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On February 13th 2012, news of the release of Tyler's new album was released on her website.<ref>[http://www.bonnietyler.com/news.html ''Bonnie Tyler Official Site'', LATEST NEWS, February 13, 2012]</ref> It claimed that Tyler has been working in [[Nashville]] to record a new Country/Rock album which will be available as a CD and online for digital download for an expected release in summer 2012. [[David Huff (musician)|David Huff]] has been named the producer and songwriters for the tracks include [[Desmond Child]] and [[Frank J. Myers]] as well as a duet with country musician [[Vince Gill]].
On February 13th 2012, news of the release of Tyler's new album was released on her website.<ref>[http://www.bonnietyler.com/news.html ''Bonnie Tyler Official Site'', LATEST NEWS, February 13, 2012]</ref> It claimed that Tyler has been working in [[Nashville]] to record a new Country/Rock album which will be available as a CD and online for digital download for an expected release in summer 2012. [[David Huff (musician)|David Huff]] has been named the producer and songwriters for the tracks include [[Desmond Child]] and [[Frank J. Myers]] as well as a duet with country musician [[Vince Gill]].


March 2012, Bonnie returns to french charts with "Total Eclipse Of The Heart" #57 and "Si Demain" at #167[http://lescharts.com/weekchart.asp?cat=s].
March 2012, Bonnie returns to french charts with "Total Eclipse Of The Heart" #57 and "Si Demain" at #167[http://lescharts.com/weekchart.asp?cat=s], and #38 France Digital Top 100[http://www.charly1300.com/francedigital.htm]


==Discography==
==Discography==

Revision as of 23:06, 14 March 2012

Bonnie Tyler
Tyler in 2010
Tyler in 2010
Background information
Birth nameGaynor Hopkins
Also known asSherene Davis
Born (1951-06-08) 8 June 1951 (age 73)
Skewen, Wales, United Kingdom
GenresRock, country rock, wagnerian rock,
progressive rock, rock and roll, pop
Occupation(s)Singer
Instrument(s)Vocals
Years active1975–present
LabelsRCA, Chrysalis, CBS Records, Columbia, Hansa, Atlantic, East West Records, CMC Records, Sony, Stick Music
WebsiteOfficial Site

Bonnie Tyler (born Gaynor Hopkins[1] on 8 June 1951) is a Welsh singer/songwriter and multi-millionaire[2], most notable for her hits in the 1970s and 1980s including "It's a Heartache", "Holding Out for a Hero" and "Total Eclipse of the Heart". Tyler is a three-time Grammy Award nominee, Brit Award nominee in 1977 for Best British Female Newcomer and 1984 and 1986 for Best British Female[3][4] and three-time Goldene Europa award winner. She became the first western artist to tour the Soviet Union.[5]

Early life

Tyler was born in Skewen, Neath, Wales to a family that included three sisters and two brothers. Her father, Glyn Hopkins, worked in a coal mine and her mother, Elsie Hopkins, (an opera lover) shared her love for music with her children, and was known to have been part of the local church choir. Tyler grew up listening to Motown music and female artists like Janis Joplin and Tina Turner.[6] She concluded her education in the sixties and began working in the local grocery shop, then as a supermarket cashier.

In 1970, aged 19, she entered a talent contest, singing the Mary Hopkin hit "Those Were the Days", and finished in second place, winning £1. She then was chosen to sing in a band with front man Bobby Wayne, known as Bobby Wayne & The Dixies. Two years later, she formed her own band called Imagination (not related to the 1980s British dance band of the same name) and performed with them in pubs and clubs all over southern Wales. It was then that she decided to adopt the stage name of "Sherene Davis",[7] taking the names from her niece's forename and favourite aunt's surname.[8] Despite the two name changes, her family and friends still know her as Gaynor.[9]

On July 4th 1973, she married Robert Sullivan, a real estate agent, Swansea night club manager and Olympic judoka.[10] In 1975, she was discovered by Roger Bell who arranged a recording contract for her with RCA Records. Before signing, she was asked to choose a different stage name and settled on Bonnie Tyler.[11]

Career

The 1970s

In 1976, Tyler was spotted in "The Townsman Club" in Swansea by the songwriting and producing team of Ronnie Scott and Steve Wolfe, who became her managers, songwriters and producers.[12]

Following the Top 10 success of her 1976 song "Lost in France", Tyler released her first album in 1977 entitled The World Starts Tonight. A further single from the album, "More Than a Lover", made the UK Top 30,[13] and the follow-up single, "Heaven", reached the Top 30 in Germany.[14]

In 1977, Tyler was diagnosed with nodules on her vocal cords that were so severe that she needed to undergo surgery to remove them. After the surgery, she was ordered not to speak for six weeks to aid the healing process, but she accidentally screamed out in frustration one day. This caused her voice to take on a raspy quality. At first she believed that her singing career was ruined;[15] but to her surprise her next single, "It's a Heartache," made her an international star. The song reached #4 in the UK, #3 in the US, #2 in Germany, and topped the charts in several countries (including France and Australia)[16]. Tyler's second album, Natural Force, was also retitled It's a Heartache for the U.S. market and certified Gold there.

Though further global success was elusive during this era, Tyler did have some regional hits: "Here Am I" made the German Top 20 in spring of 1978; "My Guns Are Loaded" peaked at number 3 in France in 1979; and she scored a minor UK Top 40 hit with "Married Men" in summer 1979 (the theme to the film The World Is Full of Married Men). Tyler released the albums Diamond Cut in 1979 and Goodbye to the Island in 1981. The track "Sitting on the Edge of the Ocean" was the Grand Prix winner of the 1979 Yamaha World Song Festival held in Tokyo.

The 1980s

Tyler released four albums for RCA Records from 1977 to 1981, but she became increasingly dissatisfied with Scott and Wolfe's management as they were trying to market her as a pop-country music artist.[12] When her contract with RCA expired, she signed with David Aspden Management and sought help from songwriter Jim Steinman, most familiar to audiences as Meat Loaf's primary collaborator, to give her music the rock style she wanted. She signed with Columbia Records in 1982.

Her next album, Faster Than the Speed of Night, was released in Spring 1983 and included the power-ballad "Total Eclipse of the Heart", which was written by Steinman. The song was a worldwide hit, reaching No. 1 in the UK, Ireland, France, Australia, and in the United States where it remained at the top for four weeks. Her presence in the US chart was at a time when almost one third of the Billboard Hot 100 was filled by songs from UK based acts - a situation not seen since the 1960s British Invasion and Beatlemania.[17] Faster Than the Speed of Night entered the UK Albums Chart at number 1, and also became a Top Five bestseller in the US and Australia. "Total Eclipse of the Heart" also brought Tyler a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. In 1984, she performed the track at the Grammy Awards, and received another Grammy nomination as Best Rock Female Vocalist for "Here She Comes",[18] a song that was part of the soundtrack for the 1984 restoration of the film Metropolis. She also released the singles "A Rockin' Good Way", a duet with fellow Welsh artist Shakin' Stevens, which made #5 in the UK, and "Holding Out for a Hero", for the Footloose soundtrack, which made the U.S. Top 40 and later peaked at number 2 in UK in the summer of 1985. "Holding Out For A Hero" (written by Steinman and Dean Pitchford) was also used as the main theme for the 1984 US television series Cover Up, though the version heard on the TV series was not Tyler's original but performed by Tyler sound-alike E.G. Daily[19].

The following albums, Secret Dreams and Forbidden Fire (1986) and Hide Your Heart (1988), achieved some success in France, Switzerland, Scandinavia, South Africa, Australia, but were not successful in the UK or the US. One of the single releases, "If You Were A Woman (And I Was A Man)", became another Top 10 hit in France in 1986 and was certified Silver. In 1987, Tyler recorded a bilingual track with the Brazilian singer Fábio Junior entitled "Sem Limites Pra Sonhar" or "Reaching for the Infinite Heart" in English.[20] In the same year, she sang the title song for Mike Oldfield's album Islands. Tyler also sang backing vocals with Cher for the song "Perfection" on Cher's self-titled 1987 album, and "Emotional Fire" on Cher's 1989 album Heart Of Stone.

The 1990s

Throughout the 1990s, Tyler's success was limited to continental Europe. In the early 1990s, she switched to the German label Hansa and found a new producer in Dieter Bohlen. Her first album for the label was Bitterblue, released in late 1991, which saw her leaving the rock genre of the 80s and establishing a more soft-pop sound. The album went quadruple-platinum in Norway, platinum in Austria, and gold in Germany, Switzerland and Sweden. Following the success of this album, two volumes of compilation albums were released entitled 'The Very Best Of Bonnie Tyler'. The first disc sold over 600,000 copies only in Germany.[21]

Tyler followed this up with the albums Angel Heart (1992) and Silhouette in Red in 1993. In light of her success in Germany, Tyler won Best International Female Vocalist at the RSH Gold Award, the "Goldene Europa" Award and the ECHO Award in 1994.

In April 1992, Tyler participated in a Greek ensemble CD with Sofia Arvaniti. The track was released on Arvaniti's 'Parafora' album on the EMI label, which was composed by Greek musician Michalis Rakintzis. It was named "The Desert Is In Your Heart", or "Petheno Stin Erimia" in Greek, and was a bilingual track (Greek and English). An instrumental version of the song was also released on Arvaniti's album.[22] The album reached Gold.

After her three albums with producer Dieter Bohlen, Tyler wanted to have a more international sound on her next record. She switched labels to Warner Music in 1995 and recorded Free Spirit, an album on which she worked again with Jim Steinman as well as other prolific producers such as David Foster and Humberto Gatica. However, the album was only a minor success in continental Europe, though the single "Making Love Out of Nothing at All" (previously a hit for Air Supply in 1983) narrowly missed the UK Top 40. The album was re-released in 1996 including the track 'Limelight', which was used as the official German Olympic theme song[23] and the 14th track from the previous release , Sexual Device (Vari Mix), was removed. Tyler continued to record, releasing the folk influenced All in One Voice in 1999, though this was even less successful. Also in 1999, Tyler was part of an ensemble vocal unit for Rick Wakeman's Return to the Centre of the Earth CD.[24] Tyler also recorded the track "Tyre Tracks And Broken Hearts" on the Jim Steinman and Andrew Lloyd Webber composed CD "Whistle Down The Wind". She also featured in Meat Loaf's track, "A Kiss Is a Terrible Thing to Waste" singing the chorus for "Tyre Tracks And Broken Hearts".

The 2000s

In 2003, Tyler released the album Heart Strings, which consisted of cover versions of popular songs performed with the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra.

Also in 2003, French vocalist Kareen Antonn approached Tyler to duet with her on "Si demain... (Turn Around)", a French-language version of "Total Eclipse of the Heart". Released in December 2003, it went to number 1 in France, holding that chart position for ten weeks, as well as Belgium and Poland, selling a total of two million copies. The follow-up, "Si tout s'arrête (It's A Heartache)", another French language remake with Antonn, also made the French Top 20. Tyler released an album, Simply Believe, in 2004, which contained both songs with Antonn.

In 2006, French record label Stick Music released Tyler's first live album, Bonnie Tyler Live, which featured songs from her 2005 album Wings as well as a handful of her greatest hits. In September 2006, Tyler made her first appearance on U.S. television in years, as she sang a duet of "Total Eclipse of the Heart" with Xena: Warrior Princess actress Lucy Lawless on the American show Celebrity Duets.

In 2007, a new Greatest Hits collection, From the Heart, was released. Also in 2007, Tyler contributed a track, "I Don’t Know How to Love Him", to the charity record Over the Rainbow. Tyler mentioned in an interview that she is working on a new studio album and would be working with Jim Steinman again. [citation needed]

In 2009, Tyler made a guest appearance in Hollyoaks Later (the late night edition of the British Channel 4 teen soap Hollyoaks) in which she sang her hit "Holding Out For a Hero" with one of the characters. The episode was broadcast on Friday 2 October 2009. She also recorded a new version of "Total Eclipse of the Heart" with the Welsh male voice choir Only Men Aloud! for their second album Band of Brothers which was released in October 2009.

The 2010s

In 2010, Tyler appeared in a television advertisement for MasterCard singing a parody of "Total Eclipse of the Heart".[25] She later joined Robin Gibb briefly on his Australian tour before performing in her own Australian concerts.

On November 1st 2010, Tyler joined artists such as Escala, Joss Stone and Bananarama in a charity concert in support of breast cancer research. It was held at the Royal Albert Hall as a fundraiser for Pinktober[26]. Also in November, Albert Hammond released an album called 'Legend', which featured some of his most successful compositions, with many re-recorded as a duet.[27] Hammond and Tyler recorded a version of Starship's Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now.

In 2011, Tyler made a guest appearance in the music video "Newport State of Mind", a parody of the Jay Z and Alicia Keys song Empire State of Mind for the BBC's Comic Relief charity.

In 2011, Tyler dueted with the singer Laura Zen on "Amour Éternel", a new French/English version of The Bangles' 1989 hit "Eternal Flame". It was released to French radio stations on 29th August 2011.[28] It was then released as an MP3 download in France on 26th September 2011, and also included on Tyler's new triple-disc Best Of 3 CD (title referred to on music databases) album on 3rd October 2011.

On February 13th 2012, news of the release of Tyler's new album was released on her website.[29] It claimed that Tyler has been working in Nashville to record a new Country/Rock album which will be available as a CD and online for digital download for an expected release in summer 2012. David Huff has been named the producer and songwriters for the tracks include Desmond Child and Frank J. Myers as well as a duet with country musician Vince Gill.

March 2012, Bonnie returns to french charts with "Total Eclipse Of The Heart" #57 and "Si Demain" at #167[1], and #38 France Digital Top 100[2]

Discography

Main article: Bonnie Tyler discography


Awards and nominations

See also

References

  1. ^ Latest news about Bonnie Tyler, Fameball
  2. ^ Bonnie Tyler’s manager leads a double life - as a Tory council leader "Bonnie Tyler’s manager leads a double life - as a Tory council leader"...
  3. ^ Bonnie Tyler BRITs Profile BRIT Awards Ltd
  4. ^ Rock On The Net: Bonnie Tyler Rock On The Net
  5. ^ The unusual career of Tory leader, This Is Logical London, published 31st March, 2010
  6. ^ Bonnie Tyler Official Biography, written by Stephen Bowen Lawrence, updated 29 January, 1998
  7. ^ BBC Wales - Music - Bonnie Tyler, Bonnie Tyler biography, Last updated 17 November, 2008
  8. ^ Metro.co.uk, Bonnie Tyler by James Ellis, "Why change a perfectly good name like Gaynor Hopkins?"
  9. ^ Metro.co.uk, Bonnie Tyler by James Ellis, "Do people still call you Gaynor?"
  10. ^ Bonnie Tyler Biography, Sing365.com,Renegade Angel
  11. ^ Bonnie Tyler on TV.com, Bonnie Tyler biography
  12. ^ a b Bonnie Tyler Official Biography Retrieved 21 September 2009
  13. ^ Bonnie Tyler Chart Stats, UK singles
  14. ^ Bonnie Tyler on Charts Surfer, German singles charts
  15. ^ Bonnie Tyler on her trademark husky voice, The Guardian, 10 May, 2009
  16. ^ It's A Heartache on Songfacts
  17. ^ Tobler, John (1992). NME Rock 'N' Roll Years (1st ed.). London: Reed International Books Ltd. p. 448. CN 5585.
  18. ^ Rockonthenet.com
  19. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086690/soundtrack
  20. ^ Sem Limites Pra Sonhar, Brazilian/English lyrics on vagalume.com
  21. ^ THE DREAM BEGINS, Bonnie Tyler biography, Stephen Bowen Lawrence, 29 January, 1998
  22. ^ Sofia Arvaniti - Parafora, Music Bazaar - Greek Music, Parafora (1992)
  23. ^ [http://www.the-alan-parsons-project.com/history.php The Alan Parsons Project - 1996, Bonnie Tyler cover version of Limelight (from Stereotomy) was used as the official german Olympic Theme song
  24. ^ Wakeman CD
  25. ^ You Tube - Mastercard commercial (2010)
  26. ^ RECENT EVENTS - PINKTOBER PRESENTS WOMEN OF ROCK, concert on Sunday 1 November, 2009
  27. ^ "Albert Hammond Returns with "Legend"". Retrieved 21 November 2010.
  28. ^ Bonnie Tyler est de retour : elle reprend le hit "Eternal Flame"
  29. ^ Bonnie Tyler Official Site, LATEST NEWS, February 13, 2012

External links

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