Bonnie Tyler - Elsie Hopkins

Bonnie Tyler dedicates Eurovision song to mum

"The song 'Believe in Me' reminds me of what my mum always said to me. She brought me up on this motto. She said, 'Believe in yourself and go for it because no-one else is going to do it for you.' And she said, 'You are as good as any anyone out there. Not better. But as good as. So hold your head up high. I feel she is with me here today.''

Bonnie speaking about her mum:

"My mam Elsie was wonderful. Such a sweet lady and we were very close. We lost her 11 years ago and I think about her all the time. And I keep her shoes and my father's shoes beside my bed as a memento. I just want to have something of theirs with me. She had the most beautiful, operatic voice and she used to sing around the house all the time — when she was doing the housework, or whatever she was doing. You could hear her from the bottom of the road. And people would actually step outside their houses to listen to her. She was a big opera fan, and she loved people like Mario Lanza. Now I think about it, she sang right up until the end. In fact I wouldn't be doing what I am doing now if it wasn't for her. I have a very different kind of voice and in my personality I am much more like my dad, Glyn Hopkins. But mam always encouraged me. She always told me to believe in myself and to go for it. She wasn't the kind of person you would think might say something like that because she was so shy herself. So much so that if she was asked to sing at a party she would face the wall to do it. But she and her brothers and sisters used to put on shows in a concrete shed in my grandmother's garden when they were children, so the performing side was there. One of the things that amazes us all when we look back, in fact we talk about it a lot, is how hard mum worked with such a big family, to get everything done. She used to do all of the washing by hand and there was always one of us saying, 'Mam, can I have this skirt or that shirt because I'm going out?' and it would be done, washed and ironed and ready to go. I don't know how she got everything done but she did. Having three sisters and two brothers, my house was always full of different kinds of music. One brother loved Eddie Cochran and Elvis Presley. I loved Janis Joplin, my older sister loved Frank Sinatra and another loved Motown, so it was all in the house when I was growing up. One of the lovely things about having some success is that you are able to look after your parents, and we all took care of mam and dad. I was able to buy them somewhere nice to live in Mumbles, and they would come out to my house in Portugal. Mam never thought she would get on a plane but she started coming over in the 1970s and she loved it. And she never had favourites among us. If I was out with mam and someone stopped us in the street and said, 'Mrs Hopkins, you must be so proud of your daughter', she would always say, 'Yes, I am. I am proud of all of my children'. And she was. I wouldn't be doing what I am doing now if it wasn't for her...Mam always encouraged me."

Bonnie is wearing the ring of her mother to bring her luck

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