Bonnie Tyler dies at 75 in Portugal

Bonnie Tyler, the Welsh pop singer whose gravelly voice powered “Total Eclipse of the Heart” to the top of the charts and helped make it an enduring anthem, has died in Portugal. 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,” her family said Thursday in a statement posted on her official social media accounts and website.

Tyler had been hospitalized in Faro, where she had a home, after emergency intestinal surgery in May. Her family said in June that she had emerged from a monthlong medically induced coma after treatment for a perforated intestine, but remained “very unwell” and in intensive care. Shows scheduled through August were canceled or postponed.

Born Gaynor Hopkins in Skewen, Wales, about seven miles outside Swansea, Tyler grew up in public housing as the daughter of a coal miner. The BBC reported that she was discovered by talent scout Roger Bell in a Swansea club after years of performing in rugby and working men’s clubs. She later moved to London for demo sessions and signed with RCA, adopting the name Bonnie Tyler after previously performing as Sherene Davies.

Her debut album, “The World Starts Tonight,” was released in 1977 and included “Lost in France,” her first chart hit. She followed it with the 1978 hit “It’s a Heartache,” which reached No. 3, and became known for her husky vocal sound. She was often dubbed “the female Rod Stewart.” CBS News reported that throat surgery in 1976 to remove nodules helped leave Tyler with her trademark rasp.

Tyler’s career reached its peak after she teamed with songwriter and producer Jim Steinman, who wrote “Total Eclipse of the Heart” and “Holding Out for a Hero.” “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” released in 1983 on her fifth studio album, “Faster Than the Speed of Night,” reached No. 1 in both the United States and the United Kingdom. CBS News reported it spent four weeks at No. 1 in the U.S.; the BBC reported it spent two weeks atop the U.K. chart.

“The first time I heard it was when Jim Steinman just played it on the piano in New York,” Tyler told the BBC. “He sang the song all the way through and I was like, ‘Oh my god, this song is amazing. I can’t believe Jim is giving it to me.’” She said she initially worried radio stations would not play it because “the original version is eight minutes long.” A shorter version became a worldwide hit.

The song’s reach continued decades later. It has topped 1 billion streams, and its video has surpassed 1 billion views, with renewed attention during eclipses in 2017 and 2024. In 2017, Tyler performed it with Joe Jonas’ band DNCE on a cruise ship during a solar eclipse. During the April 2024 eclipse, CBS News reported the song climbed the music charts and reached No. 2 on Apple’s chart.

Tyler earned three Grammy nominations, including for “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” “Faster Than the Speed of Night” and “Here She Comes.” She also recorded “Holding Out for a Hero” for the 1984 film “Footloose.” In 2013, she represented the United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest in Sweden with “Believe in Me,” finishing 19th.

“It was an absolutely wonderful atmosphere there,” she told the San Francisco Examiner in 2023. “I was being interviewed every 15, 20 minutes, and when I walked out onstage behind the British flag, I thought the roof was going to come off!”

Tyler was named in Queen Elizabeth II’s final Birthday Honours list in 2022 and received an MBE for services to music from Prince William the following year. “I grew up in a council house. I never thought I would have an MBE,” she said in 2023.

She published an autobiography, “Straight from the Heart,” in 2023. Reflecting on her life, she told the BBC: “I did not think this would happen to a Gaynor from Skewen, you know.” Tyler lived with her husband, Robert Sullivan, and split time between Portugal and Wales, according to the BBC.