Bonnie Tyler, Singer of ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart,’ Has Died

The Welsh Pop Star Was 75

Music on Vinyl

It is sad to note that Bonnie Tyler, the Grammy-nominated vocalist, died unexpectedly in Portugal where she was being treated for an illness. In this excerpt from 100 Greatest 80s Pop Songs, we look back at Tyler’s №1 hit, “Total Eclipse of the Heart.”

“Total Eclipse of the Heart” topped the charts in 1983 and was the most successful song of Bonnie Tyler’s career. Jim Steinman wrote and produced the tune.

“I’d just signed to Sony and wanted to change from country rock to rock,” Tyler explained in the Guardian.

“I’d seen Meat Loaf on the BBC’s Old Grey Whistle Test doing ‘Bat Out of Hell,’ so I told Muff Winwood at Sony that I wanted to work with Jim Steinman, who wrote for and produced Meat Loaf. Muff looked at me like I was barmy and told me that Jim would never do it. ‘I just want you to ask him,’ I said.

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Steinman liked Tyler’s voice and invited her to his New York apartment, where he offered “Total Eclipse of the Heart.”

“With ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart,’ I was trying to come up with a love song,” Steinman told Playbill.

“I remembered I actually wrote that to be a vampire love song. Its original title was ‘Vampires in Love’ because I was working on a musical of Nosferatu, the other great vampire story.

“If anyone listens to the lyrics, they’re really like vampire lines. It’s all about the darkness, the power of darkness and love’s place in the dark.”

“I understood immediately what an incredible song it was,” said Tyler.

“I poured my heart out singing it. Around the time we were recording, Meat Loaf had lost his voice, and after it was a hit, he always used to say, ‘Dang. That song should have been mine!’”

Frank Mastropolo is the author of 100 Greatest 80s Pop Songs, part of the Greatest Performances series. For more on our latest projects, visit Edgar Street Books.