Updated

Updated · BBC.com · Aug 14

Mumbles Prepares Bonnie Tyler Farewell at 75 as Village Plans Public Tribute and Funeral Route

Updated

Updated · BBC.com · Aug 14

Mumbles Prepares Bonnie Tyler Farewell at 75 as Village Plans Public Tribute and Funeral Route

Q: Why did the family of the Total Eclipse star specifically request a song famously associated with another music legend for her final send-off?

They requested “Simply the Best” because, although many people chiefly associate the song with Tina Turner, Bonnie Tyler also recorded and released it before it became Turner’s signature hit. In the funeral plans, Tyler’s family asked for “It’s a Heartache” and “Simply the Best” to be played across Swansea Bay after the cortege passed through Mumbles. The choice appears to have been personal and career-related: “Simply the Best” was part of Tyler’s own catalogue and reflected her musical legacy, even if the public more often links it to Turner. That is why the request stands out. It was not simply a borrowed anthem for dramatic effect, but a song with a direct connection to Tyler herself. In the context of a farewell centered on both her global career and her local identity as “Gaynor,” it served as a reminder of a less widely remembered part of her recording history.

3 articles · Updated · BBC.com · Aug 14

Monday's funeral service for Bonnie Tyler will be held at St Mary's Church in Swansea for family and invited guests, before the cortege travels to her birthplace of Skewen.
Saturday's public farewell is expected to draw crowds in Mumbles, where festival music will pause for the cortege and Tyler's hits It's a Heartache and Simply the Best will be played across the bay.
Sunday's Retro Week event has added a reinstated tribute featuring performances of her songs, memories from her team and locals, and a chance for fans to share stories.
Mumbles residents have described the singer, who died in July aged 75, as 'Gaynor from up the road' rather than a star, with a community memory book quickly filling with personal recollections.
The plans underscore how Tyler, despite global fame and homes in Mumbles and Portugal, is being remembered locally through an intimate send-off in the village she called home.