A sort of female Rod Stewart: Bonnie Tyler has died

Her raspy voice was her trademark, and that was not the only reason why Bonnie Tyler – born Gaynor Hopkins in Skewen, Wales, in 1951 – became a sort of female Rod Stewart. The singer has now died at the age of 75.

Bonnie Tyler earned her first money working as a cashier and performing in pubs in the evenings. She was discovered by two music producers in one of these pubs, and her breakthrough came with the song “Lost In France”.

Her later trademark – her raspy voice – developed by chance following vocal cord surgery. “I wasn’t allowed to speak for six weeks, and I found that really difficult. Out of sheer frustration, I ended up screaming at one point. That was it, but luckily I did it.”
Her voice made her world-famous and was the unmistakable hallmark of classics such as “It’s A Heartache” and “Total Eclipse Of The Heart”.

In 2019, she recorded the song “Battle Of The Sexes” with Sir Rod, which was released on her album *Between The Earth and The Stars*. Tyler commented at the time: “I’ve always been something of a female counterpart to Rod Stewart, so what could be more natural than for the two of us to do something together?”

Tyler herself has repeatedly described herself as a huge fan of Sir Rod and was a loyal reader of SMILER FanClub magazine. This mutual admiration is likely to run both ways; it’s no coincidence that Rod included the Tyler classic ‘It’s A Heartache’ on his 2006 album *Still The Same – Great Rock Classics Of Our Time* and still regularly performs it in his shows today in honour of Bonnie Tyler.