The underrated 1977 hit that landed Bonnie Tyler a spot on ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’
Who is the greatest singer in the world? Aretha Franklin? Joni Mitchell? Joan Jett? Naturally, there is no definitive answer, and that’s kind of the beauty of it.
The reason why music remains such a quintessentially important art form is that it has an innate ability to move those who listen in different ways. Because of the fact that we listen to music for different reasons, the voices that we connect with and don’t are a reflection of what we’re looking for within the songs we like.
Put it this way, you could argue your case for any one of the three singers that I’ve listed above, and neither of them would be out of place if they were crowned the best. However, at the same time, Joan Jett wouldn’t sound right on a Joni Mitchell song, Joni Mitchell wouldn’t pull off an Aretha Franklin track, and so on and so on.
Of course, while there are a lot of great singers out there who are championed for different reasons, there also remain some universal truths throughout the artistic world. For something which is predominantly subjective, you will struggle to escape certain objective notions that are lingering around. One of these comes in the form of Bonnie Tyler, perhaps one of the greatest ballad singers out there, with a voice that is equally raspy and pristine, perfect and prone to imperfections.
For a lot of us, the first time that we were subjected to the vocals of Bonnie Tyler was on the track ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’. “Turn around” – the first words of that so many people heard with that iconic voice, as Tyler was able to steadily take something sweet and subtle, and eventually raise it, and raise it and then raise it some more, until she’s almost screaming with that heavy, emotional, distorted rasp she carried so well.
Of course, while this was the first time a lot of people heard Tyler, it wasn’t the first song that she had ever recorded, not by a long shot. One of her first hits came in the form of ‘It’s a Heartache’, which she released in 1977. It was a pretty big tune at the time, although it pales in comparison to what she went on to achieve. However, it was this track that Jim Steinman heard that convinced him Tyler was the right person to take on the huge song he was working on.
When he heard ‘It’s a Heartache’, there were a few different qualities Steinman picked up on which convinced him Tyler was the perfect woman for the job. “It sounded so sensual but so ravaged,” he said. “It sounded heroic that she could sing at all.”
There were a lot of people who thought that ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’ might struggle to turn heads because of how much of an underappreciated musician Tyler was at the time, but it was the complete opposite. It was an undeniable hit. This new rock-heavy style essentially acted as a bit of a rebrand, with listeners getting to either hear her for the first time or hear her in a completely new light. Either way, this was a version of Tyler that had always been there, but that hadn’t had a chance to shine yet, and ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’, for a song that is about darkness, provided the perfect source of light.
The greatest singer out there is a debate ravaged in subjectivity, which will rage on until the sun goes from merely being eclipsed to burning out entirely. However, at the heart of those discussions will lie the voice of Bonnie Tyler, and the undeniable fact that it was pretty damn special.
