Post by ♣esmie14♣ on Feb 17, 2007 20:36:58 GMT 8
Feb 16 2007
Robin Turner, Western Mail
THE Bonnie Tyler song that has helped the singer maintain her position in the Wales rich list has been given yet another makeover, this time by Irish boyband Westlife.
At its peak, Total Eclipse of the Heart sold 60,000 copies a day, and about six million copies in total. It has been number one in most charts around the world.
The Skewen-born singer is currently ranked the 49th richest person in Wales with a personal fortune of £25m thanks to her record sales and property.
And it is the longevity of her most famous song that has gone a long way to building her wealth.
The royalties will come rolling in once more when Westlife releases the song.
The top-selling singers from County Sligo are facing a challenge for female hearts from a revived Take That whose comeback single Patience picked up a Brit Award this week.
Westlife have responded by making their own version of Bonnie's greatest hit and plan to release it as a single on March 19.
The Irish singers, discovered by feuding music impresarios Louis Walsh and Simon Cowell, premiered the song on the BBC's National Lottery Show on Wednesday.
Bonnie, 55, who divides her time between her Mumbles Bay home and her house on the seafront in Portugal's Algarve, said she was happy to see Total Eclipse of the Heart yet again being trotted into the charts.
She said, "I will never get tired of Total Eclipse of the Heart. I get another generation of fans as a result.
"My first hit record was over 30 years ago and the people who bought my records then are married now and they probably still play these records and their children get to like them when they are re-released."
The song set Bonnie's career on fire when she released it in 1983. It was written by American songwriter Jim Steinman - his soulful lyrics were inspired by the classic novel Wuthering Heights.
He wanted to give it to larger-than-life singer Meat Loaf for his early album Midnight at the Lost and Found but the record company baulked at Steinman's fee. He offered it to gravel-voiced Bonnie, believing her unique vocal style would suit the song just as well.
Tyler's career reached new heights and it put her in the history books as the only Welsh artist to hit the top slot in the UK and US Billboard magazine charts.
The song, on Tyler's 1983 album, Faster Than the Speed of Night, has since been a big hit for dance artist Nikki French (1995). And it was a pan-European hit for Bonnie and young French star Kareen Antonn in 2003 when they re-released it together as the bilingual duet Si Demain.
It was also recorded last year by Sheffield band BabyPinkStar using her original vocals with new guitar work.
Speaking of the BabyPinkStar version, Bonnie said, "When I first heard it I thought, 'are you serious?' I kind of liked it, I sent it to producer Jim Steinman, he loved it and suggested they crank up the guitars."
The song was sung by Bonnie in 1999 at the opening of the National Assembly.
And amazingly it was used in an advert for yoghurt in Germany, featuring members of the public turning around as they went about their daily business, in time with the song's famous "turn around" lyrics.
Bonnie said, "That was definitely the strangest place I have seen the song used, I wonder if we should have been paid for it?"
Total Eclipse of the Heart also became known for its bizarre accompanying video.
It featured Bonnie, apparently struggling through a wind tunnel in an apparently haunted school, in which all the children had disturbingly bright, shining eyes.
She said of it, "Don't ask me what it was about. Jim (Steinman) did the story boards and it must be said it was nominated for a Grammy."
Westlife formed in 1998 and quickly eclipsed even Take That's chart success having 14 number one hits in the UK.
The group, made up of Nick Byrne - married to Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern's daughter Georgina - Kian Egan, Mark Feehily, who came out as being gay in a national tabloid despite Westlife's largely female following, and Shane Filan, has sold 40m albums.
Westlife's version of Total Eclipse of the Heart is featured on The Love Album.
CREDITS/SOURCES: icwales.icnetwork.co.uk
Robin Turner, Western Mail
THE Bonnie Tyler song that has helped the singer maintain her position in the Wales rich list has been given yet another makeover, this time by Irish boyband Westlife.
At its peak, Total Eclipse of the Heart sold 60,000 copies a day, and about six million copies in total. It has been number one in most charts around the world.
The Skewen-born singer is currently ranked the 49th richest person in Wales with a personal fortune of £25m thanks to her record sales and property.
And it is the longevity of her most famous song that has gone a long way to building her wealth.
The royalties will come rolling in once more when Westlife releases the song.
The top-selling singers from County Sligo are facing a challenge for female hearts from a revived Take That whose comeback single Patience picked up a Brit Award this week.
Westlife have responded by making their own version of Bonnie's greatest hit and plan to release it as a single on March 19.
The Irish singers, discovered by feuding music impresarios Louis Walsh and Simon Cowell, premiered the song on the BBC's National Lottery Show on Wednesday.
Bonnie, 55, who divides her time between her Mumbles Bay home and her house on the seafront in Portugal's Algarve, said she was happy to see Total Eclipse of the Heart yet again being trotted into the charts.
She said, "I will never get tired of Total Eclipse of the Heart. I get another generation of fans as a result.
"My first hit record was over 30 years ago and the people who bought my records then are married now and they probably still play these records and their children get to like them when they are re-released."
The song set Bonnie's career on fire when she released it in 1983. It was written by American songwriter Jim Steinman - his soulful lyrics were inspired by the classic novel Wuthering Heights.
He wanted to give it to larger-than-life singer Meat Loaf for his early album Midnight at the Lost and Found but the record company baulked at Steinman's fee. He offered it to gravel-voiced Bonnie, believing her unique vocal style would suit the song just as well.
Tyler's career reached new heights and it put her in the history books as the only Welsh artist to hit the top slot in the UK and US Billboard magazine charts.
The song, on Tyler's 1983 album, Faster Than the Speed of Night, has since been a big hit for dance artist Nikki French (1995). And it was a pan-European hit for Bonnie and young French star Kareen Antonn in 2003 when they re-released it together as the bilingual duet Si Demain.
It was also recorded last year by Sheffield band BabyPinkStar using her original vocals with new guitar work.
Speaking of the BabyPinkStar version, Bonnie said, "When I first heard it I thought, 'are you serious?' I kind of liked it, I sent it to producer Jim Steinman, he loved it and suggested they crank up the guitars."
The song was sung by Bonnie in 1999 at the opening of the National Assembly.
And amazingly it was used in an advert for yoghurt in Germany, featuring members of the public turning around as they went about their daily business, in time with the song's famous "turn around" lyrics.
Bonnie said, "That was definitely the strangest place I have seen the song used, I wonder if we should have been paid for it?"
Total Eclipse of the Heart also became known for its bizarre accompanying video.
It featured Bonnie, apparently struggling through a wind tunnel in an apparently haunted school, in which all the children had disturbingly bright, shining eyes.
She said of it, "Don't ask me what it was about. Jim (Steinman) did the story boards and it must be said it was nominated for a Grammy."
Westlife formed in 1998 and quickly eclipsed even Take That's chart success having 14 number one hits in the UK.
The group, made up of Nick Byrne - married to Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern's daughter Georgina - Kian Egan, Mark Feehily, who came out as being gay in a national tabloid despite Westlife's largely female following, and Shane Filan, has sold 40m albums.
Westlife's version of Total Eclipse of the Heart is featured on The Love Album.
CREDITS/SOURCES: icwales.icnetwork.co.uk