Fans of 1980s power ballads are mourning the loss of one of the era's defining voices. Bonnie Tyler, the gravel-voiced Welsh singer behind "Total Eclipse of the Heart," has died in a Portuguese hospital at age 75, according to a statement on her website, which was knocked offline due to heavy traffic, Deadline reports. Her family said she "unexpectedly passed away last night … as a result of the illness that she was being treated for" and asked for privacy as they grieve.
Tyler, born Gaynor Hopkins in Wales in 1951, was hospitalized near Faro, Portugal, where she lived, in late April and underwent emergency surgery for a perforated intestine, per the Guardian. Though her camp initially reported the procedure went well, Tyler did not recover as expected and was reportedly placed in a medically induced coma and on a ventilator. She later came out of the coma but remained in intensive care, leading to tour cancellations.
Tyler first broke through in the US with 1977's "It's a Heartache," then hit her commercial peak with the Jim Steinman-written "Total Eclipse of the Heart" in 1983 and "Holding Out for a Hero" in 1984's Footloose. "Total Eclipse of the Heart," "arguably the power ballad by which all others should be judged," made her a pop legend, hitting No. 1 in the US and UK, per the Guardian. She continued recording into recent years, releasing her final album, The Best Is Yet To Come, in 2021.
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