In 1982, Bonnie Tyler had already released four albums with RCA Records when she declined to renew her contract, fearing her career was stagnating. Instead, she signed a new deal with CBS, who immediately asked her who she wanted to produce her next record. “I wanna work with whoever it is that writes and produces Meat Loaf, because I love it,” replied Tyler. “I know I can sing that.”
Jim Steinman, the eccentric composer behind Meat Loaf’s hit 1977 album Bat Out of Hell, wasn’t so sure. Initially, he declined the offer to work on Tyler’s next record, but eventually he was convinced to listen to a handful of demo recordings she’d made. He was blown away.
“I always thought she had a great voice,” Steinman told People in 1983. “She reminded me of Creedence Clearwater Revival's John Fogerty, probably my favorite male rock’n’roll singer. Her voice isn’t pure or smooth. It sounds ravaged, like it’s been through a lot. It’s what rock’n’roll is all about.”
Tyler, who has died at the age of 75, got her way. Steinman went on to write and produce both of her biggest ever hits, 1983’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart” and 1985’s “Holding Out For a Hero.” His bold, operatic style was a perfect showcase for Tyler’s ragged, expressive vocals, which, just as Steinman sensed, had been through a lot.
Tyler was born Gaynor Hopkins on June 8, 1951. She grew up in Skewen, a coal mining village, and left school at the age of 16 without any formal qualifications. When she was 18, at her grandmother’s encouragement, she entered a local talent contest. She finished second to an accordion player, but that was enough to convince her to pursue a life as a singer.
After singing with a couple of different bands and changing her name to Sherene Davis, she was spotted by a talent scout singing in a club in Swansea and invited to record in London. Within months, she was signed by RCA Records, who recommended another name change. This time, she became Bonnie Tyler.
Tyler’s first hit was 1976’s “Lost in France”, which reached the Top 10 in the U.K. and was included on her debut album, The World Starts Tonight, in 1977. Soon after the release of the song, Tyler discovered nodules on her vocal cords and was instructed to undergo surgery.
“I thought my career was over,” she wrote in 2009. “You're not supposed to talk for six weeks after the operation but I found it very difficult because I'm a bit of a chatterbox... One day I just screamed out of frustration, then went back to the specialist and he said I had done damage to my voice and it would take six months for me to recover.”
When Tyler eventually returned to the studio, she learned, to her relief, that not only could she still sing, but her voice had actually improved. “The band said, ‘Whoa, your voice sounds great,’” she recalled. “My voice was huskier than before and had more of an edge.”
The first single she released with her new, raspier voice was 1977’s “It’s a Heartache,” which reached number three on the U.S. charts, giving her her first hit in the United States. It was also that voice that impressed Steinman so much, along with Tyler’s musical taste. When they first met in 1982, he played her Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Have You Ever Seen the Rain?” and Blue Öyster Cult’s “Goin’ Through the Motions.”
Tyler would recall that these songs were a secret test. “He didn’t tell me until later that if I hadn’t liked those songs, he wouldn't have entertained producing me because he’d have realized we weren’t thinking on the same terms,” she remembered. Steinman had Tyler cover both tunes for the hit album he produced for her, Faster Than the Speed of Night.
In total, Tyler released 18 studio albums, concluding with 2021’s The Best Is Yet To Come. Whenever she toured throughout her career, she travelled with her husband, Robert Sullivan. The couple met when she was 17, and she described it as “love at first sight.” They married in 1973, a year after he competed for Britain in judo at the Olympics.
Tyler herself represented the United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2013, and in 2023 was awarded an MBE for her services to music.
After accepting her medal from the Prince of Wales, she reflected on the success of “Total Eclipse of the Heart”, the Steinman song that became her signature.
“Lots of people ask me: ‘Aren’t you fed up of singing it?’, but there is no way,” said Tyler. “I love it and everybody does. It is a karaoke classic.”
