Thousands of fans gathered on the streets of Mumbles in Wales to applaud singer Bonnie Tyler's coffin ahead of her funeral on Monday.
Crowds threw flowers at the hearse carrying the 75-year-old performer as her coffin, draped in the red dragon flag of Wales, passed through her home village. Many mourners sang her hit 1983 power ballad Total Eclipse of the Heart as the procession moved through the coastal suburb on Swansea Bay.
Tyler died on July 8 in Portugal, where she maintained a residence. She had been admitted to a hospital in Faro, the regional capital of southern Portugal's Algarve region, in early May for emergency bowel surgery. Doctors subsequently placed her in a medically induced coma to assist her recovery.
Tributes in Mumbles
Local residents and visiting fans lined the streets to pay their respects to the performer. Carys Edwards, 18, told the PA news agency in Mumbles, a suburb of Swansea, that fans felt heartbroken upon hearing of Tyler's death, adding that her music had touched many people and describing her as a real icon. Her mother, Melanie Smith, 53, added that Tyler was a Swansea girl who never forgot her roots.
Mourners travelled from across the country for the arrival of the coffin in South Wales. Michael Bone, 58, who travelled from Derby in northern England with his partner Alan Hawkins, 54, said they felt it was important to pay tribute, adding that Tyler's music was everywhere during his teenage years in the 1980s.
Musical legacy and funeral service
Born in 1951 in nearby Skewen, Tyler began performing in a Swansea nightclub in 1975. Known internationally for her distinctive blonde mane and husky vocal tone, she maintained her recognizable Welsh accent throughout her long career in pop and rock music.
Her landmark 1983 rock ballad Total Eclipse of the Heart remains her most celebrated record. Forty-three years after its release, the song has accumulated 1.2 billion streams on the music platform Spotify. Shortly before her hospitalization in May, Tyler had released a new single titled Only Love and was preparing to launch an extensive European tour lasting several months.
Her funeral will take place on Monday at Swansea Cathedral. The public cathedral service will be followed by a private ceremony attended exclusively by close family and friends.
