Bonnie Tyler Farewelled in Swansea as Only Men Aloud Perform 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' at Her Funeral
The Welsh choir Only Men Aloud sang Bonnie Tyler's 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' at her funeral in Swansea on Monday, 17 August, drawing hundreds of fans to the city's streets to mark the singer's passing.
Tyler died in early July at a hospital in Faro, Portugal, where she had been admitted for more than a month following emergency intestinal surgery in late May. Her doctors placed her in a medically induced coma to aid recovery; she emerged from it in mid-June, with her family telling the public she remained 'very unwell'. An official cause of death had not been revealed as of the funeral report, according to Rolling Stone.
Hundreds of fans lined the streets of Swansea as the city came to a standstill, with people gathering to celebrate Tyler's life amid what Wales Online described as a day of emotion and joy. BBC News carried live, rolling coverage of the service, including the moment the coffin was taken away at the end.
The choice of choir carried a personal thread. Only Men Aloud, a Welsh male vocal group who broke through after winning the BBC singing competition 'Last Choir Standing' in 2008, had recorded 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' with Tyler herself. Their version appeared on the group's 2009 album 'Band of Brothers', making the funeral performance a reunion of a sort, however bittersweet. The choir also performed Simon and Garfunkel's 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' after the first part of the eulogy, a song Tyler had recorded for her 1995 album 'Free Spirit'. James Murray then addressed the gathering, according to the BBC's live coverage.
Footage of the choral rendition of 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' circulated quickly. RTÉ News posted video on its official social channels on 17 August, and an Associated Press video of the full service placed the performance at around the 59-minute mark. Tyler's manager, speaking at the funeral, offered a line that those present would have recognised immediately: 'Bonnie was always a star but never a diva,' as reported by 1News.
Tyler was 75. Born Gaynor Hopkins in Skewen, near Swansea, she built a career on one of the most enduring power ballads in pop — 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' topped charts on both sides of the Atlantic in 1983 and never really left radio. The song's writer, Jim Steinman, had originally conceived it for a vampire musical; Tyler's version gave it a life of its own, and on Monday, in a church in her home city, a choir she once sang with gave it back to her.
