River Deep, Mountain High

was written by Phil Spector especially for Tina Turner and although the single was credited to Ike & Tina Turner, Phil paid Ike $20,000 to stay away from the studio. The song was recorded using Spector's „Wall of Sound“ production technique with 42 session musicians and background vocalists. The single was very successful in Europe, but flopped in the United States, which made Phil Spector so disillusioned, that he stopped working for over two years. Ike Turner released in 1971 a very strange solo version as a promo and another different version was released as a single in 1974 from Ike & Tina. The duo performed it live in their concerts in a very different, more R&B styled version but also Tina solo performed the song in most of her concerts, available on many home videos. For her 1991 greatest hits collection Simply The Best, Phil Spector remastered the original version at Tina’s request. The song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and the Rolling Stones Magazine put it at #33 on it's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.

Writer: Phil Spector, Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich
Album: River Deep, Mountain High (1966) / Soul to Soul (1971) / The World of Ike & Tina (1973) / Nutbush City Limits (1973) / Live In Europe (1988) / Live at Circus Krone (1993) / Private Dancer Tour (1994) / Wildest Dreams (Tour Edition) (1997) / Twenty Four Seven (Tour Edition) (2000) / Live In '71 (2004) / TINA Live (2009)
Single: River Deep, Mountain High (1966) / River Deep, Mountain High (Ike) (1971) / River Deep, Mountain High (1974)
Video: Nice 'N' Rough (1982) / Wild Lady of Rock (1984) / Live In Amsterdam (1997) / One Last Time (2000) / Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame (2011) / Live In '71 (2004) /
Charts (1966): UK: #3 / USA: #88 (Pop)
Charts (1969): UK: #33
Grammy: Hall of Fame (1999)