Singer Bonnie Tyler, known for hits including Total Eclipse of the Heart, Holding Out for a Hero and It’s a Heartache, has died at the age of 75.
A message posted on the official website for the hugely popular Welsh power ballad diva read: “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.”
In May, the performer, from Skewen in south Wales, was placed into an induced coma after having emergency intestinal surgery in Portugal.
Last month, her spokesperson said she was out of the coma but remained “very unwell and in intensive care”.
The official statement, released on Thursday morning, continued: “We will issue a further statement shortly but for now ask for privacy to deal with this tragedy.”
Rhun ap Iorwerth, the First Minister of Wales said the singer was a “true icon”, and that he was “deeply saddened” by the news.
Welsh Secretary Jo Stevens called Tyler “a Welsh music icon, Grammy and Brit award winner and the sound of my teenage years”.
Tyler had been due to perform at the Sunshine Festival in Worcester this summer, along with a number of European dates.
She had also been booked to sing at Cardiff’s Utilita Arena on 17 December.
Pete Waterman, the Stock Aitken Waterman music producer famous for a string of hits during the 80s with stars including Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan, likened Tyler’s voice to Tina Turner’s.
“She had an amazing voice and was equal to Tina Turner in my opinion,” he told the BBC.
“If you think of Tom Jones, he was the closest Britain had to a soul star, and Bonnie was that too and she was as good as Tina Turner. You could imagine Tina singing Heartache.”
He added that in her early career she was managed by Gordon Mills, “who already had Tom Jones and Englebert Humperdinck”.
“Like Brian Epstein had done with the Beatles, he had created sort of a Welsh sound and taken on Welsh artists from the clubs, he was a massive impresario.”
Welsh broadcaster Carol Vorderman commented on Tyler’s Instagram to pay tribute, writing: “I’m so very sorry to hear this. As a Welsh woman Bonnie and her music represented so much to us, it was about fighting and power and living life without apology.
“May you rest in Musical Glory Bonnie.”
Family friend Owen Money told the BBC the singer “was one of those ladies who just loved life”, and he was “in disbelief” at the news of her death.
The musician and radio presenter said: “I’ve known her since before she was famous, in the late 60s when she was starting out in Swansea.
“She’s like family really. I was up her house last summer and the first thing she did was open a bottle of champagne.
“Not only were we friends but we were fans of each other. She was still huge in Europe, Germany, Holland, she was just so good. She’s a Welsh icon.”
Tyler, born Gaynor Hopkins, grew up in a council house in Neath.
She was discovered by talent scout Roger Bell in a club in Swansea, and released her first single Lost in France in 1977.
It’s a Heartache, her country-pop ballad released the same year, reached number four on the UK singles chart and number three on the US Billboard Hot 100.
Her biggest hit, the rockier Total Eclipse of the Heart, arrived six years later in 1983 – this time topping the charts on both sides of the Atlantic.
In doing so she became the first Welsh person to score a number one hit in the US.
The dramatic track, penned by Meat Loaf’s lyricist Jim Steinman, was originally titled Vampires in Love, as it had been written for a musical version of Nosferatu.
“I never get tired of singing it,” she recently stated. “I love it because everyone can’t wait to sing it.”
She received a Grammy nomination for the hit, and two further nominations for the album Faster Than the Speed of Night and the single Here She Comes.
Steinman also wrote her other major 1980s pop-rock anthem, the lustful and bombastic Holding Out for a Hero, which was recorded for the Footloose film soundtrack and later appeared in Shrek 2.
Tyler represented the UK at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2013, finishing 19th out of 26 acts, and was made an MBE for her services to music in 2023.
Last year, she released a club version of Total Eclipse of the Heart, produced by David Guetta and Hypaton, called Together.
And this year – 43 years after its release – the original song passed the billion streams mark on Spotify.
“I’m really happy, when you think about it, there’s only 8.3 billion people in the world,” she said.
But the star noted how she barely saw a penny from her biggest song. “Oh it’s nothing, just about nothing,” she said.
The raspy-voiced singer performed her aptly-titled track on board a cruise ship in the Caribbean as the solar event swept the US in 2017.
She is survived by her husband of more than 50 years, Robert Sullivan.
Also read: Harry Styles new album, “Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally”
Source: Paul Glynn – BBC
