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Bonnie Tyler to rock Cape Town

Cape Town - Bonnie Tyler fans can expect a Total Eclipse of the Heart when the electrifying Welsh songbird performs at The Cape Town Convention Centre.

Bonnie Tyler, the husky-voiced pop-rock diva behind hits such as Lost in France, It’s a Heartache, Holding out for a Hero and Total Eclipse of the Heart, will perform at the Cape Town Convention Centre on the 6th and 7th September 2013.

The concerts mark the long-awaited return to South African stages of Tyler, who last performed in the country 20 years ago. Having released a succession of irresistible classic songs in the 1970s and 1980s, she continues to occupy a special place in the hearts of many South Africans.

Tickets for the shows are available at Computicket.

Bonnie Tyler was born Gaynor Hopkins in South Wales, and grew up surrounded by a large family.

She was exposed to Motown music at an early age, and was particularly struck by the raw vocal power of two singers who would later have a huge influence on her singing style, Janis Joplin and Tina Turner.

She entered a talent contest at the age of 17 and went on to join the group Bobby Wayne and the Dixies for two years before forming her own band, Imagination, becoming a regular performer on the Welsh pub and club circuit.

"I decided I would change my name for the stage," she says.

"I put together a list of surnames and Christian names from a newspaper. I thought Bonnie Tyler sounded better than Hopkins. Now I like Gaynor and wish that I hadn’t changed my name."

After a few years she was spotted and signed to a record deal, but it was only after she had surgery to remove throat nodules in 1976 that her voice developed its trademark huskiness, earning her the moniker "the female Rod Stewart".

Her breakthrough hit in the UK and Europe, Lost in France, was followed by the mega-success of It’s a Heartache, which climbed into the top five in the USA as well.

Tyler has been working on a new album, titled Rocks and Honey, which reportedly has a country-rock flavour and is due to be released this year.

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