Bonnie Tyler, the Welsh singer whose iconic raspy voice turned tracks like “Total Eclipse of the Heart” and “Holding Out for a Hero” into some of the biggest songs of the ‘80s, has died. She was 75.
“Bonnie’s family and team are heartbroken to announce that Bonnie unexpectedly passed away last night in hospital in Portugal as a result of the illness that she was being treated for,” said a message posted on Tyler’s official website. In May, the singer had been placed into an induced coma after undergoing emergency intestinal surgery.
With her piercing blue eyes, big blonde hair, shoulder pads and booming voice, Tyler became one of the leading female singers of the 1980s in both the U.S. and her native U.K., and along with Cardiff-born Shirley Bassey, became one of the most successful female singers to ever come out of Wales.
Born Gaynor Hopkins in Skewen in 1951, Tyler was discovered singing in clubs in nearby Swansea. She first made a name in music industry in the late ‘70s thanks to her breakout hit “Lost In France” off her debut album, The World Starts Tonight, through RCA Records. She followed that with 1978’s Natural Force, which included the lead single “It’s a Heartache.” (The album was released as It’s a Heartbreak in the U.S.) Both the single and the album went gold in the U.S.
Tyler released two more albums with RCA before signing with Columbia, where she released Faster Than the Speed of Night in 1983. That LP went platinum and featured what became her biggest hit, the Jim Steinman-penned “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” which became something of a pop culture phenomenon. Steinman was the lyricist for Meatloaf, and there has long been speculation that her originally wrote the Wagnerian power ballad for the rocker, although Tyler always denied that was the case.
“Total Eclipse of the Heart” went platinum in the U.S., earning Tyler a Grammy nomination for best female pop vocal performance. She also received a Grammy nom for best female rock vocal performance for the album Faster Than the Speed of Night. In the U.K., “Total Eclipse of the Heart” topped the singles chart and became one of the biggest-selling songs of 1983. It has since gone on to become one of the defining songs of the decade on both sides of the Atlantic.
The flamboyant music video for “Total Eclipse of the Heart” was directed by Australian filmmaker Russell Mulcahy, who would go on to direct Highlander. The video has racked up more than 1.3 billion views on YouTube.
The song’s enduring legacy saw it feature in a season one episode of Glee, with stars Lea Michele, Cory Monteith and special guest star Jonathan Groff performing the hit. A comedy version of the song is featured in the Will Ferrell film Old School, sung by The Dan Band.
“Total Eclipse of the Heart” also has been covered by several artists, most notably by English singer Nicki French, who had a worldwide hit with her version in 1994.
Despite the tune’s massive success in the 1980s and continued strong performance on streaming, Tyler told the BBC in January that she makes “just about nothing” from the song.
Tyler and Steinman would strike gold again with another monster hit in 1984 with the pulsing and ultra-dramatic “Holding Out for a Hero,” which was featured on the soundtrack of the Kevin Bacon starrer Footloose. Chartwise, “Holding Out for a Hero” didn’t reach the same heights as the previous Tyler-Steinman song, peaking at No. 2 in the U.K. and No. 34 on the Billboard chart.
Much like “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” however, “Holding Out for a Hero” has become an indelible part of the tapestry of ’80s culture and is a near-ubiquitious needle drop across media, finding its way into other films like Shrek 2 and recently The Super Mario Bros. Movie, TV shows like Euphoria and Regular Show and the soundtrack of countless ads around the globe. Ella Mae Bowen recorded a cover of the song for 2011 remake of Footloose that starred Kenny Wormald, Julianne Hough and Miles Teller.
In 1986, Tyler followed up Faster Than the Speed of Night with Secret Dreams and Forbidden Fire, which featured “If You Were a Woman (and I Was a Man),” written by Desmond Child. That song didn’t beat her previous hits, though its melody lives on, as Child collaborated with Bon Jovi for a reworked version, becoming one of the biggest rock songs of all time with “You Give Love a Bad Name.” (That melody was repurposed again with Ava Max’s hit song “Kings and Queens” in 2020.)
Tyler held steady releasing music through the early 2000s, and in 2013, she represented the U.K. in the Eurovision song contest with her song “Believe in Me” off her album Rocks and Honey. Tyler would release 18 studio albums in her career, with her final coming in 2021 with The Best Is Yet to Come.
Even during the heady days of the 1980s, Tyler maintained close links with the Swansea area. She received an honorary doctorate from Swansea University in 2013 and was made a fellow of Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama. Tyler was named in the Queen’s last Birthday Honours list in 2022 and awarded an MBE for her services to music by Prince William the following year.
She is survived by her husband, Robert Sullivan, whom she married in 1973.
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