Tina Turner is a living icon, of course, and I just happened to read her excellent new autobiography My Love Story which reminded me of this album, Love Explosion. When this came out in 1979, Tina was 40 years old and newly divorced from her abusive husband Ike Turner. Her 1978 rock'n roll album Rough had failed to generate any hits, and her record label thought she should try to venture into disco and paired her with French-Greek-Egyptian producer Alec R. Costandinos for Love Explosion which was released in 1979. It is a really nice album but it was another flop for her and for four years it looked as if her recording career was over. It was not until David Bowie and some of his record executives caught a show with her in 1983 that Capitol Records approached her and offered her a contract. A year later Tina Turner had become a superstar at the age of 45, selling 8 mio. copies of her next album Private Dancer ......... but that's another story! For now see if this music will keep you dancing ... I have added a live version of that track (the only one known to be performed by Tina), a live version of The Three Degrees' Giving Up, Giving In, and the track Fruits Of The Night from her Rough album, written by Donna Summer's producer, Pete Bellotte.
