5
minute read
Tina Turner unleashed her incredible talent in 1995 by immortalizing one of her most iconic songs - the theme for GoldenEye, the perfect introduction to Pierce Brosnan's debut as the legendary secret agent 007.
Turner almost passed on recording the GoldenEye theme song
Turner's extraordinary journey with GoldenEye almost didn’t happen though. Depeche Mode was in line to perform the 007 theme song but had scheduling conflicts. Producers were considering Ace of Base but Turner was back in the public eye after Angela Basset’s incredible portrayal of the rock legend in Oscar-nominated 1993 biopic What’s Love Got to Do With It. Bond producers were keen to entice Turner but the singer initially dismissed a demo sent by U2's Bono and The Edge.
“Bono sent me the worst demo. He kind of threw it together as if he thought I wasn’t going to do it. This song, I didn’t even know what key to practice it in!” Turner said in a 2018 interview. Little did Tina Turner realize that the song, once transformed by her incredible performance, would etch itself into the annals of music history.
GoldenEye encouraged Turner to come out of her shell
While it’s difficult to believe rock goddess Tina Turner could have difficulty tackling a song, GoldenEye forced Tina to push herself as an artist. Turner, who passed away at the age of 83 in May 2023, recalled a few years earlier: ''I had to actually come out of myself to make it a song. I’d never sung 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.”
GoldenEye Scene-Stealer Introduced Pierce Brosnan in an incredible Aston Martin DB5 chase
In 1995, 007 had been absent from the big screen for six years following Timothy Dalton’s departure from the franchise. Pierce Brosnan, the fifth actor to slip into the superspy’s tuxedo, didn’t disappoint. In addition to the actor’s elegant debut and Tina Turner's theme song, GoldenEye is memorable for its sensational car chase above Monaco that pitted 007 in an Aston Martin DB5 (part of the SPYSCAPE HQ collection) against legendary baddie Xenia Onatopp’s (Famke Janssen) in a fiery red Ferrari F355 GTS - surely the most feverish car chase in Bond’s history.
Ace of Base Cut a GoldenEye demo in addition to Turner
Swedish pop band Ace of Base from Gothenburg recorded a demo for GoldenEye in 1994, a year after their debut album sold more than 50m copies worldwide. They owned the pop charts but Ace of Base’s record company feared they were - believe it or not - too big for Bond! The label reportedly feared 007’s latest reboot might not be a success and pulled the song. (Needless to say, the label was wrong.) The band later reworked the tune under the name The Juvenile and released it as a single.
