Gaynor Sullivan
(June 8th 1951 – July 8th 2026),
known professionally as
Bonnie Tyler,
was a Welsh singer
and songwriter.
Known for her
distinctive husky voice,
Tyler came to prominence
with the release of her
1977 album
The World Starts Tonight
and its singles
"Lost in France"
and
"More Than a Lover".
Her 1977
single
"It's a Heartache"
reached number four
on the
UK Singles Chart
and number three
on the US
Billboard Hot 100.
In the 1980s,
Tyler ventured into
rock music with
songwriter and producer
Jim Steinman.
He wrote
Tyler's biggest hit,
"Total Eclipse of the Heart",
which sold over
13 million copies worldwide
and was released as
the lead single from
her 1983
UK chart-topping album
Faster Than the Speed of Night.
Steinman also wrote
Tyler's other major 1980s hit
"Holding Out for a Hero".
Her other successful singles
during this period included
"Here She Comes"
from the 1984
soundtrack to
Metropolis and
"If You Were a Woman (And I Was a Man)",
written by
Desmond Child
and produced by Steinman.
She had success in
mainland Europe
during the 1990s with
Dieter Bohlen,
who wrote and produced her hit
"Bitterblue".
In 2003,
Tyler re-recorded
"Total Eclipse of the Heart"
with singer
Kareen Antonn;
their bilingual duet,
titled
"Si demain... (Turn Around)",
topped the French charts.
Tyler released
Rocks and Honey
in 2013,
featuring the single
"Believe in Me",
which she performed while
representing the United Kingdom
at the
Eurovision Song Contest
2013 in Malmö, Sweden.
After reuniting with
the producer David Mackay,
she released
Between the Earth and the Stars
(2019)
and
The Best Is Yet to Come
(2021).
Tyler's work earned
her three
Grammy Award
nominations
and three
Brit Award
nominations
(including twice for British Female Solo Artist),
among other accolades.
In 2022,
she was awarded an MBE
in the Queen's Birthday Honours
for services to music.
Her singles
"Total Eclipse of the Heart"
and
"It's a Heartache"
have estimated sales of over
6 million units each,
and are among the
best-selling singles of all time.
Health and death
On May 6th 2026,
Tyler underwent emergency surgery
in Faro, Portugal,
where she lived,
to treat a perforated intestine,
and was placed in an
induced coma in
the intensive care unit.
When doctors attempted to
bring her out of the coma,
she suffered a cardiac arrest
and was resuscitated.
On 12 May,
her spokesman said
she remained seriously ill
but stable,
and that her doctors were optimistic
about her making a full recovery.
On June 15th,
Tyler woke up from her
medically induced coma,
although she remained
"very unwell"
.She died on July 8th,
aged 75,
from the illness for which
she had been
receiving treatment
