Bonnie Tyler dies at 75

Bonnie Tyler dies at 75, Welsh singer behind Total Eclipse of the Heart is reported to have died in hospital in Portugal, postponed tour dates become the final schedule change

Bonnie Tyler, the Welsh singer whose husky voice carried 1980s radio staples including Total Eclipse of the Heart and Holding Out For A Hero, has died aged 75, according to the Evening Standard. The paper reports she died unexpectedly in a hospital in Portugal, where she had been receiving treatment for an illness.

According to the Standard, Tyler had been admitted in May in Faro for emergency intestinal surgery and was later placed in an induced coma to aid her recovery. Reports last month said she was out of the coma but remained very unwell in intensive care, as several summer dates were postponed or cancelled. Among the shows cited by the Standard were a planned appearance at the Sunshine Festival in Worcester and a concert booked for Cardiff’s Utilita Arena later in the year.

Tyler, born Gaynor Sullivan in Neath, South Wales, built an international career on a voice that was instantly recognisable and difficult to imitate without turning into parody. Total Eclipse of the Heart topped charts in both the UK and the US, and the album Faster Than The Speed of Night became her only UK number one album, the Standard reports. She also recorded It’s A Heartache and If You Were A Woman (And I Was A Man), hits that kept her on European playlists long after the initial wave of 1980s pop had moved on.

Public tributes followed quickly. The Standard reports condolences from Welsh First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth and from the Secretary of State for Wales, Jo Neath, alongside messages from broadcaster Carol Vorderman and UK Labour leader Keir Starmer. The pattern is familiar in British cultural deaths: politicians gravitate to artists with global recognition, in part because the work already did the exporting that government campaigns try to buy.

Tyler also remained a working performer late into her career. She represented the UK at the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö with Believe In Me, finishing 19th, and she released what the Standard calls her 18th studio album, The Best Is Yet To Come, in 2021. The Standard notes she received three Grammy nominations but never won.

In 2023 she was made an MBE for services to music. This week, the Standard’s report framed her last public timetable in terms of postponed gigs and a hospital stay in Portugal.