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In May she had been admitted to a hospital in Portugal where she had been placed in a pharmacological coma
Bonnie Tyler, the Welsh singer of “Total Eclipse of the Heart” and “It’s a Heartache,” has died at the age of 75. In May, she was admitted to a hospital in Portugal in critical condition, where she was placed in a medically induced coma. The last news came a few weeks ago, when she had emerged from the coma, but with a worrying medical condition. Today, the announcement of her passing was made publicly: “It is with deep sorrow that Bonnie’s family and team announce that Bonnie passed away unexpectedly last night in a hospital in Portugal, due to the illness for which she was being treated,” a message posted on the official website read. “We will be issuing a further statement in the coming hours. For now, we ask that the privacy of her family and those close to her be respected as they deal with this tragedy.”
Aside from 1983’s Total Eclipse of the Heart, which reached No. 1 in the US and UK and is arguably the most powerful power ballad in music history (covered in Italy by L’Aura and also by Nek), Tyler’s hits include Holding Out for a Hero , which gave the Footloose soundtrack an explosive kick and reached No. 2 in the UK charts in 1984, and the aching It’s a Heartache, which brought her to fame in 1977.
The extraordinary career of Bonnie Tyler
Born Gaynor Hopkins in the village of Skewen, near Swansea, Tyler grew up in a home with five older siblings. “I classify myself as a working-class girl and I’ve never stopped working,” she told the Guardian in 2013. “I do a lot of gigs because it’s a privilege, and I feel like other people would love to have what I’m offered, so I try to give back however I can, which is by making music.” Her music career had a modest beginning: she sang covers at local clubs at night and worked as a grocery store clerk during the day. But one day, a talent scout heard her singing Freda Payne’s “Band of Gold” one night and had her record a demo to distribute to record labels. Two years later, she signed with RCA and took the stage name Bonnie Tyler.
Her first single flopped, but her second, “Lost in France,” a swaying ballad complete with accordions and French-inflected “ooh la las,” made the UK Top 10, as did her follow-up, “More Than a Lover,” which was moderately successful. After surgery on the nodules on her vocal cords—”my voice,” she told the Guardian, “was hoarseer than before, and that, I later discovered, gave me more of an edge”—came It’s a Heartache , a poignant track that proved a perfect match for her “new,” slightly hardened vocal tone.
The Story of Total Eclipse of the Heart
Tyler was a versatile artist, ranging from country ballads to disco-pop songs like the 1979 hit “(The World is Full of) Married Men,” recorded for a film adaptation of Jackie Collins’s novel of the same name. But she also wanted to conquer rock music, so she courted Jim Steinman, an American record producer, composer, and pianist. Steinman was impressed by Tyler and gave her “Total Eclipse of the Heart ,” and legend has it he told a friend: “I recorded an incredible song today. The problem is, it’s so long, I don’t think anyone will ever play it.”
Instead, it became a huge hit. Featuring interjections of “turn around…” from uncredited singer Rory Dodd, Tyler sings with absolute passion about the fate of a torrid romance, and in addition to becoming a karaoke favorite around the world, it topped the charts in Australia, Canada, Ireland, and numerous other countries.
Robert Sullivan, who also represented Great Britain in judo at the 1972 Munich Olympics. They have no children but, as Tyler explained to the Guardian, “we still have a large family of five godchildren, 16 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren, so there is no shortage of children in our lives.”