Tina Turner reveals she signed up to sing James Bond theme GoldenEye despite ‘really bad’ demo tape

The Irish Mirror by Linda McGrory (2018-04-22)

Tina Turner reveals she signed up to sing James Bond theme GoldenEye despite ‘really bad’ demo tape from Bono

‘Bono sent me the worst demo – he kind of threw it together as if he thought I wasn’t going to do it’

Music legend Tina Turner has revealed she signed up for an iconic James Bond theme song despite the “really bad” demo tape sent to her by its co-writer Bono. Turner, 78, was approached in the nineties to perform ‘GoldenEye’ but couldn’t make out the essence of the song, partly because the U2 lead singer was hoarse on the demo track he sent to her home in Zurich, Switzerland.

“Bono sent me the worst demo. He kind of threw it together as if he thought I wasn’t going to do it,” she quipped. “This song, I (didn’t) even know what key to practise it in,” she told Graham Norton on BBC Radio 2 on Saturday.

The 12-time Grammy award winner added: “It was unbelievable what I (was) sent here, but again, you know, you have to step into the shoes and learn it. “And then I sung it how I would sing it and even Bono was impressed.”
‘GoldenEye’ was written by Bono and the Edge for the 1995 film of the same name starring fellow Irishman Pierce Brosnan as 007.

Ms Turner said Bono later acknowledged the dire quality of the recording he had sent her. “He said ‘I should have known, I remember sending you that and after I sent it I realised it was really bad’.”

The ‘Simply the Best’ star said she subsequently enjoyed the level of “creativity” ‘GoldenEye’ inspired in her, adding that the track ‘transformed’ the way she sang.

“I had to actually come out of myself to make it a song. I’d never sang a song like that before so it really gave me creativity in terms of making something out of something that was really rough, very rough,” she added. The rock and roll queen was in London as ‘Tina’, a stage musical of her life and times, opened at Aldwych Theatre. The musical, written by Olivier Award-winning playwright Katori Hall, stars Adrienne Warren in the lead role.

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