1960s Arnold credited her friendship from 1964 onwards with
Tina Turner for helping to kick start her ultimately successful singing career, and cited Turner as her mentor. Speaking with
Jools Holland on
BBC Two in December 2023 she gave an insight into the loss of Turner. In 1965, Maxine Smith, an ex-girlfriend of her brother had contacted her with an offer. Smith and her friend
Gloria Scott had arranged an audition for the three of them to replace the original
Ikettes, the dancer/singer troupe that had provided the vocal and dance accompaniments for the
Ike & Tina Turner Revue. Smith encouraged Arnold, whom she knew to be a singer to attend the audition. The three young women were offered the job on the spot, Smith persuaded Arnold to attend a concert in
Fresno that night before making a final decision. When she arrived home at 6:00 the next morning, Arnold's furious husband hit her. She left him immediately, and after placing her children in the care of her parents, joined the Ike & Tina Turner Revue. As an Ikette, Arnold sang lead on the 1966 single "What'cha Gonna Do (When I Leave You)", backed by
Brenda Holloway and
Patrice Holloway for
Phil Spector's
Phi-Dan Records. Arnold sang backing vocals on the Ike Turner produced side of the album
River Deep – Mountain High. She also appeared in the 1966 concert film,
The Big T.N.T Show. Arnold quit the Ike & Tina Turner Revue in the fall of 1966 after their tour with
the Rolling Stones in the UK. She remained in London to establish a solo career, with the encouragement of
Mick Jagger. Arnold noted the difference between how she had been treated in America and how she was received in England, saying, "A young black woman on her own in America in a white environment would not have been treated as well as I was in England." Arnold enjoyed several major British hits on Immediate Records, including songs written for her by
Paul Korda, who wrote "The Time Has Come" and released the solo album
The First Lady of Immediate. She also recorded songs written by
Steve Marriott and
Ronnie Lane from labelmates
Small Faces, who backed her on several recordings; Arnold had a brief romantic liaison with Marriott in 1967. She toured with the Small Faces during 1967–68, made several TV appearances with them, and featured as backing vocalist on two of their biggest hits, "
Itchycoo Park" and "
Tin Soldier". In 1968, she released the ambitious solo album
Kafunta, with orchestral arrangements by
John Paul Jones and including self-penned songs and covers such as "
Angel of the Morning" and "
Eleanor Rigby", Other credits in this period include her duet with
Rod Stewart on the single "Come Home Baby" (produced by Mick Jagger on Immediate Records, with
Ron Wood on guitar,
Keith Richards on bass,
Nicky Hopkins on electric piano,
Keith Emerson on Hammond organ and the
Georgie Fame Brass Section), as well as
Chris Farlowe's version of the
Motown standard "
Reach Out (I'll Be There)" (with
Albert Lee on guitar and
Carl Palmer on drums). Her first backing band, the Blue Jays, had been inherited from American soul singer Ronnie Jones and included former
Bluesbreakers guitarist Roger Dean. This was followed by
the Nice, whose line-up was Keith Emerson on organ, who had just quit the VIPs (later to be known as
Spooky Tooth),
David O'List on guitar,
Lee Jackson on bass and Ian Hague on drums. During this period she scored several hits, including the original version of
Cat Stevens' song "
The First Cut Is the Deepest" After the collapse of Immediate Records in the late 1960s, Arnold signed a production contract with the
Robert Stigwood Organisation and released two singles on the
Polydor label, produced by
Barry Gibb, but a planned album with Gibb was never completed.
1970s In 1970, Arnold moved to the musical stage, appearing alongside
P. J. Proby in the
rock musical Catch My Soul. She then formed a new backing band that included the future members of
Ashton, Gardner and Dyke, plus
Steve Howe, who would soon join
Yes. During this period, she renewed her association with Steve Marriott, recording and touring with his new band
Humble Pie (
Rock On), as well as contributing
session musician backing vocals for many notable UK and US recordings including the original 1970 album recording of the rock musical
Jesus Christ Superstar,
Nick Drake's "Poor Boy", and recordings by
Dr. John,
Graham Nash,
Gary Wright,
Manassas,
Nektar,
Jimmy Witherspoon,
Nils Lofgren and
Eric Burdon. She toured with
Eric Clapton, who also produced a number of unreleased sessions with her; during these sessions she met American bassist Fuzzy Samuels of
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and they subsequently became involved romantically and had a son, Kodzo. Feeling out of place in the rapidly changing British music scene of the mid-1970s, Arnold and Samuels returned to her hometown of Los Angeles. While they were living there, Arnold's relationship with Samuels ended; just two weeks after the split, her daughter Debbie was killed in a car accident. After her daughter's death, Arnold withdrew from public life for some time, not re-emerging until 1978. At this time, she was reunited with Barry Gibb, who wanted to complete the never-finished solo album for her. In the event, Arnold was able to release these recordings only in 2017, on her album
The Turning Tide.
1980s–1990s In 1981, Arnold returned to the US, moving to
Hollywood, but returned to England the following year to raise her younger son there. She began working with leading British
reggae band
Steel Pulse and returned to the charts in both the UK and Australia on the hit 1983 cover version of the
Staple Singers "Respect Yourself", recorded with British
electropop group
Kane Gang, which reached No. 21 in Britain and No. 19 in Australia. In 1984, she returned to the stage in the cast of the musical
Starlight Express as
Belle the Sleeping Car, after which she worked with a number of noted British acts including
Boy George as well as working on several film soundtracks. Weeks before beginning a tour with
Billy Ocean, her legs were badly injured in a car accident. She went ahead with the Ocean tour, at first appearing on crutches, but her injuries eventually forced her to leave the tour after ten weeks. Without a record contract and unable to play live, Arnold survived by doing sessions for advertising
jingles. In 1986, Arnold returned to the rock scene, featuring prominently as a backing vocalist on
Peter Gabriel's worldwide hit "
Sledgehammer", released as a single from Gabriel's 1986 album
So. Arnold also provided backing vocals for another song released as a single from
So, "
Big Time", and has claimed her backing vocals can be heard towards the end of Gabriel and
Kate Bush's duet on
So, "
Don't Give Up. This was followed by a successful collaboration with
The Beatmasters on the retro-styled
acid house hit "Burn It Up", which reached No. 14 in Britain in October 1988, and became her third hit to spend 10 weeks or more on the
UK singles chart. In 2001, Arnold released her full Immediate Records discography on the album
The First Cut (The Immediate Anthology). It includes her famous albums
The First Lady of Immediate and
Kafunta in addition to several singles. A chance encounter at a party led to
Blow Monkeys frontman Dr Robert on their 2007 album
Five in the Afternoon. In 2009, she toured the UK with
Geno Washington and
Jimmy James on the Flying Music 'This Is Soul Tour' and has since toured around the UK on her own. In 2012, she toured the UK with
Maddy Prior,
Jerry Donahue,
Dave Swarbrick, and
Thea Gilmore. In 2013, Arnold participated in the project
The Band of Sisters with
David Mindel, a British songwriter, jingle writer and composer of music for film and television. It brought together Arnold,
Mim Grey,
Tessa Niles, Lynda Hayes, Stevie Lange and Mandy Bell on the album called
Issues. In 2015, Arnold embarked on her first solo tour in Cape Town, South Africa. Arnold was then featured in the
Small Faces musical
All or Nothing at the Vault Theater Waterloo in which her love affair with
Steve Marriott was documented.
2017–present: Return with new solo album In 2017, P. P. Arnold finally released her Heritage recordings in album.
The Turning Tide is a collection of songs recorded between 1968 and 1970. Produced by Barry Gibb and
Eric Clapton, the album was aborted and remained unfinished until 2017. Also in 2017, she celebrated her 50th Anniversary in the music industry with a fall tour that coincided with the release of
The Turning Tide. She also sang backing vocals alongside Madeline Bell, for the first track "Woo Sé Mama" on Paul Weller's album "A Kind Revolution" released May 2017. In 2018, Arnold went on two tours in Australia: in May she went on first ever solo tour of Australia and New Zealand backed by
Tim Rogers, the front man for the rock band
You Am I, and
Davey Lane and
Rusty Hopkinson, also members of the band; in November she returned to Australia for the second tour, The Return of PP Arnold, where she performed with You Am I once again with James Black & The Wolfgramm Sisters. she also was a special guest on the
RocKwiz Tour 2019, where she performed with Rockwiz Orchestra. In August 2019, Arnold released her fourth solo album
The New Adventures of...P. P. Arnold. The album was recorded and produced by life-long P. P. enthusiast, OCS star and
Paul Weller band guitarist
Steve Cradock at his Kundalini Studio in Devon, and follows on—after a 51-year gap – from the singer's first two solo albums on
Immediate Records,
The First Lady of Immediate and
Kafunta, as well as a more recent compilation of previously unreleased material from the late '60s and '70s,
The Turning Tide. The album spans from classic orchestral soul to house music, ending with a 10-minute reading of
Bob Dylan's poem "The Last Thoughts On Woody Guthrie". Arnold explained: "I've got this huge catalogue of records I've sung on, but I have only released two albums – and they've stood the test of time." In October 2019, Arnold toured the UK to support the album. On 8 May 2020,
The Fratellis released their single "Strangers In The Street" on which Arnold performed lead vocals. In 2024, Arnold released a live album, Live In Liverpool. == Personal life ==