Image source, Getty Images

Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler, known for worldwide hits Total Eclipse of the Heart and Holding Out for a Hero, has died aged 75.

In a statement, Tyler's family and team confirmed she died "unexpectedly" on Wednesday evening in a hospital in Portugal due to the "illness that she was being treated for".

In May, Tyler had been rushed to hospital in Faro, Portugal, for emergency intestinal surgery and placed in an induced coma to aid her recovery.

After growing up in a council house in Skewen, south Wales, Tyler went on to sell millions of records, and top charts around the world - including in the US and UK - and receive an MBE in the late Queen Elizabeth's final honours list.

Tributes have poured in from actors, fellow singers, and even world leaders following her death:

• UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer described Tyler as an "iconic figure" and "one of Britain’s greatest recording artists"
• Actor Catherine Zeta-Jones said her heart was broken by the news, calling her friend Tyler an "extraordinary woman with vocals to match"

• Fellow singer Cliff Richard wrote that he was mourning "another wonderful friend gone too soon"
• Rocker Bryan Adams said he will "always be grateful of her beautiful version of Straight From The Heart. Thanks Bonnie. RIP"

We are now ending our live coverage, but you can read more here about Tyler's legendary career.

Image source, Gareth Pugh

Callers have been getting in touch with BBC Radio Wales to share their tributes, here's some of what they've told us:

Wynne in Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taf, says he grew up on Bonnie Tyler’s music and “a disco in the 80s was not a disco without her blasting out with her unique and fantastic voice".

Eileen in Prestatyn, Denbighshire, recalls the time her late husband John met Tyler on a train to Bridgend “many years ago”, describing her as “down to earth”.

Michael, from Rhayader in Powys, also met Tyler and remembers presenting her with a bunch of roses as she signed a copy of her memoir, Straight from the Heart.

“It feels like a family member has passed away. She was one of us, not one of these superstars that wouldn’t even stop and look at you. She was just a pure Welsh girl from Swansea."

Gareth Pugh, also from Powys, first met the star in 2008: “She was grounded and natural. You couldn’t meet a nicer person." He met her again at Hay Festival in 2024 - pictured above.

Image source, Matthew Horwood

Floral tributes and whiskey have been left at Bonnie Tyler's Wales home, following news of the singer's death.

Several bunches of flowers, a bottle of Jack Daniels and a card are on the wall outside her house in Mumbles, Swansea.

Tyler was known to drink a shot of whiskey with the energy drink Red Bull to steady her nerves before going on stage, previously joking that "it gives me wings".

Image source, Matthew Horwood

In the 1970s, Bonnie Tyler would sing six nights a week in the clubs and bars of Swansea before her big break in 1976, when her single Lost in France broke into the UK top 10.

What followed was a career few can ever hope for, which included millions of records sold, Grammy and Brit nominations and also becoming the first Welsh artist to secure a number one single in the United States.

Here's a look back at Tyler's career in pictures:

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Singer and musician Suzi Quatro, known for number one hits Can the Can and Devil Gate Drive, says Bonnie Tyler clearly made her music "for the audience".

Quatro tells BBC Radio 4's World at One programme: "She did love life, but where we really connected, her and I, is we both...love what we do. It shines out, you can't fool an audience.

"She did it for the audience."

Quatro adds she has done "many, many shows" with her friend Tyler, especially in Germany.

"We bonded from day one because we're both Geminis," she says, adding Tyler was "fun, intelligent, [had a] wicked sense of humour and a big talent.

"She leaves her music behind and that's the beautiful thing."

Image source, PA Media

In 2022, Bonnie Tyler was named in the late Queen Elizabeth's last Birthday Honours list, and was awarded an MBE for her services to music by Prince William the following year.

At the time, she said: "I'm just a girl from a small town in Wales who just loves to sing, so to be recognised for that in this way is very significant to me and my family and friends."

Image source, Getty Images

We can now bring you some more reaction from the music world.

Singer Nicki French - pictured above - who also competed at Eurovision, tells BBC Radio Cumbria the news of Tyler's death has "stunned everybody".

Liz Mitchell, the original lead singer of Boney M, says she is "so very sad to hear the news about our lovely dear friend Bonnie".

Rocker Bryan Adams says he will "always be grateful of her beautiful version of Straight From The Heart. Thanks Bonnie. RIP.”

And Mal Pope, a musician and friend of Tyler - pictured with her below - says he's "absolutely heartbroken", adding: "She never forgot where she came from. She had a great big heart."

Image source, Mal Pope

Colin Paterson
Entertainment correspondent

Who was the first Welsh act to have a US number one single?

Not Tom Jones. Not Shirley Bassey. Not Mary Hopkin.

The honour fell to Bonnie Tyler in 1983 when her ultimate bombastic power ballad Total Eclipse of the Heart knocked Billy Joel’s Tell Her About It from the top spot.

“They can never take that away from you,” she said about the achievement.

"The first time I heard it, shivers up my spine,” was her description of the track, which was written by regular Meat Loaf collaborator Jim Steinman.

The song stayed at number one for four weeks, selling a million copies and securing her a Grammy nomination, only being replaced at number one by another all-time classic, Islands in the Stream by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers.

Image source, PA Media

In the spring of 1977, Tyler was celebrating her first taste of chart success with the wistful, lilting ballad, Lost In France, when she began to develop a sore throat.

After consulting a doctor she was told she had developed nodules on her vocal cords as the result of so much singing, and that the only option was for them to be surgically removed.

Once the operation was done, she was told, she would have to rest her voice completely for six weeks – not even speaking, let alone singing - which proved to be an impossible demand.

After one anguished scream of frustration, she returned to be told that she may have suffered permanent damage. When it finally healed and she tried to sing again, her voice had changed.

Her already husky tones had acquired a new gravelly rasp – and her producers loved it.

“When I went into the studio they all said, ‘Bloody ‘ell, where’s that voice come from?'” she later recalled. “I now sounded like a female Rod Stewart.”

Six years later, her new trademark sound found its perfect setting in her biggest hit, Total Eclipse of the Heart.

Huw Thomas
BBC Wales correspondent

Image source, Huw Thomas

Bonnie Tyler radiated showbiz glamour, but behind the powerful voice and the rockstar image there was a girl called Gaynor who kept Swansea close to her heart.

As the arts correspondent for BBC Wales I had followed her to the Eurovision Song Contest in 2013, where she cheerfully accepted her fate (a respectable 23 points) and made the most of entertaining her European supporters.

Approachable, and often hilarious, she was generous with her time for fans and reporters.

In Wales, too, she had a reputation for enjoyable house parties in Swansea when she wasn't retreating to Portugal to avoid the worst of the Welsh weather.

Ahead of a visit to BBC Wales to film an interview she called me from the car, insisting she'd do her own hair and makeup.

Performing was second nature, and a life on the road meant her transformation from Gaynor to Bonnie Tyler was almost instant.

All those years on stage had cultivated a rockstar image, and it came to define the Swansea girl that conquered the music world.

Fraser Morris
BBC Culture

Image source, Corbis via Getty Images

One day in the summer of 1982, Canadian vocalist Rory Dodd was summoned to the Power Station recording studio in New York City to lend his vocals to a song, written and produced by his colleague and friend Jim Steinman for Bonnie Tyler.

"Jesus! Where's the kitchen sink?" Dodd cried, when he heard the final, jaw-dropping mix of the track.

The song was Total Eclipse of the Heart. It became an unprecedented international success that pushed the boundaries of melodrama in pop music.

The song is considered one of history's most iconic "power ballads". It is easy to understand why: the full-length album cut is seven minutes of unfettered bombast.

It is ultimately the pairing of Steinman's epic writing with Tyler's ferocious delivery that continues to enthral listeners.

The song exceeded the category of the power ballad before the power ballad had even established itself as a dominant musical idiom.

"I can't think of any other songs of that era that bit so much as that," Dodd told the BBC. "It was a totally different concept of a song. It's a story, it's theatre, and it worked.

• Read more: 'Inescapably epic': Why Total Eclipse of the Heart is the most dramatic pop song ever written

Aimee Thomas
BBC Wales, reporting from Mumbles

People in the coastal Swansea community of Mumbles, where Bonnie Tyler lived, are shocked today by the news of her death.

Zoe James Williams - pictured above - says Tyler's Holding Out for a Hero is one of her favourite songs.

“Her voice was just so amazing and unique," she says. “She was a great supporter of the area and was so proud to be Welsh.

“As a female rockstar, she was really inspirational.”

Sisters Nikki Thacker and Karen Brennan - pictured below, Thacker on left - are visiting Mumbles for a day at the beach and say they're "so shocked".

"She was from our era," says Thacker. "I’ve got all the records and ballads... It’s a great loss."

Brennan adds: “It’s really sad. Another icon has passed away. It’s a great loss for Wales.”

In a Facebook post, Bonnie Tyler's brother Paul Hopkins pays tribute to the singer following her death aged 75.

"Yesterday my sister lost her battle with her illness," he writes.

"We are totally devastated as a family, she was such a loving, wonderful human, she always had time for all her family, friends and her fans."

Hopkins ends with a message to his sister: "I will love you forever."

Helen Bushby
Culture reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Actor Catherine Zeta-Jones, a long-time friend and family connection of Bonnie Tyler, says her "heart is broken".

"Our Queen Bonnie….. you were such a part of my life," she writes on Instagram, sharing a picture of them the night before her wedding, where Tyler sang.

Zeta-Jones describes her as an "extraordinary woman with vocals to match".

"A one of kind artist, who so easily could have been a comedian because she was one of the funniest people I ever met.

"Thank you Bonnie for the joy you brought so many."

Aimee Thomas
BBC Wales

Image source, Aimee Thomas

Meeting Bonnie Tyler is still one of the highlights of my career so far.

I was working as a reporter in Swansea when I was sent to interview her to mark the launch of her new book at her home in Mumbles.

I remember feeling surprisingly nervous. I'd grown up listening to her music, so the idea of sitting down with someone I’d listened to since I was a child was a little daunting.

I needn't have worried. The moment Bonnie opened the door, she made me feel completely at ease. She was warm, funny, and incredibly down to earth, welcoming us into her beautiful home as though we'd known each other for years.

There was no sense of rushing through the interview or carefully rehearsed answers. She was open, honest and happy to talk about anything we asked.

As we were wrapping things up, she even shared some career advice: always walk into a room feeling confident, even if you’re not.

It was a simple piece of advice, but hearing it from someone like Bonnie Tyler made it all the more meaningful.

Colin Paterson
Entertainment correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

As a child growing up in Wales, Bonnie Tyler sang Tina Turner songs into her mirror using a hairbrush as a microphone.

As an adult, Tyler sang the original version of one of Tina Turner’s signature songs.

In 1988, Bonnie Tyler's track The Best, with its chorus "You’re simply the best/better than all the rest", did not do the best in the UK, where it flopped, reaching a lowly 95.

The track did catch the attention of Tina Turner though, who approached the writers Mike Chapman and Holly Knight (the duo who penned Pat Benatar’s monster smash Love is a Battlefield) and asked for a few changes for a cover version she had planned - including the addition of a bridge, and crucially a key change.

The Best was the lead single from Turner’s 1989 album Foreign Affair, becoming a global hit and one of her signature songs.

Even Bonnie Tyler admitted that Turner’s version of The Best, was the best.

Image source, PA Media

If you're just joining us, tributes have been pouring in after the announcement that singer Bonnie Tyler - known for her hit Total Eclipse of the Heart - has died aged 75.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer is among those honouring the Welsh pop star, calling her an "iconic figure" and "one of Britain’s greatest recording artists".

Broadcaster and media personality Carol Vorderman says she is "truly sad" to hear the news of Tyler's death.

Tyler represented something special to Wales, adds Vorderman, and will be "very very sorely missed".

Family friend Owen Money tells the BBC that Tyler "was one of those ladies who just loved life".

Welsh First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth says that Wales has lost a "true icon".

And fellow pop star Cliff Richard is mourning "another wonderful friend gone too soon", adding she had an "infectious zest for life".

Helen Bushby
Culture reporter

Image source, Getty Images

The Welsh singer spoke back in 2001 about being asked by Catherine Zeta-Jones if she would sing at her wedding to Michael Douglas. The film stars were marrying in New York, where Tyler was already going to be a guest.

The singer's husband of more than 50 years, Robert Sullivan, is related to Zeta-Jones; his father and hers are cousins.

"She asked me if I'd like to sing it [Total Eclipse of the Heart] at the wedding, and she said, 'look I'm not putting you under any pressure'," Tyler told Jenni Murray on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour, the following year.

"I said, 'yeah, of course I'd love to'... but I didn't realise I wasn't going on stage till about 12 o'clock. And I like to have a drink, you know, but not before I sing," the singer recalled.

"So I drank one glass of vintage champagne from 7.30 until after I came off stage at 12-ish. And it was all underneath my nose and all this incredible vintage red wine and vintage champagne everywhere.

"And I couldn't drink any of it, you know, until I came on stage, I made up for it then though!" she added.

Image source, Getty Images

English record producer and songwriter Pete Waterman is paying his respects to Tyler, comparing her to one of the greats.

The Stock Aitken Waterman producer, famous for a string of hits during the 1980s with stars including Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan, recalls Tyler having been "the new thing on the block" as he was arriving into the music business in the 70s.

She was "a sweet kid", he tells BBC News. "We could see her being made into a star".

Waterman describes Tyler as "one of the great British artists".

"She had an amazing voice, and was equal to Tina Turner in my opinion."

Fellow pop star Cliff Richard is mourning "another wonderful friend gone too soon".

"Bonnie’s infectious zest for life entertained so many around the world," he writes on social media, describing her as "a good friend to all, including me".

"It's shocking news to wake up to you this morning and I send my love to her family at this very sad time.

"RIP Bonnie…. Cliff xx"

Image source, PA Media