Bonnie Tyler Dead: Total Eclipse of the Heart Singer Was 75

Bonnie Tyler, the Welsh singer whose iconic raspy voice turned tracks like “Total Eclipse of the Heart” and “Holding Out for a Hero” into some of the biggest songs of the ‘80s, has died. She was 75. 

“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,” said a message posted on Tyler’s official website. In May, the singer had been placed into an induced coma after undergoing emergency intestinal surgery.

Born Gaynor Hopkins in Skewen, Wales in 1951, Tyler first broke through in the late ‘70s thanks to her breakout hit “Lost In France” off her debut album The World Starts Tonight through RCA Records. She followed that album with 1978’s Natural Force, which included the lead single “It’s a Heartache.” (The album was released as It’s a Heartbreak in the U.S.) Both the single and the album went gold in the U.S. 

Tyler released two more albums with RCA before signing with Columbia, where she released Faster Than the Speed of Night in 1983. That album went platinum and featured what became her biggest hit, the Jim Steinman-penned “Total Eclipse of the Heart.” “Total Eclipse of the Heart” went platinum as well, also earning a Grammy nomination for best female pop vocal performance. 

She and Steinman had another hit in 1984 with the ultra-dramatic “Holding Out for a Hero,” which was featured on the soundtrack for Footloose. Since then it’s become a near-ubiquitious needle drop across media, finding its way into other films like Shrek 2 and The Super Mario Bros. Movie, tv shows like Euphoria and Regular Show and numerous ads. 

In 1986, Tyler followed up Faster Than the Speed of Night with Secret Dreams and Forbidden Fire, which featured “If You Were a Woman (and I Was a Man),” written by legendary songwriter Desmond Child. That song didn’t beat her previous hits, though its melody lives on, as Child collaborated with Bon Jovi for a reworked version, becoming one of the biggest rock songs of all time with “You Give Love A Bad Name.” (That melody was repurposed again with Ava Max’s hit song “Kings and Queens,” in 2020.)

Tyler held steady releasing music through the early 2000s, and in 2013, she represented the U.K. in the Eurovision song contest with her song “Believe in Me” off her album Rocks and Honey. Tyler would release 18 studio albums in her career, with her final coming in 2021 with The Best Is Yet to Come. 

She is survived by husband Robert Sullivan. The two married in 1973.

More to come…