Bonnie Tyler Leaves Induced Coma, But Remains in Critical Condition

Bonnie Tyler, 75, has come out of an induced coma but remains in intensive care at a hospital in Portugal, her representatives said on Sunday night. They said her condition is improving, but it is still “very bad,” and doctors believe she will recover only through a slow process.

Tyler, best known for the 1980s hits “Total Eclipse of the Heart” and “Holding Out for a Hero,” was hospitalized in early May at a hospital near her home in Faro, Portugal, after emergency bowel surgery. An initial statement said the operation was successful and that she had begun recovering, but a day later her spokesperson said doctors had decided to place her in an induced coma.

Born Gaynor Hopkins in the village of Skewen in South Wales and raised in modest circumstances near Neath, Tyler was discovered in the late 1970s by a promoter in a Swansea club and broke through with “Lost in France.” Six years later she became a global star with “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” which spent two weeks at number one in Britain and four weeks atop the US chart. The song recently passed one billion streams on Spotify, 43 years after its release.

Tyler is known for her raspy voice and other hits including “It's a Heartache” and “If You Were a Woman (And I Was a Man).” She was nominated for a Grammy, represented Britain at Eurovision in 2013, finishing 19th out of 26, and received an MBE in 2023 for services to music. She is due to begin a European tour soon marking 50 years since her breakthrough with “Lost in France,” with concerts scheduled this month in Malta and Germany and later in the year in Britain, Austria, Hungary, Turkey and Romania. It is not yet known whether those shows will go ahead.