Bonnie Tyler will “never retire” from music.
The 73-year-old singer has been in the industry for more than 50 years and is best known for her 1983 hit ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’ but she knows from her own experience of boredom during the COVID-19 lockdowns that while she has “slowed down” recently, she will never truly give it all up.
She told The Sunday Mirror’s Notebook magazine: “I started singing when I was 17 and I never thought I’d still be doing it at this age. I’ve slowed down a little bit, but I know now that I will never retire.
” Even though I was so lucky because I was in Portugal when the first lockdown was announced, by the end of it I’d had enough. I was going crazy. I needed to get back out there on the road!”
The ‘Holding Out for a Hero’ songstress is gearing up for a European tour this year and will also headline a special one-off performance at The O2 on 5 July, where she will perform her new single ‘Yes I Can’.
She added: “The song is all about finding your strength and believing in yourself, and I’m hoping it’ll inspire anyone who needs that boost. When I was a girl, I loved singing and I knew it was what I wanted to do, but I didn’t have the confidence and didn’t feel I could. And since then, I’ve conquered the world. It’s been a journey, and I’m still on that journey now.”
Bonnie – whose real name is Gaynor Hopkins – revealed that her own self-esteem came from her mother, who brought her up to”believe” in herself.
She said: “I was a fighter because of her. My mother brought me up to believe in myself.”