Bonnie Tyler is a Welsh singer and songwriter from Skewen, Wales, born Gaynor Hopkins in 1951. She is known for a husky voice that became part of her style after surgery for vocal-cord nodules in 1977. Her work spans pop, pop rock, aor, arena rock, country pop and country rock.

Early life and stage names

Tyler grows up in a Protestant Christian family in a four-bedroom council house with three sisters and two brothers. Her father, Glyndwr Hopkins, is a coal miner and Second World War serviceman, and her mother, Elsie Hopkins, is a homemaker. She attends Rhydhir Comprehensive School in Neath and leaves at 16 without qualifications before working in a grocery shop.

Her first public singing performance takes place in chapel, where she sings the hymn “All Things Bright and Beautiful”. In 1969, she enters a local talent competition organised by her aunt and finishes second. She then works as a backing singer for Bobby Wayne & the Dixies, forms the band Imagination, and changes her name to Sherene Davis to avoid confusion with the Welsh folk singer Mary Hopkin. After being discovered in Swansea in 1975, she signs to RCA Records and adopts the stage name Bonnie Tyler.

Breakthrough in the 1970s

Tyler’s first single, “My! My! Honeycomb”, does not chart, but “Lost in France” becomes her first UK hit and leads to an appearance on Top of the Pops. “More Than a Lover” follows, and her debut album, The World Starts Tonight, appears in 1977. The album does not chart in the UK but reaches number two in Sweden. She tours the UK as a guest artist with Gene Pitney.

In 1977 she releases “Heaven” and then “It’s a Heartache”, which becomes one of her biggest songs, reaching number four in the UK and number three on the US Billboard Hot 100. “Natural Force” follows in 1978 and is certified Gold in the United States. She continues with Diamond Cut in 1979, which reaches the top 20 in Finland, Norway and Sweden, and includes “My Guns Are Loaded”. That year she also has a UK top 40 hit with “(The World Is Full of) Married Men”, recorded for the film adaptation of a Jackie Collins novel. In 1979 she represents the United Kingdom at the Yamaha World Popular Song Festival in Japan and wins the Grand Prix International award for “Sitting on the Edge of the Ocean”.

1980s success

After leaving RCA, Tyler signs with CBS/Columbia and works with Jim Steinman, who produces her fifth studio album, Faster Than the Speed of Night. The album is recorded partly at the Power Station in New York and features musicians including members of the E Street Band, Rick Derringer, Rory Dodd and Eric Troyer. Its lead single, “Total Eclipse of the Heart”, becomes her best-known recording and sells more than 13 million copies worldwide. The album reaches number one in the UK and enters the top five in the United States. Tyler receives Grammy and Brit Award nominations, as well as American Music Award nominations, and wins Best Recording Artist at the Variety Club of Great Britain Awards and a Goldene Europa award.

She continues working with Steinman on Secret Dreams and Forbidden Fire in 1986, which includes songs by Desmond Child and Bryan Adams and a cover of Freda Payne’s “Band of Gold”. “If You Were a Woman (And I Was a Man)” becomes the album’s most successful single. Other 1980s recordings include “Holding Out for a Hero” from Footloose, “Here She Comes” from Giorgio Moroder’s restoration of Metropolis, and “Here She Comes” earning a Grammy nomination for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. She also collaborates with Mike Oldfield on Islands and appears on George Martin’s Under Milk Wood. Her 1988 album Hide Your Heart, produced by Desmond Child, includes collaborations with Michael Bolton, Albert Hammond and Diane Warren, and later songs from the album become hits for other artists.

1990s and later albums

In 1987 Tyler also records the bilingual album Sem Limites pra Sonhar with Brazilian singer Fábio Júnior. In 1990 she signs with Hansa/BMG Ariola and works with Dieter Bohlen, Giorgio Moroder, Nik Kershaw and Roy Bittan. The album Bitterblue becomes a major success in mainland Europe, topping the charts in Austria and Norway and going four-times platinum in Norway. Follow-up albums Angel Heart (1992) and Silhouette in Red (1993) also perform well in Europe, and she receives Best International Singer at the Goldene Europa Awards and Best Pop/Rock Singer at the ECHO Awards.

Tyler moves to EastWest Records in 1995 and releases Free Spirit, with production contributions from Humberto Gatica, David Foster and Jim Steinman. A cover of Air Supply’s “Making Love (Out of Nothing At All)” reaches the UK chart in 1996. All in One Voice follows in 1998, partly recorded with Jimmy Smyth in Dublin and Harold Faltermeyer in Hamburg. In 1998 she also appears on Rick Wakeman’s orchestral album Return to the Centre of the Earth.

Her later studio albums include Heart Strings (2003), which features orchestral versions of songs by U2, the Beatles and Bruce Springsteen; Simply Believe (2004); Wings (2005); Rocks and Honey (2013); Between the Earth and the Stars (2019); and The Best Is Yet to Come (2021). She also releases the compilations Greatest Hits and From the Heart: Greatest Hits.

Collaborations, Eurovision and later work

In 2003 Tyler re-records “Total Eclipse of the Heart” with Kareen Antonn as “Si demain... (Turn Around)”, a bilingual duet that tops the charts in France and Belgium. She later joins Only Men Aloud! on tour and records “Total Eclipse of the Heart” with the choir, appears on Hollyoaks Later, and releases material with Wayne Warner and Matt Pétrin in 2010. She performs on Swedish television, appears on the Ukrainian version of The X Factor, and receives a BMI London Award after “It’s a Heartache” passes three million US airplays.

In 2013 she records Rocks and Honey in Nashville, Tennessee. The album includes “Believe in Me”, which she performs for the United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö, finishing 19th. Later collaborations include work with Rhydian Roberts, Spike, German television performances of Disney songs, and the single “Love’s Holding On” with Axel Rudi Pell. Between the Earth and the Stars features duets with Rod Stewart, Francis Rossi and Cliff Richard, and she supports the album with touring and appearances such as BBC Proms in the Park.

She later releases the live album In Berlin, recorded during her Between the Earth and the Stars Live Tour, as well as the single “Together”, produced by David Guetta and Hypaton, and “Only Love”. She also publishes the memoir Straight from the Heart.

Awards and recognition

Tyler receives three Grammy Award nominations, three Brit Award nominations, and two nominations for British Female Solo Artist. She also wins awards including the Grand Prix International at the Yamaha World Popular Song Festival, Best Recording Artist at the Variety Club of Great Britain Awards, Goldene Europa awards, and an MBE for services to music.