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,” which became something of a pop culture phenomenon. The power ballad went platinum as well, also earning a Grammy nomination for best female pop vocal performance. In the U.K., the song topped the singles chart and became one of the biggest selling songs of 1983. It has since gone on to become one of the defining songs of the decade on both sides of the Atlantic.

The flamboyant music video for “Total Eclipse of the Heart” was directed by Australian filmmaker Russell Mulcahy, who would go on to direct Highlander. The video has racked up over 1.3 billion views on YouTube.

The song’s enduring legacy saw it feature in a season one episode of Glee, with stars Lea Michele, Cory Monteith, and special guest star Jonathan Groff performing the hit. A comedy version of the song featured the Will Ferrell film Old School, sung by The Dan Band.

“Total Eclipse of the Heart” has also been covered by several artists, most notably by English singer Nicki French who had a worldwide hit with her version of the song in October 1994.

Tyler and Steinman would strike gold again with another monster hit in 1984 with the pulsing and ultra-dramatic “Holding Out for a Hero,” which was featured on the soundtrack of the Kevin Bacon film Footloose. Chartwise, “Holding Out for a Hero” didn’t reach the same heights as the previous Tyler-Steinman song, peaking at No. 2 in the U.K. and only No. 34 on the Billboard chart.

Much like “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” however, “Holding Out for a Hero” has become an indelible part of the tapestry of ’80s culture and is a near-ubiquitious needle drop across media, finding its way into other films like Shrek 2 and recently The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and TV shows like Euphoria and Regular Show as well as the soundtrack of countless ads around the globe. Ella Mae Bowen recorded a cover of the song for 2011 remake of Footloose that starred Kenny Wormald, Julianne Hough and Miles Teller.

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…