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Bonnie Tyler, the Welsh singer whose rough and unmistakable voice defined pop-rock in the late 70s and early 80s, passed away on Wednesday night in a hospital in Portugal at the age of 75, as her family confirmed in an official statement on Thursday.
"The family and team of Bonnie announce with great sorrow that Bonnie passed away unexpectedly last night in a hospital in Portugal due to the illness for which she was being treated," states the text, which also requests "respect for our privacy as we cope with this tragedy."
The artist had been hospitalized for weeks after undergoing an emergency intestinal surgery at a medical center near Faro, in the Portuguese Algarve, where she usually resided. After the procedure, she was placed in a coma to facilitate her recovery.
In mid-June, her official page reported that she had awakened, although she remained "very ill" in the intensive care unit. The family then expressed their gratitude for "the enormous displays of affection and support received from all over the world" and stated that the singer was aware of this love and felt deeply thankful.
His death came just three weeks after that announcement of slight improvement.
Born as Gaynor Hopkins on June 8, 1951, in Skewen, a small town in South Wales, Tyler was the fourth of six siblings from a humble family: her father worked in the coal mines while her mother managed the household. She began singing in local bars and clubs before signing her first record deal.
One of the most unique stories from her career pertains to the origin of her distinctive voice. In the late 1970s, she underwent surgery to remove some nodules from her vocal cords, but by not resting as needed, her tone was permanently altered. Rather than bringing her down, that vocal roughness became her greatest artistic signature.
Her first major international success came in 1977 with "It's a Heartache," a ballad that climbed to the top positions in Europe and the United States.
The definitive turning point in her career came in 1983 with her collaboration with the already famous American composer and producer Jim Steinman, the author of the iconic "Total Eclipse of the Heart." "I knew it was the song I had been waiting for my entire life," she said while recalling her feelings when she heard the song for the first time.
The song reached number one in the United Kingdom and the United States, received a Grammy nomination, and has surpassed 1 billion streams on Spotify, in addition to being featured in movies like "Old School" and series like "Grey's Anatomy."
A year later, Holding released "Out for a Hero," also written by Steinman, which was included in the soundtrack of "Footloose" (1984) and re-launched with "Shrek 2" in 2004, solidifying Tyler's status as one of the great voices of epic pop from that decade.
Although the commercial success of the 80s was hard to match, she never left the stage. In 2013, she represented the United Kingdom at the Eurovision Festival with "Believe in Me," and in 2022, she was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for her services to music. In 2025, she was still performing in Spain, with concerts in Fuengirola, Alicante, and Mallorca.
Offstage, she lived a discreet life. She was married since 1973 to Robert Sullivan, a former Olympic judo player who represented Great Britain at the Munich Games in 1972, in a relationship that lasted for over half a century. They had no children and divided their time between Wales and Portugal.
In 2023, he published his autobiography "Straight from the Heart," the back cover of which summarized his story with a phrase that resonates more than ever today: "You already know the name, you can't confuse the voice. Now, you will discover his incredible story."
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