Bonnie Tyler - Interview - 2013

Here is a new interview that Bonnie Tyler gave to the Renowned For Sound.

She spoke about her performance, her career and the creation of Rocks and Honey

Brendon Veevers: You have recently announced two projects that we here at RenownedForSound.com and your fans are very excited about. Firstly, you have a brand you record coming about called Rocks and Honey and, secondly, you will be representing the UK at this year’s 58th Eurovision Song Contest. Let’s start with your latest record. Can you tell us a little about the new album and what we can expect?

Bonnie Tyler: It’s a mixture of songs – there are ballads, there are power ballads. It’s a pop/rock album with a tinge of country. I have two songs on there which are out and out country. There is a duet on the record that is with Vince Gill who is absolutely incredible; a 27 time Grammy award winner. When I was offered this duet I just though “Oh wow, I wonder if Vince Gill will do it”, you know because about 7 years before I really fell in love with his voice. So we got given this duet and we asked him and he said yes and it was absolutely brilliant because he has such an amazing voice. That’s why we call it Rocks and Honey – I’m the rocks and he’s the honey.

BV: You are known for your anthemic, power ballads like Total Eclipse of the Heart, It’s A Heartache and Holding Out For A Hero. Would you say the new record carries the Bonnie Tyler ‘sound’ that we are familiar with or have you decided on a different direction for Rocks and Honey?

BT: I think, over the years, my voice has matured. I don’t find the huskiness is as strong as it was before. It is completely different. There is only one Jim Steinman (writer of Total Eclipse of the Heart) and his production is a bombastic, mega production. This has more of a Nashville feel with some rock creeping in as well. It’s a totally different way of producing and the producer, David Huff, has captured this really fantastic production. I’m not very technical at explaining what it is but he has done a really great job and I am really happy with him. So much so that I want to make another album with him.

BV: Rocks and Honey is your first studio album since Wings back in 2005. Why such a lengthy delay between records?

BT: I have been touring a lot but also, I didn’t have the songs you know. I only wanted to tour another album if I believed in every song, not just one or two on the album – every song. We went to Nashville to look for the songs, so, not knowing what was gonna happen, we had all these appointments with different publishers all over Nashville. We went and they just pulled out all of these great songs for us to listen to and it was like “Wow”. I left Nashville after about a week thinking, “this is amazing”. I left my manager, Matt Davis, there because he had a few more meetings to go to and I had to go to New York, so I get a phone call from him a few days later saying, “Bon, I know we got great songs but you wanna hear the ones that I’ve heard in the last few days as well”. I said, “come on, they can’t be as good as the ones we’ve already got”. I then said, “I’ll come down to Wales when I get back from New York and we can listen to the songs”. He played the songs and I was like, “Bloody hell, these are incredible”,you know. “Wonderful”. So obviously I’ve got some songs that we’re not gonna use on this album, ready for the next album and then we’ll go back to Nashville again.

BV: Are there any key tracks on Rocks and Honey that we should listen out for or that hold a particularly special place in your heart?

BT: All I Ever Wanted, Sunshine, This Is Gonna Hurt, Little Superstar and What You Need From Me, which is the duet with Vince Gill and that is about friends staying friends instead of becoming lovers.

There is also a beautiful song on there called Mom. The song is about a child talking in heaven before he gets born, before he comes down. Well, when I heard the demo I was all dressed up, waiting to go onstage, make-up all done and I thought while I was waiting I’d have a listen to a couple of demos that this incredible songwriter that we went to see while we were in Nashville had sent me. I started to listen and all of a sudden I thought “I’ve got to stop listening to this” because my make-up was running because I was crying, you know. This song is so beautiful that I had to put it off or I would have had to have done my make-up again before going back out onstage.

So when I came back offstage, I had done my show and I couldn’t wait to listen to the rest of the song. I played it again and I was crying my eyes out. This happened about 4 or 5 times before I could actually sing it but I thought, “I gotta do this song” because it is such a lovely song. Have a listen to it. You have to listen to every word. It’s not good having somebody around that’s talking because you’re hanging on for every word because you want to know that full story. It’s a country song and they’ve all got stories, haven’t they. The man who wrote it is Wynn Varble.

BV: Success has followed you in your career for an impressive four decades. As a successful recording artist, what would you say has been the highlight moment during your career?

CLICK ON THE PICTURE TO READ THE FULL INTERVIEW  

http://renownedforsound.com