Bonnie Tyler, Welsh singer of 'Total Eclipse of the Heart,' dies at 75

Bonnie Tyler, the Welsh singer whose gravelly voice became instantly recognizable through hits like "Total Eclipse of the Heart" and "Holding Out for a Hero," has died at 75. Her distinctive sound was not a planned artistic choice but the result of an accident.

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I think Mam and Dad had it really hard, bringing up a big family on very little.

In 1977, after an operation to remove nodules from her vocal cords, Tyler was advised to rest her voice. However, a moment of anger led her to scream, permanently changing her vocal timbre. This husky, powerful tone would become her trademark, defining her career just six years later with the release of "Total Eclipse of the Heart."

Born Gaynor Hopkins in 1951 in south Wales, Tyler was the fourth of six children. She grew up in modest circumstances, with her mother a homemaker and her father a coal miner. Music was a significant part of her childhood, with her mother singing various songs while doing housework. A childhood visit to a musical sparked Tyler's early desire to perform, despite her naturally shy disposition.

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I wouldn't say boo to a goose, and yet there was a part of me that yearned to sing in front of people.

Tyler began her career as a teenage backing singer before releasing her own albums in the 1970s. Her commercial breakthrough came in the early 1980s when she began collaborating with American songwriter Jim Steinman. Steinman, already famous for Meat Loaf's "Bat out of Hell," was impressed by Tyler's demos of theatrical rock songs. Upon hearing "Total Eclipse," Tyler recalled knowing it was the song she had waited her entire life for. The song, described by Steinman as a "Wagnerian-like onslaught of sound and emotion," topped charts in the UK and US and has since been streamed over a billion times on Spotify. It has also been featured in numerous films, television shows, and advertisements.

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I knew this was the song I had been waiting for all my life.