Bonnie Tyler, the Grammy-nominated Welsh singer whose powerful voice and landmark hit Total Eclipse of the Heart made her one of the defining artists of the 1980s, has died.
She was 75.
Her family and team announced her passing on Thursday, 9 July via her Facebook page.
“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,” the statement read.
“We will issue a further statement shortly but for now ask for privacy to deal with this tragedy.”
Tyler had been hospitalised in Portugal, where she owned a home, following emergency intestinal surgery in early May.
A statement on 6 May confirmed the operation had gone well and that she was recovering, but the following day her manager revealed she had been placed into an induced coma to aid her recuperation.
She never fully recovered.
Born Gaynor Hopkins in Wales on 8 June 1951, Tyler was discovered by a talent scout while performing with her band in a club in 1975.
She signed with RCA Records, adopted her stage name and released her debut single My! My! Honeycomb in 1976.
Chart success followed quickly with Lost in France and It’s a Heartache, the latter establishing her internationally.
But it was Total Eclipse of the Heart that defined her legacy.
Released in 1983 as the lead single from her fifth album Faster Than the Speed of Night, the Jim Steinman-penned power ballad spent four weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 and became one of the best-selling singles of all time.
It earned her a Grammy nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 1984. That same year, Holding Out for a Hero from the Footloose soundtrack gave her another enduring classic.
Tyler continued recording prolifically across the decades, ultimately releasing 18 studio albums.
Her final album, The Best Is Yet to Come, came out in 2021, the same year she told The Sun she had no plans to stop.
“I’m never going to retire. I look at Tom Jones, he’s amazing. His voice is as strong as ever, and he’s got 10 years on me.”
She is survived by her husband Robert Sullivan, whom she married in July 1973.
