Grammy-nominated singer Bonnie Tyler has died at the age of 75.
Tyler’s death comes not long after she was hospitalized in Portugal and underwent emergency surgery to treat a perforated intestine. She was then put into a medically induced coma by doctors, during which she suffered cardiac arrest. One month later she woke up from the coma, but remained “unwell.”
In a statement posted to socials, her manager Matt Davis said Tyler’s “family and team are heartbroken to announce that Bonnie unexpectedly passed away last night in hospital in Portugal as a result of the illness that she was being treated for.”
He added, “We will issue a further statement shortly but for now ask for privacy to deal with this tragedy.”
Born Gaynor Hopkins in Skewen, Wales on 8 June 1951, Tyler got her break in 1975 when she was spotted singing in a local club, which led her to a deal with RCA Records.
She had her first hit in 1977 with “It’s a Heartache,” which reached #4 in the UK and #3 on the Billboard Hot 100.
In 1982, Tyler worked with producer Jim Steinman and the two produced “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” a song that shot straight to #1 in Canada, the U.S. and the UK, earning two Grammy nominations and becoming one of the decade’s biggest hits.
The following year, she scored another massive hit with “Holding Out for a Hero,” which was featured in the 1984 film Footloose. She received another Grammy nomination for her Giorgio Moroder-produced song “Here She Comes.”
Tyler represented Britain at the Eurovision Song Contest 2013, where she placed 19th. She was later honoured as a Member of the Order of the British Empire for her services to music by Queen Elizabeth II in 2022.
In September 2023, she published her memoir, Straight from the Heart.
Her final concert performance took place on March 19 of this year, at London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire.