Bonnie Tyler on why she still adores Total Eclipse of the Heart

By Aimee Thomas & Lola MayorBBC Wales

There is no eclipsing Bonnie Tyler's star talent.

After 55 years in the industry, the 72-year-old Welsh icon has worked with some of the best in the business and has billions of streams to prove it.

Now, 40 years after Total Eclipse of the Heart was released, she still adores her biggest hit.

"I've done a lot in 40 years but I never get tired of singing Total Eclipse of the Heart," she said.

Bonnie was born in a council house in Skewen, Neath Port Talbot, as Gaynor Hopkins.

From a young age she said she was "carrying records in carrier bags" up to her aunt's house, to play with her cousins.

She said she loved rock music and wanted to be in a band.

But, after seven years of performing at rugby and working men's clubs, an opportunity to record came up as a surprise.

She said: "When I starting singing I was 17 and all I wanted to do was be in a band.

"I had no big ideas about being a recording artist but luckily for me Roger Bell, who worked for Chapel Music in London, discovered me singing in a club in Swansea.

"He knew that Ronnie Scott and Steve Wolf were looking for a girl to record their songs so he told them about me.

"I went to London and one of the first demos I recorded was Lost in France and then I was on Top Of The Pops."

Bonnie went on to sign with RCA records, who had had Elvis Presley on their books.

But the love of rock never left her and she wanted to do "more raunchier stuff".

That is when Total Eclipse of the Heart came along in 1983.

It spent two weeks at number one in the UK and four in the USA. Its music video has recently surpassed a billion hits on YouTube.

"The first time I heard it I couldn't believe that he (Jim Steinman) was giving me this song," she said.

"I recorded it in New York and the way Jim works is you sing the song through nine times and you decide which take has got the best feel, which happened to be the second."

The only problem?

"It was just too long!"

The radio edit, cut from eight minutes to 4:50, was "perfect" but "broke Jim's heart", Bonnie added.

Bonnie went on to have hits with songs such as Holding Out For A Hero in 1984 and received several award nominations, including at the Grammys and Brit Awards.

She even represented the UK at Eurovision in 2013.

But one of Bonnie's highlights was getting awarded with an MBE from the late Queen Elizabeth II.

"I grew up in a council house. I never thought I would have an MBE.

"It was even more special because it was the late wonderful Queen who put me in her last birthday honours, the last one before she died, so it means really a lot to me."

Bonnie has recently released a book, Straight from the Heart.

"I have been asked so many times and I always thought no one wants to read about me," she said.

"But they kept asking me and I thought well I'm 72 now and if I don't write it somebody will and it won't be the right information as only I know my life.

"Believe it or not I was a very shy little girl so how on earth I got to where I am now is a bit of a journey and I take you on that journey.

"I did not think this would happen to a Gaynor from Skewen, you know!"

Bonnie has some advice for other young girls wanting to follow in her footsteps.

"My mother always brought me up to believe in myself," she said.

"If you think you've got a talent go for it. Nobody is going to do it for you so try and make it work out and try and make your dreams come true."

Bonnie said she is still following her dream, recording new music and touring - with 35 shows planned before Christmas.

"People often ask if I get fed up with singing Total Eclipse but of course I don't. I love it.

"I do a lot of the old and some of the new. I'm proud of all the songs I had success with. I'm enjoying the ride.

"I'm not retiring."

Bonnie, who loves her Welsh heritage, still spends a lot of time in Swansea, down the road from where she grew up.

She splits her time between Portugal and south Wales, and said it was the people who always brought her back.

"I love Mumbles and the Gower coast," she said.

"When we get the weather you couldn't be in a better place. I always loved it down this way and I like keeping close to my family."

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