Bonnie Tyler

With a raspy wail and a flair for the dramatic, Bonnie Tyler (born Gaynor Hopkins in 1951 in Skewen, Wales) cut a torrid path through rock in the ’70s and ’80s. She put out her first full-length, The World Starts Tonight, in 1977, and soon after had an operation on her vocal cords. Her second studio album, Natural Force, which came out months later, featured “It’s a Heartache", a country-tinged cut showcasing her newly husky voice that hit the Top 5 in the UK and throughout Europe. After a few more releases, Tyler switched labels and began working with Jim Steinman, whose theatrical productions proved to be a winning match for Tyler on 1983’s Faster Than the Speed of Night, particularly on the mini-epic “Total Eclipse of the Heart”. Tyler would go on to have fruitful creative relationships with other studio wizards, including Desmond Child and Giorgio Moroder, and in 2013 she represented the UK at the Eurovision Song Contest.