Bonnie Tyler is a Welsh singer, known for her distinctive husky voice.
Let’s see some interesting facts about her!
1. Gaynor Hopkins was born 8 June 1951 in Skewen, Wales, to coal miner Glyndwr and housewife Elsie Hopkins.
2. She grew up in a four-bedroom council house with three sisters and two brothers.
3. Her siblings had varied music tastes, exposing her to artists such as Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra and the Beatles.
4. Hopkins and her family were deeply religious Protestants.
5. Her first public performance took place in a chapel as a child, singing the Anglican hymn “All Things Bright and Beautiful”.
6. Leaving school with no formal qualifications, Hopkins began working in a grocery shop.
7. In 1969, she entered a local talent contest, and after coming in second place, was inspired to pursue a career in singing.
8. Responding to a newspaper advertisement, she found work as a backing singer for Bobby Wayne & the Dixies before forming her own soul band called Imagination.
9. It was around this time that she changed her name to Sherene Davis in order to avoid being confused with Welsh folk singer Mary Hopkin.
10. 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 1978 single “It’s a Heartache” reached number four on the UK Singles Chart, and number three on the US Billboard Hot 100.
11. 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”, 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”.
12. 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 topped the French charts.
13. Her latest album Rocks and Honey was released in 2013 and features the single “Believe in Me” which she performed representing the United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest 2013.
14. Both “It’s a Heartache” and “Total Eclipse of the Heart” are among the best-selling singles of all time, with sales in excess of six million each. Her work has earned her three Grammy Award nominations and three Brit Award nominations, among other accolades.
15. Tyler married property developer and 1972 Olympic judo contestant Robert Sullivan on 14 July 1973. They have no children; Tyler miscarried when she was aged 39.
16. Through her husband, Tyler is related to actress Catherine Zeta-Jones and attended her wedding to Michael Douglas in 2001.
17. Since 1988, Tyler and her husband have owned a five-bedroom home in Albufeira in the Algarve.
18. Tyler had recorded one of her albums there in the late 1970s, and the couple had spent the better part of the year there.
19. In 2005, Tyler was filmed in the Algarve for a short Polish entertainment TV show called Zacisze gwiazd, which explores the houses of actors and musicians.
20. Tyler and Sullivan have invested in real estate—as of a 1999 interview, they owned farmland in Portugal and New Zealand, 22 houses in Royal Berkshire and London, and 65 stables offering horse boarding services.
21. In a 2013 interview, Tyler stated that the farm in New Zealand had been converted to a dairy farm twelve years after they purchased the land. In the same interview she also stated that she and Sullivan also own a quarry.
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