The China Mail - 'Total Eclipse' singer Bonnie Tyler, queen of the 80s power ballad, dies at 75

With her distinctive husky voice, tousled mane of blonde hair and black eyeliner, Tyler was instantly recognisable as the queen of the 1980s power ballad.

Her death came after her family raised hopes among fans after she came out of an induced coma in hospital in Faro in Portugal, where she had undergone emergency intestinal surgery in May.

Tyler's family announced Thursday on Facebook that they were "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".

Her illness had forced the cancellation of dates on a planned European tour to mark the 50th anniversary of the release of "Lost in France", her 1976 breakthrough hit.

Born Gaynor Hopkins in the Welsh town of Neath in 1951 where she grew up with five siblings, she little imagined the success she would have after leaving school at 16.

"The best thing I did was 'Total Eclipse of the Heart'. How can you ever possibly imagine it would still be so big today and people who weren't even born then would be singing it at karaoke?" she told the Daily Telegraph in 2025.

She came from a humble background. Her father worked in the coal mines, while her mother was a housewife.

But Tyler said she inherited her talent from her mum.

"My mother had a radiogram and loads of 78 records, and she'd do the housekeeping while singing her head off with the windows open. People used to stand outside to listen to her, she was so amazing," she said in the Telegraph interview.

- Ballad queen -

Initially, Tyler worked in a grocery shop and began singing in her spare time, changing her name to Sherene Davis to avoid any confusion with another Welsh singer Mary Hopkin.

In 1975, she was spotted by talent scout Roger Bell singing in a Swansea nightclub, and was signed only a few months later by RCA records, changing her name again, this time to Bonnie Tyler.

Shortly afterwards she had to have surgery to remove nodules on her vocal cords, and after not resting her voice enough following the operation developed her signature sultry sound.

Tyler's first major smash hit was "It's a Heartache" in 1978, and entering the 1980s she turned more towards rock music.

But it was "Total Eclipse", written by American composer Jim Steinman, which rocketed her to international fame.

It's one of rock music's most famous ballads and in 2026 -- 43 years after it was first released -- it hit more than a billion listens on streaming website Spotify.

It has sold over six million records, and the stirring iconic video has been viewed more than a billion times on YouTube.

At the peak of her fame in 1984, Tyler released "Holding Out for a Hero" from the original score for the box-office hit film "Footloose" starring Kevin Bacon.

- 'Audience sings with me' -

During her career, she released 17 studio albums and was nominated for three Grammy Awards.

And she continued to enjoy success with her music, particularly in Germany.

In 2013 she carried UK hopes in the Eurovision song contest with "Believe In Me" only to finish 19th.

A fan of Tina Turner and French rocker Johnny Hallyday, Tyler was known for her down‑to‑earth nature and for keeping her Welsh accent.

Tyler was married since 1973 to property developer and former judo athlete Robert Sullivan, her childhood sweetheart.

Since the 1970s, the couple divided their time between Wales and the Algarve in Portugal, a "magical place" to which she was deeply attached.

She was awarded a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to music by Queen Elizabeth II in 2022, shortly before the monarch's death.

Her latest tour had been planned to finish in December in the Welsh capital of Cardiff.

"I live a very normal life and don't go around with bodyguards; I'm not Mariah Carey, darling. I'm always happy to take a selfie in front of the salad counter," she told The Times in 2025.

"People ask me if I get tired singing the old songs, but why wouldn't I love singing something like 'Total Eclipse of the Heart'? As soon as I start one of those numbers, the whole audience sings it back to me -- it's magic."

L.Kwan--ThChM