FOR some music fans, the name Gaynor Sullivan (née Hopkins), maybe unfamiliar, but her professional moniker Bonnie Tyler will ring bells as the voice behind immortal songs like ‘It’ s A Heartache’ and ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’.
Known for her distinctive husky voice, Bonnie Tyler was born on June 8, 1951 in Skewen in Glamorgan, Wales, where she grew up as young lassie who never knew she would someday earn international fame as a celebrated songstress on the global stage of rock music.
At age 75, though, Bonnie quietly passed away, also on the 8th in the month July, leaving her fans in deep sadness and total bereavement.
The Welsh singer came to prominence with the release of her debut studio album ‘The World Starts Tonight’ in 1977 with its singles ‘Lost in France’ and ‘More Than a Lover’. Her hit single ‘It’s a Heartache’, also in 1977, reached number four on the singles chart in the United Kingdom and number three on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States.
It was in the 1980s that Tyler ventured into rock music with songwriter and producer Jim Steinman. He wrote Tyler’s biggest hit, ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’, which sold over 13 million copies worldwide and was released as the lead single from her UK chart-topping album ‘Faster Than the Speed of Night’ in 1983.
Steinman also wrote Tyler’s other major 1980s hit, among them ‘Holding Out for a Hero’, ‘Here She Comes’ from the 1984 soundtrack to Metropolis and ‘If You Were a Woman (And I Was a Man)’, written by Desmond Child.
A decade later, Tyler scored success in mainland Europe with Dieter Bohlen, who wrote and produced her hit ‘Bitterblue’ and then in 2003, she re-recorded ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’ with singer Kareen Anton in a bilingual duet titled ‘Si demain . . . (Turn Around)’, which topped the French charts.
Tyler followed this through with her release of ‘Rocks and Honey’ in 2013, which featured the single ‘Believe in Me’. She performed the song while representing the United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 in Malmö, Sweden and after reuniting with the producer David Mackay, she released ‘Between the Earth and the Stars’ in 2019 and ‘The Best Is Yet to Come’ in 2021 at the ripe age of 70.
Tyler’s work earned her three Grammy Award nominations and three Brit Award nominations (including twice for British Female Solo Artist), among other accolades. In 2022, she was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to music.
Her singles ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’ and ‘It’s a Heartache’ have estimated sales of over 6 million units each and are considered among the best-selling singles of all time.
As a tribute to the Welsh singer, let me just mention that whenever we have a get together with some of our buddies, our sweet friend Josephine ‘Phen’ Campos relives Bonnie Tyler’s memory by singing her songs in the same husky face that made her famous worldwide.
ia/xf
