You know that gravelly, powerhouse voice that made "Total Eclipse of the Heart" an absolute anthem? That's Bonnie Tyler, and here's the wild part: she didn't always sound like that. Born Gaynor Hopkins in Wales, she had a perfectly normal singing voice until 1976, when she developed nodules on her vocal cords. The surgery to remove them went slightly wrong, leaving her with that distinctive raspy tone that would become her trademark. Talk about making lemonade from lemons!
By 1983, she was absolutely unstoppable. "Total Eclipse of the Heart," written by Jim Steinman (the mastermind behind Meat Loaf's hits), spent four weeks at number one and became one of the best-selling singles of all time. The music video, with its bizarre imagery of ninja dancers and glowing eyes, became an MTV staple. That same year, she released "Holding Out for a Hero" for the Footloose soundtrack, giving us another rock anthem that still pumps up sports stadiums today.
Here's something most people don't know: Tyler represented the United Kingdom in the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest at age 61, proving her staying power decades after her '80s heyday. She placed 19th, but honestly, just being asked to represent your country shows how iconic she'd become. That voice that was supposed to be a career-ending accident? It made her immortal.