Tina Turner – Addicted To Love (Live)

She Never Recorded It, But Made It Hers Anyway

Released as a single in March 1988 from the live album Tina Live in Europe, Tina Turner’s cover of “Addicted to Love” reached number 71 on the UK Singles Chart, number 19 on the Dutch Top 40, and number 23 in Belgium. The song was never recorded in a studio. Turner performed Robert Palmer’s 1986 signature hit during her Break Every Rule World Tour in 1987, and the recording captures that raw concert energy from European venues where over 1.7 million fans watched her command stages across fourteen countries. For a live cover that Palmer himself immediately praised, this was Turner claiming ownership of someone else’s hit through sheer force of will.

Turner added the song to her setlist in 1986, the same year Palmer’s original spent three weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. She first performed it for the Break Every Rule television special filmed at London’s Camden Palace in November 1986. Palmer had originally written the track as a duet with Chaka Khan, but Warner Brothers Records refused to release Khan’s vocals, forcing Palmer to re-record alone. Turner heard it and recognized something electric she could make her own. By the time the European leg of her tour kicked off in March 1987, the cover had become a highlight, showcasing her ability to transform any song into pure Turner firepower.

Producer John Hudson recorded the track live during the Break Every Rule World Tour, capturing performances at venues including Munich’s Olympiahalle, where Turner played eight sold-out shows to 120,000 people combined. Alan Clark played keyboards, James Ralston handled guitar and backing vocals, Jack Bruno pounded drums, and Bob Feit anchored the bass. Turner’s touring band had developed chemistry over 218 performances across five continents, and that cohesion bleeds through every note. Where Palmer’s version feels controlled and mannequin-slick thanks to Terence Donovan’s iconic video with models miming along, Turner’s live version explodes with sweat and spontaneity. She growls through the verses and attacks the chorus like someone who knows exactly what addiction feels like.

The Break Every Rule World Tour was the highest-grossing female tour of the 1980s, earning $11.3 million from 78 North American shows alone and drawing over four million attendees worldwide. Turner performed to a record-breaking 180,000 people at Rio de Janeiro’s Maracanã Stadium on January 16, 1988, a Guinness World Record for the largest paying audience for a solo artist. The tour was originally billed as her farewell tour, with Turner telling Jet magazine she wanted to focus on her movie career. She initially resisted performing her signature hit “Proud Mary” until an eruption of crowd enthusiasm at Rotterdam’s Ahoy convinced her the song still mattered. That same instinct guided her toward “Addicted to Love,” recognizing Palmer’s lyrics about obsession and craving as territory she could inhabit completely.

The song appeared on Tina Live in Europe, a double album that peaked at number three on the UK Albums Chart and reached number thirteen on the Billboard 200. The album earned Turner the Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance in 1989, her third consecutive win in that category. The B-side featured a ten-minute live version of ZZ Top’s “Legs,” previously unreleased and recorded during the Private Dancer Tour in 1985. Turner had used the cover as an encore, turning the blues-rock strut into something fierce and danceable. Follow-up singles from the live album included “Nutbush City Limits” in Germany and “What You Get Is What You See” elsewhere.

Florence and The Machine covered the song years later, as did Let Loose, Eagles of Death Metal, and the cast of Glee. The Roseanne sitcom referenced Palmer’s video in 1992 when Jackie lied to her boyfriend, claiming she was one of the mannequin women. But Turner’s version remains the definitive reinterpretation, stripping away the video’s artifice and replacing it with something immediate and dangerous. She appeared on compilation albums including Simply the Best, All the Best, and Tina!, where the live recording continued introducing new generations to her particular brand of controlled chaos. The track also appeared on the Tina Live in Europe DVD released alongside the album.

Robert Palmer died in 2003, but not before praising Turner’s interpretation. Tina Turner died in May 2023 at her home in Switzerland, 83 years old and surrounded by the mountains that reminded her of Nutbush. She never needed a studio to make a song hers. She just needed a stage, a microphone, and the absolute conviction that nobody could sing it better. Sometimes covers aren’t about improving the original, they’re about proving you belong in the same conversation. Turner spent her entire career having that conversation, and every time someone doubted her, she turned up the volume and reminded them why nobody ever bet against Tina Turner twice.