When she began work on her sixth solo album, Break Every Rule, in 1985, the then 46-year-old Tina Turner was still flush with the intoxicating success that her mega-successful comeback album, Private Dancer, had brought her. Released the previous year, that record had made the raspy-voiced singer born Annie Mae Bullock a household name for good a decade after her split from her abusive ex-husband, Ike Turner, in 1976.
Listen to ‘Break Every Rule’.
A glittering, star-studded affair
Propelling Turner into the stratosphere with a much-needed second wind, Private Dancer went multi-platinum around the world, brought her three Grammys Awards and gave the singer her first ever No.1 pop single in the US, in the shape of What’s Love Got To Do With It. Its success, and Turner’s resulting high profile, also helped her grab her second acting role, as Aunt Entity, opposite Mel Gibson in the 1985 blockbuster sci-fi movie Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. The film’s soundtrack also featured Turner singing We Don’t Need Another Hero, another huge worldwide hit which stoked anticipation for her next album proper, Break Every Rule.
Tina Turner’s stock was at an all-time high, but the real test of her career longevity rested on how Break Every Rule fared in the marketplace. The singer decided to stick with the team that gave Private Dancer its finest moment: British songwriters and producers Terry Britten and Graham Lyle, who wrote and helmed the chart-topping What’s Love Got To Do With It. The duo penned five fresh songs for Break Every Rule, while producer and songwriter Rupert Hine, who had also worked on Private Dancer, also returned for two songs, I’ll Be Thunder and the album’s title track.