Bonnie Tyler, the Welsh singer whose raspy voice provided the definitive soundtrack for people viewing solar and lunar eclipses, has died at the age of 75, her family and team shared in a statement Thursday morning.
“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,” reads the statement shared on the singer’s Instagram. “We will issue a further statement shortly but for now ask for privacy to deal with this tragedy.”
Tyler, the Grammy-nominated singer behind bombastic ‘80s hits like “Total Eclipse of the Heart” and “Holding Out For a Hero,” had been hospitalized a few months ago for emergency intestinal surgery in Faro, Portugal, where she has a home, The Associated Press reported. She was placed in an induced coma for a time and remained in intensive care, but was reportedly improving and had hopes to return to performing later this year, per People.
How Bonnie Tyler landed the hit song ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’
The 1983 hit ballad “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” powered by Tyler’s signature rasp, is the top song added to eclipse-themed playlists on Spotify in the U.S., the Deseret News previously reported.
“Every time the eclipse comes around, it’s a bit crazy,” Tyler previously told The New York Post. “They send me all these stats all the time, and it’s always amazing.”
“Total Eclipse” wasn’t Tyler’s first hit, but it marked a new direction for the Welsh singer who had been firmly planted in the country-rock genre.
“It’s a Heartache” — one of the first songs Tyler recorded following a surgery that ended up giving her vocals a husky quality — hit No. 3 on Billboard’s Hot 100 in 1978. But in the early 1980s, Tyler wanted to go in a more rock-driven direction. Specifically, she wanted to work with Jim Steinman, the late composer and lyricist who helped craft Meat Loaf’s theatrical “Bat out of Hell” album, per Time magazine.
The pair met in Steinman’s New York apartment, where he tested the possibility of a collaboration by gauging Tyler’s reaction to two of his favorite songs: Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Have You Ever Seen the Rain” and Blue Oyster Cult’s “Goin’ Through the Motions,” Time magazine reported.
Tyler apparently passed the test, so Steinman agreed to work with her. The collaboration led to the album “Faster Than the Speed of Night,” which included covers of Steinman’s two favorite songs, and the career-defining “Total Eclipse of the Heart.”
“Total Eclipse” spent four weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 following its release, and spent 29 weeks total on the chart, USA Today reported. It became Billboard’s No. 6 song of 1983, and was Grammy-nominated for best female pop vocal performance in 1984, according to The New York Post.
Thanks to its enduring popularity, the song hit 1 billion views on YouTube in 2023, per The New York Post.
For radio purposes, Steinman shaved a few minutes off of the original song length. But the music video — featuring doves, ninjas and choir boys with glowing eyes — manages to pack a lot in five and a half minutes.
“It was freezing cold and I had to run barefoot through the snow. It was very hard for one to do. But it was incredible,” Tyler told the CBC radio show “Day 6.” “I had total faith in Jim’s storyboards. I don’t know where his mind was; his ideas were incredible.”
Steinman, who died in 2021, also wrote “Holding Out for a Hero,” which was written for the “Footloose” soundtrack and became Tyler’s last top 40 hit, peaking at No. 34 on Billboard’s Hot 100 in 1984.
Tyler was the first artist to record “The Best,” for her 1988 album “Hide Your Heart.” The song would later go on to become a smash hit for the late Tina Turner.
The Tyler, three-time Grammy nominee, released her last album, “The Best Is Yet to Come,” in 2021. She embarked on a tour celebrating 40 years of “Total Eclipse of the Heart” in 2023, and released the memoir “Straight from the Heart.”
She was honored with a Member of the Order of the British Empire award for her contributions to music in 2022, People reported.
Bonnie Tyler tributes
Tributes to Tyler flooded social media immediately following the news of her death.
Rod Stewart, who collaborated with Tyler on her 2019 album “Between the Earth and the Stars” — and sang “It’s a Heartache” during his recent show in Utah — called the singer “a soul stirrer.”
“We shared similar styles of vocalising. She was a good pal. A true soul stirrer,” he wrote in an Instagram post. “I sing ‘It’s a Heartache’ every night on tour. I’ll miss you darling Bonnie.”
Oscar-winner Catherine Zeta-Jones — who is related to Tyler through marriage — mourned the loss and reflected on how the singer performed at her wedding to Michael Douglas in 2000.
“(She) has been such a part of my life,” she wrote in a post on Instagram. “She sang and rocked it at my wedding. An extraordinary woman with vocals to match. A one-of-a-kind artist, who so easily could have been a comedian because she was one of the funniest people I ever met. Thank you Bonnie for the joy you brought so many.”
Kevin Bacon, who starred as the rebellious Ren in “Footloose” — which included him tractor racing to “Holding Out For a Hero” — called Tyler “one of the great voices of rock” in a statement to Entertainment Weekly. “I could not imagine chicken-racing a tractor to any other song.”
A statement on the official X account from the Prince and Princess of Wales honored Tyler’s legacy in her home country and throughout the world.
“We are deeply saddened by the passing of Bonnie Tyler,” the statement read. “A proud Welsh icon, her extraordinary voice and unforgettable music touched millions around the world and will continue to inspire generations to come.”