\u2026 I mean, we\u2019re not really soul writers,\u201d remembers Ware. \u201cWhereas we love soul music and we grew up with it, so I turned around to them and said \u2018no, but I would really like to do as we did with Ball Of Confusion.\u2019<\/p>\n “I thought it was very successful (so I said) \u2018I would really like to do a cover version for that album\u2019. They said, \u2018Can you come up with a shortlist of potential songs\u2019 which I wish I still had, actually, because there\u2019s some really good songs on it, but the one that I really wanted to do was Let\u2019s Stay Together.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe way I explained it to her was that she needed to embed herself into the public perception as being one of the great soul singers of all time. She kind of turned her back on it quite a lot because she wanted to be a rock singer, essentially. She didn\u2019t make any bones about it.<\/p>\n “You can\u2019t alter the fact that you are born with this God-given talent. I said, \u2018I think it\u2019s a good idea to do a reinterpretation of a soul record in a new way\u2019. I asked what her influences were when she was coming into the business and she was saying Sam Cooke, basically and Otis Redding and some gospel as well.<\/p>\n “I thought we could really make this work. She immediately latched onto Let\u2019s Stay Together and said, \u2018I love this song\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Tina Turner – Lets Stay Together (Official Music Video) [HD Upgrade] – YouTube
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