Fans line streets, singing Total Eclipse of the Heart ahead of Welsh singer\u2019s Swansea funeral<\/p>\n
Thousands of Bonnie Tyler fans lined the streets of her home town in south Wales to pay respects to the singer as her coffin was brought back to her former home.<\/p>\n
The singer, whose real name was Gaynor Sullivan, died unexpectedly on 8 July in Portugal at the age of 75.<\/p>\n
Many fans stood along Newton Road in Mumbles, Swansea, to watch the procession as her coffin was brought back. The coffin was draped in the Welsh flag and accompanied by a framed photograph of the singer.<\/p>\n
Fans threw flowers on to the hearse, and the crowd erupted into applause and broke out into a rendition of Total Eclipse of the Heart.<\/p>\n
Mumbles was Tyler\u2019s part-time home, as she split her time between Algarve in Portugal and a large Victorian house in Blackpill, near Mumbles, overlooking Swansea Bay.<\/p>\n
Tyler became renowned globally for her pop music hits, including Total Eclipse of the Heart and I Need a Hero.<\/p>\n
Among those waiting to pay their respects to Tyler was Carys Edwards, 18, who said the singer was \u201can inspiration to everybody\u201d.<\/p>\n
She told PA Media: \u201cHer music touched a lot of people, especially me. I\u2019m quite surprised how many people came here today, but then not as well, because she was such an icon.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was always coming home and making sure that she came back to her fans in Wales.<\/p>\n
\u201cHer songs really did touch a lot of people here in Wales, we loved her a lot. When we found out she passed away, it was such a heartbreak to all of us. We cried and everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Michael Bone, 58, and his partner Alan Hawkins, 54, travelled from Derby to watch the procession.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe thought it\u2019d be nice to pay our respects,\u201d said Bone. \u201cFor me personally, it\u2019s because in my teens, her music was quite prolific. For me, it was her most iconic period in the 1980s.\u201d<\/p>\n
Others were reported to have travelled from as far as Austria to witness the procession of Tyler\u2019s coffin.<\/p>\n
Her other hits included It\u2019s a Heartache and If You Were a Woman (And I Was a Man). She represented the UK in the 2013 Eurovision song contest in Malm\u00f6, Sweden, with the song Believe in Me, finishing in 19th place.<\/p>\n