RIP: Bonnie Tyler, “Total Eclipse Of The Heart” Singer, Dead At 75

According to hollywoodreporter.com, Bonnie Tyler, the singer who turned the songs,  “Total Eclipse of the Heart” and “Holding Out for Hero” into some of the biggest songs of the ‘80s, has died. She was 75 years old. “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,” said a message posted on Tyler’s official website. In May, the singer had been placed into an induced coma after undergoing emergency intestinal surger

With her piercing blue eyes, big blonde hair, shoulder pads and booming voice, Tyler became one of the leading female singers of the 1980s in both the U.S. and her native U.K., and along with Cardiff-born Shirley Bassey, became one of the most successful female singers to ever come out of Wales. Born Gaynor Hopkins in Skewen in 1951, Tyler was discovered singing in clubs in nearby Swansea. She first made a name in music industry in the late ‘70s thanks to her breakout hit “Lost In France” off her debut album, The World Starts Tonight, through RCA Records.

She followed that with 1978’s Natural Force, which included the lead single “It’s a Heartache.” (The album was released as It’s a Heartbreak in the U.S.) Both the single and the album went gold in the U.S. Tyler released two more albums with RCA before signing with Columbia, where she released Faster Than the Speed of Night in 1983. That LP went platinum and featured what became her biggest hit, the Jim Steinman-penned “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” which became a pop culture phenomenon.

“Total Eclipse of the Heart” went platinum in the U.S., earning Tyler a Grammy nomination for best female pop vocal performance. She also received a Grammy nomination for best female rock vocal performance for the album Faster Than the Speed of Night. In the U.K., “Total Eclipse of the Heart” topped the singles chart and became one of the biggest-selling songs of 1983. It has since gone on to become one of the defining songs of the decade on both sides of the Atlantic.