Welsh Choir Sings ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart”

A Welsh men’s choir honored Bonnie Tyler with a moving rendition of “Total Eclipse of the Heart” at the singer’s funeral in Swansea, Wales Monday, Aug. 17.

The vocal group, Only Men Aloud, performed Tyler’s 1983 hit near the end of the service, with the full performance available via an Associated Press video starting around the 59:30 mark. Though the choir had some accompaniment from a small string section, their voices provided much the dramatic and poignant heft that “Total Eclipse of the Heart” demands.

Tyler enjoyed a close relationship with Only Men Aloud, who broke through after winning the BBC singing competition, Last Choir Standing, in 2008. The group’s 2009 album, Band of Brothers, featured a rendition of “Total Eclipse of the Heart” with Tyler, while the booming vocalist also performed the song live with the choir on a handful of occasions.

Along with their rendition of “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” Only Men Aloud appeared earlier in the funeral service to perform Simon and Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” Tyler recorded a version of that classic song for her own 1995 album, Free Spirit. 

Tyler died in early July at a hospital in Faro, Portugal. The Welsh singer had been in the hospital for more than a month after undergoing emergency intestinal surgery in late May. Afterwards, her doctors placed her in a medically induced coma to aid her recovery.

While Tyler emerged from the coma in mid-June, a statement form her family said she was still “very unwell.” She died a few weeks later. An official cause of death has yet to be revealed.