Bonnie Tyler, the powerhouse Welsh singer whose raspy voice turned “Total Eclipse of the Heart” into one of the most unforgettable ballads of the 1980s, has died. She was 75.
Tyler’s family and team announced her death in a message posted to her official website on Thursday, July 9.
“We 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 said.
Her family said a further statement would be released in due course and asked for privacy as they deal with the tragedy.
Tyler had faced serious health struggles in recent months. In May, she was placed in an induced coma after undergoing emergency intestinal surgery in Portugal. Last month, her spokesperson said she had come out of the coma but remained “very unwell” in intensive care.
Known for her unmistakable gravelly voice, Tyler became a global star with hits including “It’s a Heartache,” “Total Eclipse of the Heart” and “Holding Out for a Hero.”
She was born Gaynor Hopkins in Skewen, Wales, in 1951, and later adopted the stage name Bonnie Tyler. She was one of seven children. Her father had become disabled after fighting in World War II.
Tyler remained close to her parents and siblings throughout her life and often credited her mother with giving her the confidence to chase her dreams.
“My mum was a wonderful mother,” Tyler told The Guardian in 2012. “I remember she said to me: ‘Believe in yourself because no one else is going to do it for you.’ I’m sure a lot of my success is due to her words of advice.”
Tyler’s path to fame began when she was 17 and answered a newspaper ad seeking backup singers at a local club.
“In those days, it was easier for people to come in the music business because there were a lot more clubs and dance halls,” she told The Guardian in 2013. “It wasn’t so much DJs around then; it was live bands.”
Before landing a record deal, Tyler spent years singing other people’s hits in clubs.
“We had different nights — one night we’d do blues, one night we’d do pop or country, and on a Sunday, people used to do ballroom dancing,” she recalled.
In 1973, Tyler married Robert Sullivan, the manager of the club where she had performed. She later credited the couple’s lasting marriage to the fact that they wed before she became famous.
While singing six nights a week, Tyler developed nodules on her vocal cords. She underwent throat surgery in 1976 and spent four months recovering. When her voice came back, it had become stronger and rougher, giving her the signature rasp that would define her career.
Her first major hit came in 1977 with “It’s a Heartache,” from her second album, Natural Force, released on RCA Records.
The song reached No. 3 in the United States, No. 4 in the United Kingdom and topped the charts in Australia and Canada.
Despite its success, Tyler admitted she was never fond of the track.
“I was a bit cheesed off,” she told PEOPLE in 1983, referring to the management team that controlled her contract and wrote much of her material at the time. “I didn’t even like it as I was recording it.”
The song also pushed her into more of a country sound, even though she wanted to move toward rock. During the final 18 months of her contract with that management team, Tyler stopped performing while waiting for the deal to expire.
Her career hit what she later described as “a bit of a nosedive” before roaring back in 1983 with “Total Eclipse of the Heart.”
With a new manager and a new label, Tyler teamed up with songwriter Jim Steinman, who had also written dramatic power ballads for Meat Loaf, Air Supply and Celine Dion.
“I always thought she had a great voice,” Steinman told PEOPLE in 1983. “She reminds me of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s John Fogerty, probably my favorite male rock ‘n’ roll singer. Her voice isn’t pure or smooth. It sounds ravaged, like it’s been through a lot. It’s what rock ‘n’ roll is all about.”
When Tyler met Steinman in 1982, he played some of his favorite songs for her to see if they shared the same musical instincts. The connection worked, and he agreed to collaborate with her.
Steinman had originally begun writing “Total Eclipse of the Heart” for a Nosferatu musical, but he reshaped the song into a dramatic showcase for Tyler’s voice.
“I never thought it had a prayer as a single,” Steinman told PEOPLE. “It was an aria to me, a Wagnerian-like onslaught of sound and emotion. I wrote it to be a showpiece for her voice.”
Tyler later said she knew the song was special from the moment she recorded it, even if she worried it was too long for radio.
“I poured my heart out singing it,” she told The Guardian in 2023.
She said a friend later found a letter Tyler had written from New York at the time, in which she wrote, “I recorded an incredible song today. The trouble is, it’s so long, I don’t think anybody will ever play it.”
The song was shortened from seven minutes to four for single release, but Tyler said many stations loved it so much they played the full album version anyway.
“Total Eclipse of the Heart” became a massive worldwide smash, reaching No. 1 in both the U.S. and the U.K. It also helped her 1983 album Faster Than the Speed of Night hit No. 1 in the U.K. and No. 4 in the U.S.
The song remained her defining hit and found new life every time a solar eclipse captured public attention.
“Every time the eclipse comes, everyone all over the world, they play ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart,’ and I never get tired of singing it,” Tyler told Good Morning America in 2024, when a large portion of the U.S. was able to see a total solar eclipse.
In 1984, Tyler scored another major hit with “Holding Out for a Hero,” featured in the film Footloose. The song reached No. 34 in the U.S. and No. 2 in the U.K.
Tyler said she still enjoyed performing her biggest 1980s hits because of the reaction they brought from audiences.
“I like singing them. They’re what gets the crowd going,” she told The Guardian in 2013, crediting Steinman’s songwriting for their lasting appeal.
Although Tyler’s career cooled in the United States in later years, she continued to enjoy major success overseas.
“A lot of people may have thought I’d given it up, but I’ve been working all the time,” she told PEOPLE in 1996. “All over Europe, it’s great for me.”
In 2013, she represented Britain in the Eurovision Song Contest.
Across her career, Tyler released 18 albums and earned three Grammy nominations. In 2022, she was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire for her services to music.
Tyler and Sullivan never had children. She spoke openly about suffering a pregnancy loss in 1992 and later said she had accepted that motherhood was not part of her life.
“I think what you don’t have, you don’t miss,” she told PEOPLE in 1996. “It just wasn’t for me, you know. I’ve got a great life, and I’m far from packing it in.”
For Tyler, the work was always about music rather than fame.
“It’s no good singing if you just want to be a pop star,” she told The Guardian in 2009. “You’ve got to work at it and do it for the love for it, not because you think it will make you famous.”
She added, “I sang for seven years before getting a record deal, and I was already loving what I was doing. I just got lucky and got discovered.”
Tyler is survived by her husband, Robert Sullivan.