Songwriter Rose Marie McCoy co-wrote "It's Gonna Work Out Fine," but used her pseudonym James Lee when it was copyrighted.[3] After being suggested by her writing partner to hear Tina Turner sing, McCoy attended their show at the Apollo in New York and approached the duo about recording the song.[4]
Juggy Murray is credited as the sole producer, but Sylvia Robinson of the duo Mickey & Sylvia contributed to the song.[5] She arranged and produced the record.[6] In a 1981 interview with Black Radio Exclusive magazine Robinson said, "I paid for the session, taught Tina the song; that's me playing guitar."[7] Mickey & Sylvia also recorded a version of the song in 1960 which was unreleased until their 1990 compilation album Love Is Strange.[8]
Ike & Tina Turner's version was released as a single in June 1961 and became their biggest hit since "A Fool in Love". It peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot R&B Sides chart and became their third pop hit, reaching No. 14 on the Hot 100.[9][10]
In addition to being released on the album Dynamite! in 1962, the song was also released on the album It's Gonna Work Out Fine in 1963.
Billboard (June 19, 1961): "Ike and Tina talk about love on this attractive disk which also features a gospel-styled chorus. Pair handle the tune with gusto and it has a chance."[11]
Ike & Tina Turner, who’ve had dual-mart R&B-pop chart representations in "A Fool In Love" and "I Idolize You," can soon be claiming another one in "It's Gonna Work Out Fine." Side, a hip-swinging, beat-ballad thumper, sports a delectable chorus-backed, verbal exchange between the two. Strings play an important part in the rhythmic, rock-a-shuffler on the lower end.[12]
Ike and Tina released several "sequels" related to the song, including 1962's "The Argument", in which they sang in a similar way but this time involved in an argument, and the "official" sequel, "Something Came Over You", recorded during their tenure at Kent Records.
Tina performed the song along with "A Fool In Love" in an Ike & Tina medley during her early solo live shows in the late 1970s. After hiring Roger Davies in 1980, the song was taken off her setlist.
^Rolling Stone Staff (24 May 2023). "Tina Turner: 15 Essential Songs". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 24 May 2023. Tina's real-life marriage to Ike was an abusive nightmare, but on this early R&B gem, she paints one of the most enticing portraits of monogamy imaginable.
^Cooder, Ry, ‘’Bop Till You Drop’’, Warner Brothers, 1979, liner notes