Fans line streets of Welsh village to farewell pop legend Bonnie Tyler
Hundreds of fans have lined the streets of a Welsh village to farewell 80s pop star Bonnie Tyler after her death in Portugal last month at age 75.
Bonnie Tyler, the Welsh pop star famous for her 1980s hit Total Eclipse of the Heart, passed away last month in a hospital in Portugal at the age of 75. Hundreds of fans gathered in Mumbles, a seaside village near Swansea, to bid farewell to the Grammy-nominated singer. Her hearse, draped in a Welsh flag, transported her coffin through the village on August 15.
Tyler was hospitalized in May for emergency intestinal surgery in Faro, Portugal, where she owned a home. Locals and fans from across the United Kingdom and beyond lined the streets to see her final journey. Carys Edwards, 18, described Tyler as always returning to her Welsh fans, whose songs deeply touched them. Born as Gaynor Hopkins, Tyler grew up in Skewen, Wales, the daughter of a coal miner.
She earned three Grammy nominations and represented Britain at the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest. Tyler received a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 2022 for her contributions to music. Her iconic ballad Total Eclipse of the Heart topped charts in Britain and the United States, earning over 1 billion streams. Other popular hits include It's a Heartache and Holding Out For a Hero, from the film Footloose.
A celebration of Tyler's life will occur at a Swansea church on Monday, followed by her coffin's procession through her hometown of Skewen.
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