‘River Deep, Mountain High’: The song that took Tina Turner half a million takes
The late Tina Turner was a vocal powerhouse to be reckoned with, and she was willing to do just about anything to prove that. The iconic ‘River Deep – Mountain High’ was a composite of three unfinished songs legendary producer Phil Spector had worked on, and he cobbled them together specifically for Turner to sing. Even though the song is credited to Ike & Tina Turner, the former is nowhere to be found on this record, at Spector’s request. Spector offered $20,000 upfront to Ike Turner in exchange for sole control of production, which he accepted. This ended up being a one-time occurrence due to the track’s underperformance in the US.
At the time of these recording sessions, it had been over a year since Phil Spector had produced a hit record, so he was inclined to put every ounce of effort he could into ‘River Deep’ in hopes of getting out of this rut. In Rolling Stone’s Top 500 Songs, Tina Turner is quoted discussing these sessions, “I must have sung that 500,000 times. I was drenched with sweat. I had to take my shirt off and stand there in my bra to sing.”
Spector used over 20 elite session musicians for the recording, including Hal Blaine, Leon Russell and Glen Campbell. The completed record cost around $22,000 ($20,000 of which was used to pay off Ike Turner), which, adjusted for inflation, is equal to about $221,500 today.
When the song tanked in America, Spector was so upset that he announced his retirement, went into hiding, and stopped working. He didn’t return to the studio until four years later when he was tapped in to work on The Beatles’ final album, Let It Be.
Even though it flopped in America, the UK was more welcoming, where it peaked at number three on the charts. This earned Ike & Tina Turner an opening slot for The Rolling Stones on their 1966 UK tour. While this gained them a lot of career momentum in the short term, they faced pressure to record another hit upon returning to America. The pressure caused Ike’s drug abuse to intensify, as well as his abuse of Tina, which spiralled into her 1968 suicide attempt. When Tina rebuilt her career in the 1980s, Mick Jagger was on the front lines to empower her and support her new output.
In 1995, Spector agreed to produce a version of ‘River Deep’ with Celine Dion. The sessions were a disaster, and her version of that was never released. However, she did get lesser-known producer Jim Steinman to work on the version that ended up on her 1996 record Falling into You. It still sounds awful with its dated, gaudy synths and cheap drum machine; Dion’s vocal performance is fine but ultimately lacklustre compared to Turner’s.
However, this makes the Glee cast version, sung by members Amber Riley and the late Naya Rivera, the superior one. The arrangement stays true to the original, and the two women have incredible vocal chemistry and the chops to tackle a song this difficult to sing. My apologies, Glee cast; I was not familiar with your game.
