Bonnie Tyler dies aged 75

9 July 2026, 10:19

‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’ singer Bonnie Tyler has died.

Legendary Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler has died, aged 75.

The beloved ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’ star, renowned for her signature husky voice, passed away on Wednesday, July 8, after a period of illness.

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Bonnie's death was announced by her family in a statement published on her official website.

"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," it read.

"We will issue a further statement shortly but for now ask for privacy to deal with this tragedy," it added.

On Wednesday, May 6, Tyler was admitted to hospital in Faro, Portugal, for emergency intestinal surgery due to a perforated appendix.

Following surgery she was placed in an induced coma. In June her family announced she was out of her coma but remained "very unwell" in hospital.

Bonnie Tyler was born Gaynor Hopkins on June 8, 1951 in Skewen, South Wales to parents Glyndŵr Hopkins, a coal miner and Second World War veteran, and Elsie Hopkins, a homemaker.

One of six children, Tyler enjoyed a childhood filled with a variety of musical influences from Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra and The Beatles to the religious music of her family’s local Protestant chapel.

Bonnie Tyler's best music videos: Welsh icon breaks down her biggest songs

“The first time I sang publicly [was in chapel],” she told local news in 2009, recalling a performance she made when just 12 years old.

“‘All Things Bright and Beautiful’,” she specified. “And it went down well.”

Later success at a local talent show led the future hitmaker to choose to pursue a career in music.

She left school at 16 and worked at a grocery store before finding work as a backing singer for the bands Bobby Wayne & the Dixies and Imagination.

Bonnie Tyler - Total Eclipse of the Heart (Turn Around) (Official Video)

To avoid being confused with Welsh folk singer Mary Hopkin – one of The Beatles’ Apple Records’ first stars – Tyler at first performed with the stage name Sherene Davis.

In 1975, she was talent-spotted and given a recording contract with RCA Records, but with this came the advice to change her name again.

So, Bonnie Tyler was born, from a list of first names and surnames she made note of from the pages of two broadsheet newspapers she bought one day.

Though her first single ‘My! My! Honeycomb’ was a charts failure, thankfully her second and third singles, ‘Lost in France’ and ‘More Than a Lover’ respectively, achieved far more success.

More Than a Lover

Shortly after the release of her debut album The World Starts Tonight, Tyler underwent an operation to remove nodules from her vocal chords.

Impatience led to her flouting her doctors’ recommended rest period, and the young singer did lasting damage to her vocal chords as a result.

But this damage just increased the signature raspy sound which saw Bonnie dubbed by many as “the female Rod Stewart”.

Bonnie’s first big hit came in November 1977 with ‘It’s a Heartache’, which sold over six million copies worldwide.

A taste for success pushed the previously shy star to push more and more for what she wanted in the recording studio.

After disappointing third and fourth albums with RCA, Tyler moved to CBS in 1982 to begin working on rock material with producer Jim Steinman.

Bonnie Tyler - Holding Out For A Hero (Official HD Video)

Her next single, ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’, was a huge success and remains one of her most famous songs.

A year later, the pair also achieved great results with ‘Holding Out for a Hero’, which was recorded for the Footloose soundtrack and later featured on her sixth album, Secret Dreams and Forbidden Fire.

Other hits from this era included ‘If You Were a Woman (And I Was a Man)’ and the Grammy-nominated ‘Here She Comes’.

In the 90s and 00s, Tyler’s music saw continued success in mainland Europe despite not managing to achieve the same level of chart success in her native UK or in the US that she’d enjoyed in the 70s and 80s.

In 1993 she was named Best International Singer at the Goldene Europa Awards and she won Best Pop/Rock singer at Germany’s ECHO Awards in 1994.

In 2013, she was awarded the Gold Badge award from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA).

That same year, she also competed on behalf of the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest.

Despite placing 19th out of 26 with her song ‘Believe in Me’, Bonnie later told The Guardian she still “really enjoyed” her Eurovision experience.

“I did the best that I could do with a great song... I'm so glad and so happy that I did it because it was an incredible experience. It was like the Grammy awards all over again,” she reflected.

Alongside several Greatest Hits compilations, Bonnie continued to release new music and tour the world until her death.

“Being on stage, hearing everyone singing along to the songs, that never gets old,” she told GB News in 2025. “It’s the best feeling in the world.”

Tyler was due to tour Europe on her Jubilee Tour in autumn, and was set to perform at Cardiff Castle this December.

Bonnie is survived by her husband of over 50 years, Robert Sullivan, a property developer and former Olympic judo competitor.