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“I am not bothered about the limelight; as long as I entertain people, I am happy. It is nothing to do with fame. I don’t have to work now, but I still do because I love it. It is a great gift to be able to sing and I have had few problems with my voice, thank God. Hopefully, that will continue and I will be able to continue to entertain people for some time yet.”

In an age when stardom becomes a singular goal for many in its own right – as opposed to it being a by-product of talent – it is fascinating and refreshing to speak to someone with more old-fashioned priorities. To speak to a performer whose sole motive is to perform and entertain because that is what she does and that is what she enjoys.

Bonnie Tyler – or Gaynor Hopkins to her friends – is and always will be a legend in the music industry. 

Yet despite her hectic and relentless schedule, which involves touring countries around the world, she has been absent from the radar of her UK and Welsh fans for some time now. But all that recently changed. She hit the limelight again in this country in a big way and her star is burning bright once more.

Back to prominence

Her recent collaboration with Last Choir Standing winners Only Men Aloud on their arrangement of her classic hit Total Eclipse of the Heart – the song that has defined her career in so many ways – has thrust her remarkable and distinctive voice into the spotlight once more.

The collaboration has resulted in appearances on various shows such as Loose Women, GMTV and The Alan Titchmarsh Show. Her new-found fame in the UK has even resulted in a cameo appearance in Hollyoaks in a surreal dream sequence – taking her remarkable talents to a whole new generation despite her protestation that “I am no actress, darling”.

In Wales, her profile will also soon get a second whammy when Mal Pope’s latest musical, Cappuccino Girls, launches. Bonnie has recorded the title track of the show on the musical’s forthcoming album, also entitled Cappuccino Girls. “It is a fantastic musical,” she says. “It is about what women get up to after they drop the kids off to school.”

That her return to prominence has occurred thanks to the launch of two Wales-based projects almost simultaneously is a coincidence, she says. But she also discounts the idea that these recent collaborations represent any kind of comeback or return to the limelight. She has never really been away, she stresses.

“I am always working, but it is away a lot of the time,” she says. “I’ve been everywhere this year – to Canada, Australia, BB King’s in New York, and I have played loads of summer festivals in Europe, headlining some. But I have never performed with a choir before so that is something new to me, although it’s just a one-off song.”

The single of the epic Total Eclipse should do well, especially in the run-up to Christmas. The album, called Band of Brothers, and which is Only Men Aloud’s second offering, topped the classical album charts at the middle of October.

“It is a song that has always touched a lot of people,” she says. “It was recently number one in France again for a number of weeks. But this version in particular is just absolutely amazing. The arrangement that Tim Rhys-Evans [the founder and musical director of the choir] has done is just fabulous. The choir boys sound heavenly.”

The collaboration came about in a short space of time. Only Men Aloud were due to perform their own version of Total Eclipse at Cardiff International Arena just days after Tim Rhys Evans first spoke to Bonnie about featuring on the song.

“The boys were doing the song anyway and they thought there was something missing. So they asked me if I would appear with them at Cardiff Arena and I said I’d have to have a rehearsal and see what it was like,” Bonnie explains. “It seemed to go well, so the next day I had a rehearsal in a hall before the gig and it went so well that I said I’d do it at the concert.”

No one – including the families of Only Men Aloud – knew she was going to perform that night. The arena was sold out anyway and went into raptures when, three minutes into their performance of Total Eclipse, Tim Rhys-Evans welcomed Bonnie onto the stage.

“The whole place erupted and we had a standing ovation after the song. It was amazing,” says Bonnie. “It worked so well that they asked me how I felt about recording it with them on their new album, which is out on the same day as the single. I’d enjoyed it so much that I said I’d love to do it.”

A reality check

Bonnie’s latest brush with the limelight comes at a good time for Welsh singers generally, largely thanks to reality TV shows such as The X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent. The likes of Paul Potts, Rhydian Roberts and Shaheen Jafargholi all found overnight success thanks to such shows.

Some stars that have succeeded in the industry in a more traditional way can be bitter about the merits of such shows and the quality of the singers that they produce. Bonnie sees things differently, however. Her first insight into her potential came when she came second in a talent contest as a teenager, winning £1. Only Men Aloud achieved fame thanks to reality TV, of course, and, as she points out, shows of this nature are nothing new.

“I won £1 back then – these days you win a £1 million recording contract. But the principle is the same,” she says. “We had TV shows like New Faces back then. I think ‘good luck’ to people if they are good singers. I even voted for Leona Lewis and Will Young!

“Aren’t we lucky in Wales to have so many good singers in such a small area,” she says. “My own family do their fair share. My sister also sings on Cappuccino Girls, and you want to hear my brother – he’s the lead singer in a band. My nephew Dean sings too. I also hear Shirley Bassey’s got a new album coming out as well!”

She adds that a big difference between the industry then and now though is that there were more opportunities to sing live. “I went from singing into my hairbrush in my bedroom in Skewen [where Bonnie was born] to going round friends’ houses with a bag of records to sing along to on a Friday night to singing in bands. And you get the experience doing that. It is more difficult these days.”

The band she refers to was called Bobby Wayne & The Dixies, and she later had another band called Imagination, which performed in pubs and clubs all over South Wales. When she was discovered and signed to a label in the late 1970s, initial success came quickly through songs such as Lost in France.

But it wasn’t until she signed for a new label in the early 1980s and began collaborating with Jim Steinman that a series of massive global hits started, including Total Eclipse and Holding Out for a Hero.

“All I have ever wanted to do is entertain people. I have been truly blessed with the success I have had, and it is fantastic and exciting to be back in Wales working on these projects now,” she says.

You may also being seen yet more Bonnie Tyler in the next 12 months. She is also working on her own album, which she hopes to release about 12 months from now. She says she has completed six tracks already, but is in no rush to finish the album. “I am aiming for this time next year, but it will only be when it is right,” she says.

A small world

Another Swansea star, Catherine Zeta Jones, is the cousin of Bonnie’s husband Bobby Sullivan. Bonnie sang at Catherine’s wedding along with other stars such as Art Garfunkel and Mick Hucknell. 

“It was an amazing wedding,” she says. “I was invited to their big party for their joint birthday. I couldn’t go but it was lovely to have the opportunity to go. It was in New York. Catherine is fabulous. She’s really down to earth and she’s a wonderful mother. They’re the perfect couple.”

Always home for Christmas 

Though a regular visitor to Swansea and famous for her Christmas parties at her Mumbles home, Bonnie Tyler’s permanent address is in the Algarve in Portugal. Apart from the better weather, she says she finds it easier to commute from there to gigs in Europe, where she performs for much of the time.

“It is a wonderful place,” she says. “We will take the boat down the coastline and go somewhere for lunch. I share it a lot with my family – I have three sisters and two brothers and 16 nieces and nephews. They have all spent a lot of time there. Family is very important to me. I’ve got a big family and I love that so much.”

But she says she would never consider leaving Wales permanently. “It’s great to still have a place in Wales. I love it here,” she says. “I’ve been outside today at my home [in Mumbles]. The sea’s coming in and it’s actually blue today which is unbelievable. 

“I’d never sell my house here. It’s beautiful and probably one of the best locations in Wales – overlooking the bay. I’m back quite often, but mostly just for a few days at a time. One of my favourite things is every Christmas morning I have 200 or so people come round the house for a big party. We have it every year. I’m always home at Christmas in Wales. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

The secret of youth

Now 58, Bonnie is often complimented on her youthful looks. Unlike many stars though, she is not shy about revealing one of her secrets: botox.

“It’s no secret that I have it. I’ve been having it for 15 years and I always tell people,” she says. “The earlier you have it the better because you can’t develop any lines then. And if you keep up having the botox twice a year then you won’t get any – it’s marvellous. I love it.”

Sources : Swansea life