Photo Credit: Bonnie Tyler by Stefan Brending (2eight) / CC by 3.0
Bonnie Tyler, known for global hits “Total Eclipse of the Heart” and “Holding Out for a Hero,” passed away in a hospital in Portugal, aged 75.
Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler, best known for her global hits “Total Eclipse of the Heart” and “Holding Out for a Hero,” passed away on Wednesday evening in a hospital in Portugal due to the “illness that she was being treated for.” She was 75.
Back in May, Tyler was rushed to a hospital in Faro, Portugal, for emergency intestinal surgery and was placed in an induced coma to assist in her recovery. Last month, she emerged from the coma but was reportedly “very unwell.”
Tributes from numerous celebrities who knew Tyler have poured in, including fellow singer Cliff Richard, actress Catherine Zeta-Jones, and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Musician Bryan Adams said he will “always be grateful for her beautiful version of ‘Straight From the Heart.’”
In the ‘70s, Bonnie Tyler would sing six nights a week in the clubs and bars of Swansea before her single “Lost in France” hit the UK top 10 in 1976. But in 1983, her biggest hit, “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” made her the first Welsh artist to have a U.S. #1 hit, knocking Billy Joel’s “Tell Her About It” from the top spot.
“The first time I heard it, shivers up my spine,” Tyler said of the track, which was written by Meat Loaf collaborator Jim Steinman.
It held the top spot for four weeks and sold a million copies, securing her a Grammy nomination. The song’s reign was only supplanted by “Islands in the Stream” by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers, another all-time classic.
Interestingly, Tyler, who was born Gaynor Hopkins, underwent surgery shortly after her breakout success in the spring of 1977 to remove nodules from her vocal cords—the result of so much singing, her doctor told her. It was a six-week recovery period, during which Tyler was told to rest her voice completely. That included no speaking, let alone singing.
Tyler found it a near-impossible demand, and after one scream of frustration, she returned to her doctor only to be told that she might have suffered permanent damage. But when she finally healed and sang again, her voice had changed significantly.
“When I went into the studio, they all said, ‘Blood hell, where’s that voice come from?’” Tyler recalled. “I now sounded like a female Rod Stewart.”
But it was that trademark husky voice that made her biggest hit, “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” so successful only six years later.
“They can never take that away from you,” she said of her track’s global success.
Bonnie Tyler went on to sell millions of records and topped charts worldwide, including in the United States and United Kingdom, and received an MBE in the final honors list of the late Queen Elizabeth.
