Tina Turner – The Best (Live)

“The Best” – Single by Tina Turner from the album Foreign Affair
B-side “Bold and Reckless”
Released 21 August 1989
Label Capitol
Songwriters Mike Chapman and Holly Knight
Producers Tina Turner and Dan Hartman.
Charted No.15 in US; No.5 in UK; No.3 in Italy; No.3 in Switzerland; No.3 in Canada; No.2 in Austria; No.4 in West Germany.

Video: The Best – Live from the Blockbuster Pavilion San Bernardino, California on September 15, 1993

Also known as “Simply The Best,” this became a signature song for Tina Turner, but it was originally recorded by Bonnie Tyler on her 1988 album Hide Your Heart (released as Notes From America in the United States). Tyler’s version went to #95 in the UK and wasn’t released as a single in America. Turner released it as the lead single from her Foreign Affair album and her version was an international hit.

In 1989, Tina Turner recorded a cover version of “The Best” for her seventh solo studio album, Foreign Affair (1989), with a saxophone solo played by Edgar Winter. Prior to recording the song, Tina Turner approached the songwriter Holly Knight and requested some changes: the addition of a bridge, which Turner felt was missing, and a key change.

Released as the lead single from Foreign Affair on 21 August 1989, the song was an international success, becoming a top-five hit in numerous countries. It is one of Turner’s most recognizable tunes, often considered synonymous with the singer’s name.

In America, “The Best” peaked at #15, but it endured thanks to a constant run of placements and because Turner kept it in her setlist for the rest of her career.

The sax solo is by Edgar Winter, whose band The Edgar Winter Group had an American #1 in 1973 with the instrumental “Frankenstein.”