Half-watching the news on telly the other evening, I found myself ever-so-slightly moved by the huge turnout for Bonnie Tyler’s “final journey” to her Mumbles home. At first, I didn’t quite understand why, since I have never been a fan of her music – far from it – yet there was something rather lovely about the sight of the crowds who turned out to pay their respects. Perhaps it’s because there is so much fear and loathing in the world at the moment, it’s good to see a little kindness? Her death reminded people of how much they loved her and her music.
Subsequently, I decided to read up on her life and career and it turns out it went far beyond the famous songs she recorded, like Total Eclipse of the Heart, Lost In France and Holding Out For A Hero, the only three I could recall without prompting. In fact, Tyler, whose real name was Gaynor Hopkins (I think I did know that already), made a total of 18 albums, ending with 2021’s The Best Is Yet To Come. In 2022, she was rewarded with an MBE for services to music. Fair play that girl.
She was the daughter of a coal miner and former serviceman and lived in a four-bedroomed council house in Neath. She was spotted by a “talent scout” in Swansea and her long career took off when she had a hit with Lost In France. But it wasn’t her music career that struck me so much in her many obituaries, it was the kind of person she was.
Tyler supported some wonderful causes, such as Phoenix House Charities, which funded heroin recovery centres in the UK, she sang on Ferry Aid to raise funds after the Zeebrugge disaster and so much more. Click here and scroll down to Philanthropy to see the full range of good causes she actively supported. From all accounts, she was a very good person.
We need as many good people as we can get these days and sadly now the world has lost one of them. I always maintain that there are more good people than bad, it’s just that the bad people, the haters, seem to be the ones who attract most attention, especially by our dysfunctional media. It was good to see Tyler’s death, and the reaction to it, being reported, even if it was of the “and finally” variety. Certainly, by her actions in life, and through her music that was loved by millions, she left the world in a better place. I hope that will be of some comfort to her loved ones. I wish her peace.
