Bonnie Tyler dies aged 75
Her family have confirmed the sad news
Last updated 5 hours ago
Welsh singing legend Bonnie Tyler, who scored huge hits with the Jim Steinman penned power ballads 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' and 'Holding Out for a Hero', has sadly died aged 75.
A statement issued to Tyler’s social channels said: “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.
“We will issue a further statement shortly but for now ask for privacy to deal with this tragedy.”
In May, it was announced that Bonnie was placed into an induced coma after undergoing emergency intestinal surgery in Portugal, where she owns a home.
A week later, a statement on her official website said she “remains seriously ill but stable in hospital in Faro.”
Born Gaynor Hopkins on 8th June 1951 in Skewen, Neath Wales, Tyler adopted the stage name Sheereen Davis in 1969 to avoid confusion with Welsh folk singer Mary Hopkin.
Six years later when she signed to RCA Records, she switched her stage moniker to Bonnie Tyler.
Known for her distinctive husky voice, Bonnie Tyler landed her first Top 10 hit ‘Lost in France’ in 1976 a year after she signed to RCA, before she scored the huge international smash ‘It’s a Heartache’ in 1977.
However, her career went truly stratospheric when she joined forces with Meat Loaf songwriter Jim Steinman and embraced rock sounds in the 1980s.
Enduring Steinman-penned anthem ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’ hit Number 1 in numerous countries, and it was the fifth best-selling song of 1983 in the UK. It has also amassed more than 1.3 billion YouTube views in the past decade.
Steinman also wrote the colossal anthem ‘Holding Out for a Hero’ for Tyler, and it appeared on the soundtrack to the hit 1984 film Footloose.
Tyler was due to perform at the Sunshine Festival in Worcester this summer, and she also had a Welsh homecoming show at Cardiff’s Utilita Arena booked in for December.
She represented the UK in the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest in Malmo, Sweden, with the song ‘Believe In Me’, and she was made an MBE for services to music in 2023.
RIP Bonnie Tyler.