Gaynor Sullivan nee’ Hopkins, better known as Bonnie Tyler, was born 71 years ago in Neath, Wales and is married with no children.
She is particularly recognised for her unique, gravelly voice (following a vocal chords operation) and is frequently called ‘the female Rod Stewart’ or ‘female Meatloaf’.
Bonnie showed interest in different music genres like pop, rock, country at a young age, influenced by her siblings who had similar interests. She was inspired by big artists like Tina Turner, Aretha Franklin, Meatloaf, Joe Cocker and Janis Joplin, amongst others.
She sang for the first time in church. In 1969, she participated in a talent contest and came second. This encouraged her to take a music career and she managed to act as a backing vocal to a group. After that, she created her own band named Imagination.
Her first single was launched with minimal success in 1976, called ‘My! My! Honeycomb’, followed by another 2 singles ‘Lost in France’ and ‘More than a Lover’. Although these did better, only ‘Lost in France’ reached the Top 10.
The year after, Bonnie made a breakthrough with the song ‘It’s a Heartache’, which was a number one hit in several European countries. It also peaked to number 3 in the US.
During the 80’s, Bonnie released the international number one hit ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’, which sold more than 6 million copies worldwide. Another popular song that followed was ‘Holding out for a Hero’, which was taken from the movie ‘Footloose’ soundtrack.
Bonnie also collaborated with various other artists like Mike Oldfield, Tom Jones and Michael Bolton, amongst others, to record the songs for her next albums.
In 2013, Bonnie represented her country in the Eurovision Song Contest with the song ‘Believe in Me’ which placed 19th.
Bonnie issued an impressive 64 compilation albums and 82 singles, plus 18 studio and 2 live albums as well as 4 Extended Plays during her 53-year long music career. She also achieved many awards including 3 Grammy and 3 Brit, amongst many others.
Apart from music, Bonnie is also involved in philanthropic events and charities, especially towards children and animals.