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Bonnie Tyler was remembered as “a star, but never a diva” at a funeral that included renditions of some of her biggest hits.
Fans applauded and shouted “goodbye” as the singer’s white coffin, etched with symbols including a microphone and a treble clef, was carried into Swansea Minster on Monday.
The coffin was carried to the soundtrack of Tyler’s hits If I Sing You A Love Song and It’s A Heartache.
During the service, Welsh choir Only Men Aloud sang versions of Tyler’s biggest hit, Total Eclipse Of The Heart, and Bridge Over Troubled Water, by Simon and Garfunkel.
Among the eulogists was Matthew Davis, Tyler’s manager since 1988, who described her humble personality.
He said: “She was always polite and pleasant to waiters and hotel staff and would not put up with anyone else not being so too. To me, that is the mark of a good person.
“Bonnie was always a star and never a diva. She still felt she was just a girl from Skewen and she never forgot her roots.
“She would have been amazed and very gratified at the massive outpouring of love that has occurred since her unexpected passing.”
Davis also said “music was her living, but not her life” and family was the most important thing to her, particularly her husband Robert Sullivan, whom she married in 1973.
He said: “Most of all in her life was Bonnie’s love for her husband Robert, her husband of 52 years and with whom she’d been together for 56 years. A true lifetime of love, respect and partnership.”
The talent manager who discovered Tyler, Roger Bell, described her as “one of a kind” and “loved by millions worldwide”.
Bell discovered Tyler, whose real name was Gaynor Sullivan, when she performed at a club in Swansea.
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