TINA: Song

Better Be Good To Me

is a rock song, originally recorded and released in 1981 by Spider, a band from New York City with co-writer Holly Knight as a member. In 1984, Tina covered it for her comeback album Private Dancer and released it as the fourth single in Europe and the third single in the rest of the world. Tina performed the song at every concert tour, available on every live home video release and her two live albums. The song earned her a Grammy Award in 1985 for „Best Rock Vocal Performance Female“.

Writer: Holly Knight, Nick Chinn, Mike Chapman
Album: Private Dancer (1984) / Live In Europe (1988) / TINA Live (2009) / Do You Want Some Action? (2021) / Live In Rio (2022)
Single: Better Be Good To Me (1984)
Video: Private Dancer Tour (1985) / Live In Rio (1988) / Live In Barcelona (1990) / What’s Love? Live (1994) / Live In Amserdam (1997) / One Last Time (2000) / TINA Live (2009)
Charts: USA: #5 / UK: #45 / Germany: #52 / Australia: #28
Grammy: Best Rock Vocal Performance Female (1985)

  1. Better Be Good To Me 5:10
  2. From the album 'Private Dancer'
  3. Better Be Good To Me (Edit) 3:40
  4. From the single release
  5. Better Be Good To Me (Video Version) 4:03
  6. From the music video
    Produced by Rupert Hine for Gestalt / Recorded in England at the Farmyard / Bass, Keyboards, Percussion Programming: Rupert Hine / Guitar: Jamie West-Oram / Acoustic Drums: Trevor Morais / Background Vocals: Tina Turner, Cy Curnin, Rupert Hine
  7. Better Be Good To Me (Live) 6:29
  8. From the album 'Live In Europe'
    Produced by Terry Britten / Jack Bruno: Drums / James Ralston: Guitar & Vocals / Kenny Moore: Piano & Vocals / Alan Clark: Keyboards / Bob Feit: Bass Guitar & Vocals / Timmy Cappello: Saxophone & Keyboards
  9. Better Be Good To Me (Live) 6:25
  10. From the album 'TINA Live' with a concert at the GelreDome in Arnhem, Holland on March 21, 2009
    Warren McRae: Bass / Laurie Wisefield: Guitars, Vocals / Euge Groove: Saxophone, Percussion, Keyboards / Jack Bruno: Drums / Joel Campbell: Keyboards, Vocals / Ollie Marland: Musical Director, Keyboards, Vocals / John Miles: Guitar, Vocals / Stacy Campbell, Lisa Fisher: Backing Vocals
    Produced by Ollie Marland, Tina Turner, Roger Davies / Recorded at the GelreDome in Arnhem, Holland / Warren McRae: Bass / Laurie Wisefield: Guitars, Vocals / Euge Groove: Saxophone, Percussion, Keyboards / Jack Bruno: Drums / Joel Campbell: Keyboards, Vocals / Ollie Marland: Musical Director, Keyboards, Vocals / John Miles: Guitar, Vocals / Lisa Fisher: Vocals / Stacy Campbell: Vocals
  11. Better Be Good To Me (Live) 11:27
  12. From the album 'Do You Want Some Action?' with a concert from Barcelona, Spain in 1990
    Ollie Marland: Keyboard, Vocals / Jack Bruno: Drums / Bob Feit: Guitar / Timmy Capello: Persussion, Keyboard, Saxophone, Vocals / James Ralston: Guitar, Vocals / Kenny Moore: Piano, Vocals / John Miles: Guitar, Vocals
  13. Better Be Good To Me (Live) 6:13
  14. From the album 'Live In Rio 88'
    Drums: Jack Bruno / Bass Guitar: Bob Feit / Guitar: James Ralston, John Miles, Laurie Wisefield / Keyboards: Deric Dyer, Don Snow, John Miles / Percussion: Steve Scales / Saxophone: Deric Dyer, Don Snow / Vocals: Bob Feit, Don Snow, James Ralston, John Miles

Holly Knight

„This is the first song I ever wrote with Mike Chapman and it was a life changing moment for me, the whole experience. My band Spider was in the finishing stages of the second record, and I wanted Mike to produce a track this time. I thought that if I wrote the song with Mike, I could convince him to produce the track as well, which he did. It was soon after it's release, when I left Spider that it was played to Tina Turner in an A&R meeting at Capitol Records. Legend has it that she jumped out of her seat and said, ‘this is it, this is what I want to sing, and the message I’ve been wanting to say’. Nine songs later, it has been my experience that Tina does not like to sing songs where she is perceived as a victim. She only wants to sing positive, empowering songs. I love that about her.“

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