One of the difficult things about getting older is that more and more of the celebrities of our youth are no longer with us. The news that internationally famous British singer, Bonnie Tyler, died unexpectedly aged only 75 shocked me.
Her family reported that she had been rushed to hospital from her home in Portugal, for emergency intestinal surgery and placed in an induced coma to aid her recovery. Sadly, she never woke up again.
I loved Bonnie Tyler’s powerful songs and well remember as a teenager how I waited by the radio for her hits to play and then frantically taping them onto cassette tapes and singing along in my bedroom with my hairbrush for a microphone. Bonnie Tyler grew up in very modest surroundings in Skewen, south Wales. Wales is a separate country but part of the United Kingdom, forming the western part of the island of Great Britain with lots of coastline facing the Irish sea. Wales is only 10% of the size of Great Britain and 25% of the size of Scotland and has a rich mining heritage, historically dominated by coal, slate, and metal extraction, all of which shaped its economy and culture. Wales is famously known for its close-knit valley communities where speaking Welsh is fiercely defended – road signs appear in both English and Welsh once you cross the border from England. Wales is also known as “the Land of Song”, a title rooted in centuries of vocal music that has shaped its identity and community life, especially through hymn singing in the Welsh tongue in its churches.
Raised by her parents, Glyndŵr and Elsie Hopkins, the girl born Gaynor Hopkins grew up with her four sisters and one brother, in a home where music played a big role.
Her father worked as a coal miner and served in World War II, while her mother was a homemaker with a love for opera.
Encouraged by her family, she entered a local talent contest in 1969, finishing second, which encouraged her to chase music as a career. She worked as a backing singer for Bobby Wayne & the Dixies and later formed her own band, Imagination, initially using the name Sherene Davis to avoid confusion with another Welsh singer, Mary Hopkin. In 1975, talent scout Roger Bell spotted her in Swansea, the second largest city in Wales behind Cardiff, leading to a demo and a contract with RCA Records, who suggested the name Bonnie Tyler.
She had been married for 53 years when she passed away, having met her husband Robert Sullivan in 1970 when he worked as a club manager after she started singing in nightclubs in Swansea. Bonnie always said that the secret to the longevity of their marriage was that she was not famous before they met. She is also reported as leaving it too late to try for a baby, having a miscarriage when she was 40. However, she had multiple nieces and nephews to whom she was very close. Bonnie Tyler’s celebration of life will take place on August 17 at Swansea Minster in her native country of Wales.
Fans are also invited to pay their respects two days before, as Tyler’s coffin will be brought to her home in Mumbles, only a few miles from where she was raised. Everyone knows that Bonnie went on to sell millions of records, and top charts around the world including in the US and UK - and receive an MBE in the late Queen Elizabeth’s final honors list. I particularly loved her power ballads and although her 1976 release Lost in France passed me by at the time, I was very into pop music as an 11-year-old the following year and adored It’s a Heartache. Her early 1980s fashion sense and hits Total Eclipse of the Heart and It’s a Heartache truly cemented Bonnie as one of Britain’s musical treasures.
Her wonderfully raspy, powerful voice wasn’t polished or perfect, and that’s exactly why so many of us loved it. Her distinctive husky sound became her trademark as it only developed after surgery on her vocal cords, something that might have ended another singer’s career. Total Eclipse of the Heart is one of the defining rock ballads of the 1980s which resulted from her collaboration with American songwriter, Jim Steinman, who also wrote most of Meatloaf ’s songs.
Total Eclipse of the Heart is also embedded in British rock culture due to its controversial video which played on the British TV show, Top of The Pops, and was what the British call wonderfully “over-the-top”. It featured Bonnie as a frustrated teacher in an all-boys boarding school, fantasizing about her students, complete with laser eyes, flying choirboys and ninja fighters. Bonnie Tyler’s music never really faded away since every few years one of her songs would find a new audience through a television program, movie or a sporting event.
Younger generations discovered what we’d known all along— that great songs never really go out of style.
I will leave you with a quote from the great lady herself. “I’ve been singing since I was 16 because I love it - I wanted to be a singer, not a star. There’s a difference between wanting to be famous and wanting to sing well.” You absolutely accomplished both, Bonnie. We won’t forget your distinctive and powerful voice anytime soon.
Rest in peace.
God Bless America!
Lesley grew up in London, England and made Georgia her home in 2009. She can be contacted at lesley@lesleyfrancispr. com.