Bonnie Tyler fans line the streets as coffin taken to her Swansea home

Image source, Getty Images

ByOlivia GristBBC Wales, Reporting fromreporting from Mumbles

Emotional fans have begun lining the streets to pay their respects to legendary singer Bonnie Tyler as she makes a final journey to her Mumbles home.

The Total Eclipse of the Heart singer died “unexpectedly” on 8 July, aged 75, at a hospital in Portugal.

At the time, tributes poured in from a host of friends and stars including Catherine Zeta-Jones, Bryan Adams and Rod Stewart.

Despite Tyler’s career taking her all over the world, she has been described by those living in the Welsh coastal town as a “Swansea girl through and through”, and someone who “never forgot where she came from”.

People have been invited to “pay their respects” on Saturday afternoon by lining roads in Newton and Mumbles, a seaside suburb of Swansea, while others began gathering outside her home in the morning.

“She was lovely – just like a friend you’d known all of your life,” said Angela Powell who was among the first to arrive.

“My mam used to cut Gaynor’s husband Bobbie’s hair and so he would let her into the nightclubs [which he managed] in the town without having to queue.

“She actually met my father in one of them, The Townsend, where Bonnie would regularly perform.

“My father is unwell so my mam is home looking after him and can’t be here, so I wanted to come on behalf of us all to thank her.

“I’ve met her a few times – in Marks and Spencer and on a flight to Portugal.”

Andrea Witts from Bryncoch and Maggie Phillips from Gorseinon said they both grew up with Tyler’s music and wanted to honour her.

“Many years ago I worked in Skewen and taught her niece. The whole family were lovely. I would often bump into her in local shops and restaurants and was she was always lovely,” said Maggie.

The celebration of Tyler’s life will continue from midday on Monday, at St Mary’s Church in Swansea.

She’ll then return to her hometown in Neath Port Talbot, travelling through the village at about 13:20 BST before a private family service.

A funeral notice from William Pressdee Funeralcare, on behalf of Tyler’s family, said she would be remembered as “a warm, generous artist whose music touched generations and continues to fill dance floors and karaoke booths around the world”.

Sabine Neumann and her son Enrico arrived from Berlin, Germany, on Friday to attend the tribute and Monday’s service.

Enrico said his mother had also been a Tyler fan so he began listening to her music as a child.

“It’s so special to be here with my mother,” he said.

“She’s been very emotional about sharing this opportunity with me.

“My mother has seen her live all across Germany, but I never got the chance to which is why this was even more special for me.”

Monika Macleod-Elliott from Basingstoke said: “I grew up with her music, but never was fortunate to see her live so coming here today was a way of saying goodbye and paying my respects.

“I think it’s going to be emotional but we’re celebrating and she’d want us to be singing along and happy.”

Tyler, born Gaynor Hopkins, grew up in a council house in Neath, and is survived by her husband of more than 50 years, Robert Sullivan.

She was discovered by talent scout Roger Bell in a club in Swansea, and released her first single Lost in France in 1977.

It’s a Heartache, her country-pop ballad released the same year, reached number four on the UK singles chart and number three on the US Billboard Hot 100.

Her biggest hit, the rockier Total Eclipse of the Heart, arrived six years later in 1983 – this time topping the charts on both sides of the Atlantic.

In doing so she became the first Welsh person to score a number one hit in the US.

She received a Grammy nomination for the hit, and two further nominations for the album Faster Than the Speed of Night and the single Here She Comes.

• Wales
• Swansea
• The Mumbles