Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler, whose distinctive husky voice powered decades of pop hits including Total Eclipse Of The Heart and Holding Out For A Hero, has died at the age of 75.
A statement posted on Tyler's official website and social media said she passed away unexpectedly overnight in a hospital in Portugal, as a result of the illness she had been treated for, and asked for privacy while a further statement was prepared. Tyler had been hospitalized in Faro, Portugal, since early May following emergency intestinal surgery for a burst appendix, and was placed into an induced coma to aid her recovery. She briefly went into cardiac arrest during an early attempt to bring her out of the coma. In mid June, her representatives said she had woken up but remained seriously ill and in intensive care, adding that her condition was improving slowly.
Born Gaynor Hopkins in Skewen, south Wales, Tyler rose to international fame in 1983 with Total Eclipse Of The Heart, which topped the charts in both the United Kingdom and the United States and became one of the defining power ballads of the era. She went on to release eighteen studio albums over a career spanning nearly five decades, including hits such as It's A Heartache and Holding Out For A Hero. She represented the United Kingdom at the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest in Malmo with the song Believe In Me, finishing nineteenth, and was made an MBE in 2023 for services to music.
Tyler had continued performing well into her seventies, playing a career spanning set at London's Shepherds Bush Empire in March and releasing new singles as recently as April. She had a full calendar of shows planned for the rest of the year, including festival dates in the United Kingdom and a homecoming concert scheduled for December in Cardiff. She is survived by her husband of more than fifty years, Robert Sullivan.
