World-famous Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler has died at the age of 75. The performer behind timeless hits such as Total Eclipse of the Heart, Holding Out for a Hero, and It’s a Heartache passed away on Wednesday in a hospital in Portugal, according to BBC.com.
The news of the beloved singer’s death was announced on Bonnie Tyler’s official website. Tyler, known for her distinctive raspy voice, had been placed in a medically induced coma at a hospital in Faro in May following emergency surgery near her home.
Her spokesperson said last month that she had been brought out of the coma, but the singer remained in poor condition and continued to receive intensive care.
Born Gaynor Hopkins, Bonnie Tyler grew up in Neath, Wales, where her talent was discovered at a club in nearby Swansea. Her debut single, Lost in France, was released in 1977. Later that year, her country-pop ballad It’s a Heartache became an international hit, reaching No. 4 on the UK Singles Chart and No. 3 in the United States.
Her biggest success came in 1983 with the rock anthem Total Eclipse of the Heart, which topped the charts on both sides of the Atlantic. The song was written by Jim Steinman, originally titled Vampires in Love, and was initially intended for a musical adaptation of Nosferatu.
“I never get tired of performing it. I love it because people are always waiting to hear me sing it,” Tyler previously told BBC News.
The song earned a Grammy Award nomination, as did the album Faster Than the Speed of Night, on which it appeared, along with the track Here She Comes.
Steinman also wrote several other pop-rock classics for Tyler, including Holding Out for a Hero, which was created for the 1984 film Footloose and later gained a new generation of fans after appearing in Shrek 2.
Long after the peak of her commercial success, Tyler represented the United Kingdom at the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest with Believe in Me, finishing 19th in the final held in Malmö.
In 2023, Bonnie Tyler was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in recognition of her services to music.
Last year, she released Together, a club version of Total Eclipse of the Heart, in collaboration with producers David Guetta and Hypaton. Thanks in part to the renewed interest, the original recording surpassed one billion streams on Spotify this year, 43 years after its release.
Bonnie Tyler performed in Hungary several times. Her most recent appearance was at the Mézesvölgyi Nyár Festival in Veresegyház in 2023. She had previously performed at the Harley-Davidson Festival in Alsóörs in 2014 and at the Unique Festival at Buda Castle in 2012. Her planned concert at this year’s Déja Vu Festival in Szeged, scheduled for June, was cancelled due to illness.
