Twenty Four Seven (Tina Turner album)

Twenty Four Seven is the tenth and final solo studio album by singer Tina Turner. First released by Parlophone in Europe in October 1999, it received a North American release through Virgin Records in February 2000. As with her previous album Wildest Dreams (1996), Turner worked with a small team of British producers on the album, including Mark Taylor, Brian Rawling, Johnny Douglas, Terry Britten and production team Absolute. Singer Bryan Adams appears on both the title track and "Without You".

The album received a mixed reception from music critics many of whom praised Turner's vocal performance but found the material too formulaic. A commercial success, it topped the albums charts in Switzerland and reached the top ten on most of the charts it appeared on. In the United States, Twenty Four Seven scored Turner her biggest first week sales by then. Lead single "When the Heartache Is Over" became a top-ten hit, while the Twenty Four Seven Tour emerged as the highest-grossing tour of 2000. Twenty Four Seven was Turner's last full-length studio album before her death in 2023.

Promotion
Several singles were released in support of the album. Twenty Four Seven was preceded by lead single "When the Heartache Is Over", released in October 1999. Written by Graham Stack and John Reid, the dance pop song became a considerable hit both on the pop and dance charts, reaching the top ten in Finland and the United Kingdom, as well as the top twenty in Flemish Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. It also peaked at number three on the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs, becoming Turner's biggest hit on that chart since 1984's "Let's Stay Together".

Follow-up "Whatever You Need", written by Russ Courtenay and Harriet Roberts and released in January 2000, was less successful but peaked at number seven on the Czech Singles Chart while also reaching the top twenty in Finland and the Netherlands. "Don't Leave Me This Way", a cover version of English entertainer Malandra Burrows same-titled 1998 recording, served as the album's second single in German-speaking Europe. Released in February 2000, the ballad reached number 16 in the Czech Republic and entered the lower half on the German Singles Chart.

Billed as her final outing, Turner embarked on the Twenty Four Seven Tour from March 23 to December 6, 2000. The highest-grossing tour of 2000, it grossed over $120 million. The same year, Twenty Four Seven was released as a limited-edition special pack with a bonus disc including live recordings from Turner's 60th birthday celebration in London in November 1999, as well as the music videos for "When the Heartache Is Over" and "Whatever You Need".

Critical reception
Twenty Four Seven received mixed reviews, many critics considered was a most improvement releases, AllMusic editor Mark Morgenstein found that "Tina still puts Mariah Carey and Celine Dion to shame. But unfortunately, on Twenty Four Seven, the famous Turner passion is often submerged in glossy production that virtually defines "adult contemporary." In some transcendent moments, Tina reminds us of the woman who sang "River Deep, Mountain High" [...] As Tina sings in "Absolutely Nothing's Changed," she's lived to fight another day, and that's proof she ain't been broken." Rolling Stone's Anthony DeCurtis wrote that "at sixty, Turner still sounds incredible; she's lost remarkably little of her range and none of her power. She sweeps through the eleven generic tracks on this album with the force of a tornado whipping through a trailer park [...] Twenty Four Seven is the theme-park version of [a] masterful performer – evocative of the real thing but ultimately harmless, which is about the last thing Tina Turner should be."

Billboard editor Michael Paoletta called the album a "sterling collection that deftly trecks across a beat-savy terrain". Advocate critic Steve Gdula noted that while Turner "may have dropped her last name on the CD cover, she certainly hasn't lost anything else [...] Turner shows she's still as tough as nails in body, mind, and spirit. And most definitve in voice." Jason Hannaham, writing for Out, found that although the "majority of tracks squander Tina's prodigious talent, Twenty Four Seven does contain occasional moments of inspiration." He ranked "Without You" and the album's title song among its highlights. Similarly, Dave McKenna from The Washington Post called the album "a fairly formulaic release that only occasionally hints at Turner's former powers". The Baltimore Sun wrote that "Turner gives it her all, but Twenty Four Seven is simply not a great album."

Commercial performance
Twenty Four Seven was first released in Europe in October 1999. As with her previous album, it debuted atop the album chart in Switzerland, Turner's then-new home country, leading to a Platinum certification by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) of Switzerland. Elsewhere, it reached the top five in Austria, Germany, and Norway, and the top ten in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. It scored its biggest-sales in Germany where it was certifield triple Gold by the Bundesverband Musikindustrie (BVMI) in 2000 for shipments in excess of 450,000 units. Prior to its North American release, the album had accumulated sales of two million copies.

In the United States, Twenty Four Seven debuted and peaked at number 21 on the Billboard 200 in the week of February 19, 2000. With first week sales of 60,000 units, it scored Turner her biggest first week sales up to then. The album was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on March 7, 2000, and sold 300,000 copies within its first eight weeks of release. By January 2014, Twenty Four Seven had sold 517,000, according to Nielsen SoundScan. In Canada, the album reached number nine on RPM's Top Albums/CDs chart, becoming Turner's highest-charting album since Break Every Rule (1986).

Personnel and credits
Credits are taken from the album's liner notes.

Musicians


 * Tina Turner – lead vocals
 * Tracy Ackerman, Bryan Adams, Terry Britten – backing vocals
 * Pete Lincoln – acoustic guitar
 * Pino Palladino – bass guitar
 * Terry Britten, Phil Hudson, Milton McDonald, Phil Palmer, Adam Phillips, Alan Ross – guitar
 * Peter Hope-Evans – harmonica
 * Duncan Mackay, Mike Stevens, Nichol Thompson – horns
 * Absolute, Marcus Brown, Dave Clews, Johnny Douglas, Graham Stack, Mark Taylor – other instrumentation
 * Mark Taylor – keyboards
 * Bruno Bridges – programming
 * The London Musicians Orchestra – strings
 * Steve Sidwell – trumpet

Technical and production
 * Record producers – Absolute, Terry Britten, Johnny Douglas, Brian Rawling, Mark Taylor
 * Engineering – Marc Lane, Ren Swan, Paul Wright – sound engineer
 * Mastering engineer – Doug Sax