Bonnie Tyler

Breaking out of the pub and club circuit during the 1970s, Bonnie Tyler found her vocal style favourably compared to that of Rod Stewart. She had grown up listening to the Beatles and Stones, but when Bonnie began performing as a teenager in her native Wales, she became increasingly drawn to the funkier style of Janis Joplin and Chaka Khan. Though barely out of her teens, Bonnie had already tasted chart success by the time she teamed up with Bat Out Of Hell producer Jim Steinman.

It's A Heartache had brought her success on both sides of the Atlantic, but it was her love of Meat Loaf's 1977 epic 'Bat Out Of Hell' that led her to approach Steinman. The results of their collaboration were among the most striking in rock history: pop star Bonnie was transformed into a Goth heroine on Steinman's 1983 Faster Than The Speed Of Night.

Bonnie had always known who she wanted to work with: "I've always been a big fan of Phil Spector and that huge sound he used to get, and the only producer who can get that epic sound nowadays is Jim Steinman." And she was proven right. With her distinctive, throaty vocals playing out against his trademark wall of sound production, it was a perfect partnership. "Bonnie could scream at the top of her lungs over an army of guitars and yet still sound musical," enthused Steinman.

As you might expect, the opening track of this retrospective is Bonnie's hallmark hit, the majestic Total Eclipse Of The Heart. Knowing this was going to be something really special, Steinman hand-picked the band... Rick Derringer of the McCoys was on guitar, while Max Weinberg and Roy Bittan from Bruce Springsteen's E. Street Band helped swell the sound on drums and piano. The titanic result became the No.1 single in Britain and America. And such was the popularity of the song, that in 1995 a dance version by Nicki French once again made it a Top 5 hit.

Also included on this collection are a couple of Bonnie's most striking covers, taken from Faster Than The Speed Of Night. It's no coincidence that Blue Oyster Cult's 'Going Through The Motions' and Creedence Clearwater Revival's 'Have You Ever Seen The Rain' were among the songs Steinman played to her at their first meeting, in order to illustrate the sort of sound he wanted them to create together.

Released in the UK in April 1983, Faster Than The Speed Of Night immediately made chart history, and Bonnie Tyler became the first female artist ever to enter the album charts at No.1.

Such success inevitably led to a further collaboration with Steinman, and this time the result was Holding Out For A Hero - the theme from the film Footloose, which reached No.2 on the UK charts in 1985.

Despite her huge success, Bonnie Tyler has always remained close to her Welsh roots - as demonstrated by her 1984 duet with Shakin' Stevens, A Rockin' Good Way. Four years later, Bonnie was one of a galaxy of Welsh stars - including Tom Jones and Sir Anthony Hopkins - who appeared on Sir George Martin's version of Dylan Thomas' Under Milk Wood.

© Patrick Humphries, 2008

Read about Bonnie Tyler on Wikipedia