Bonnie Tyler

Welsh vocalist Bonnie Tyler first attracted global attention through her signature gravelly timbre and emotive pop selections, landing an international breakthrough in 1978 with the single “It’s a Heartache,” included on her sophomore effort Natural Force. Her output during that decade fused country, rock, and pop textures. Shedding earlier country leanings, she secured another major commercial triumph in 1983 when “Total Eclipse of the Heart” appeared on her fifth album, Faster Than the Speed of Night. The track topped the U.K. chart and climbed to a personal best of number four on the U.S. side, its towering crescendo cementing the song among the defining soft-rock anthems of the decade. The next year, her contribution “Holding Out for a Hero” from the Footloose soundtrack marked her last appearance inside the American Top 40. Tyler continued issuing albums at a steady pace; Angel Heart in 1992 and the orchestral Heart Strings in 2003 both sustained her European chart presence. After exploring a rawer blues-rock direction across much of her fifteenth studio set, Wings, in 2005, and again on 2013’s Rocks and Honey, she reentered the Billboard 200 for the first time since the 1980s with the 2017 compilation The Very Best of Bonnie Tyler. Her eighteenth studio album, The Best Is Yet to Come, surfaced in 2021.

Born Gaylor Hopkins in Skewen, Wales, in 1951, Bonnie Tyler received early encouragement toward a professional singing path after finishing second in a regional talent competition during her teenage years. She sang intermittently throughout her homeland as a backing vocalist and with R&B ensembles such as Mumbles and Imagination until a handful of solo demos secured a deal with RCA Records. The opening single from her debut album, 1976’s “Lost in France,” rose to a Top Ten position in the U.K. Its successor, “More Than a Lover,” reached number 27 before The World Starts Tonight arrived in February 1977.

Following the completion of The World Starts Tonight, Tyler developed vocal-cord nodules that necessitated surgery and an extended recuperation period. The resulting unusually husky delivery became a distinctive asset that caught the ear of songwriters and producers Ronnie Scott and Steve Wolfe, who took on management duties. She achieved an international success with their composition “It’s a Heartache,” issued near the end of 1977. The track ascended to number one in Canada, Australia, and France while entering the Top Five in both the U.S. and the U.K. It featured on her second album, Natural Force, released in 1978 and peaking at number 16 on the Billboard 200. Tyler remained with RCA, Scott, and Wolfe for 1979’s Diamond Cut, which reached number 42 on the Billboard country chart, and 1981’s Goodbye to the Island. Displeased with efforts to redirect her toward country material, she parted ways with the team upon contract expiration.

Tyler subsequently joined Columbia and approached Meat Loaf producer Jim Steinman in pursuit of material carrying his characteristic expansive style. She obtained exactly that with the ballad “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” cut alongside E Street Band members Max Weinberg on drums and Roy Bittan on keyboards, guitarist Rick Derringer, and backing vocalist Rory Dodd. The single held the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks in 1983 and propelled Faster Than the Speed of Night past the million-copy mark while debuting at number one in the U.K., where the title track also charted.

A track for the hit Footloose soundtrack, “Holding Out for a Hero,” appeared in 1984 and peaked at number 34 in the U.S. The same year she charted just outside the Top 40 with “Here She Comes,” penned by Giorgio Moroder and Peter Bellotte for the restored 1927 film Metropolis. Her sixth studio album, Secret Dreams and Forbidden Fire, featuring work with Desmond Child and Todd Rundgren, reached number 106 in the U.S. and 94 in Canada while topping the Norwegian album chart. Child returned to helm what became Tyler’s final Columbia release, 1988’s Hide Your Heart, which attained number 78 in the U.K. yet failed to register stateside.

Contributions from Giorgio Moroder, Nik Kershaw, and Albert Hammond helped Tyler score a European success with Bitterblue in 1991 on the German Hansa label. She remained with Hansa for 1992’s Angel Heart and the following year’s Silhouette in Red, both produced by Dieter Bohlen.

Her eleventh album, Free Spirit, emerged via EastWest Records across Europe in 1995 before an Atlantic reissue brought it to the U.S. in 1996. All in One Voice, produced by Harold Faltermeyer, Mike Batt, and Jimmy Smyth, followed on EastWest in 1998 and notably missed charts worldwide. After a limited Danish EMI rollout in 2002, Heart Strings received broader distribution through CMC Records and returned her to several European charts in 2003. Simply Believe, containing two French-language duets with Kareen Antonn, registered minor success for Sony in France, Belgium, and Switzerland in 2004. The edgier, guitar-driven Wings arrived in 2005 on Stick Music in Europe; a U.K. edition appeared under the title Celebrate the next year. That same year she joined performers including Sarah Brightman and Barbra Streisand on the Andrew Lloyd Webber collection Divas. Sony issued the 2007 compilation From the Heart: Greatest Hits.

Tyler made occasional concert appearances in subsequent seasons, among them tours alongside Robin Gibb and the Welsh choir Only Men Aloud plus a slot on the Ukrainian X Factor. After the longest recording hiatus she had experienced up to that point, she reentered the studio for her sixteenth album in 2012. An early copy reached the BBC, prompting an invitation to represent the U.K. at the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 with “Believe in Me.” She ultimately placed nineteenth, and the song entered the U.K. Top 100. The David Huff-produced Rocks and Honey appeared on ZYX Music in 2013, reaching number 52 on the German album chart while also charting in France, Germany, and Denmark.

In 2017 Tyler returned to the Billboard 200 for the first time since 1986 with The Very Best of Bonnie Tyler. Later that year the Cherry Pop label released Remixes and Rarities. Another studio album, Between the Earth and the Stars, surfaced in 2019 on Ear Music. A collection of love songs featuring guest vocalists Rod Stewart and Cliff Richard, it was tracked with David Mackay, who had produced her initial two albums more than four decades earlier. Between the Earth and the Stars entered the Top 40 in the U.K., Germany, and Austria, climbing to number 11 in Switzerland. That December she performed at the Vatican’s Concerto di Natale. Tyler reemerged in early 2021 with the Mackay-produced full-length The Best Is Yet to Come.