Bonnie Tyler, the Welsh singer whose rasping, distinctive voice brought international fame with hits like "Total Eclipse of the Heart," has died at the age of 75. Her death followed emergency intestinal surgery in May at a hospital near Faro, Portugal, where she maintained a second home.

Tyler, born Gaynor Hopkins in June 1951, was raised in a council house in Skewen, Wales. She began her singing career in local clubs with her band Imagination before being discovered by a talent scout. Her early single "More Than a Lover" was banned by ITV for being too risqué, but "Lost in France" in 1977 became her first major hit.

A Distinctive Voice and Global Success

Her signature husky vocal style, often compared to Rod Stewart's, was amplified after a 1977 surgery to remove nodules from her vocal cords. The operation, which required six weeks of silence, ultimately altered her voice, giving it a gravelly quality that became her trademark. "It's gone all husky. But it's good; we like it! You sound like a female Rod Stewart," her producers reportedly told her.

This distinctive sound propelled her to global stardom in the 1980s through a powerful collaboration with producer Jim Steinman, who also guided Meat Loaf's career. Their partnership yielded "Total Eclipse of the Heart" in 1983, a song that became a worldwide phenomenon. The accompanying music video, directed by Steinman, featured Tyler in a dreamlike sequence. The single sold over six million copies, earned Tyler two Grammy nominations, and topped charts in the UK and US, spending a month at number one in the American charts. The album "Faster Than the Speed of Night," also released in 1983, broke records by debuting at number one on the UK Albums Chart, making Tyler the first woman to achieve this feat. "Total Eclipse of the Heart" experienced a resurgence in 2017 when it became the most downloaded single during a solar eclipse and has since surpassed a billion streams on Spotify.

Steinman also wrote another of Tyler's major 1980s hits, "Holding Out for a Hero."

Personal Life and Enduring Fame

Despite her rock star persona, Tyler remained grounded and maintained a private life. She married her husband, Robert Sullivan, a former British Judo champion who competed in the 1972 Munich Olympics, in 1973. They met when she was 18 and he was managing the club where she first performed professionally. Sullivan was a constant presence throughout her career, traveling with her on tour as per a pact they made early on. The couple did not have children but remained close to their extended family, with Tyler being a devoted aunt and godmother.

Tyler maintained strong ties to her Welsh roots throughout her career. She never fully abandoned her accent, despite elocution lessons, and preferred quiet evenings with friends to the excesses of Hollywood parties. She famously stated she preferred an energy drink and a single shot of Jack Daniel's whisky before a concert, eschewing drugs. One of her most recalled stories of defiance involved an incident where she grabbed a rock critic's testicles after he tried to pull off her hair, convinced it was a wig.

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Her career achievements were recognized with an MBE in 2023, and she also received honorary degrees from Cardiff University and Swansea University. Though her later albums did not match the commercial success of her 1980s hits, she continued to perform and enjoyed her enduring popularity, notably performing "Total Eclipse of the Heart" and "It's a Heartache" at the 2000 wedding of Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas.