One of the most enduring songs of the 1980s is none other than “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” which was originally sung by Bonnie Tyler.
And, as proof that everything old becomes new again, according to Rolling Stone magazine, Tyler will come out of retirement to sing “ Total Eclipse of the Heart ” one last time on Monday, August 21, 2017, aboard the perfectly-named Total Eclipse cruise.
The Total Eclipse Cruise, which is unfortunately all sold out, will leave from Orlando, FL, on August 20 and sail for seven days to the Caribbean. Joining Bonnie Tyler on the cruise will be DNCE, led by Joe Jonas of the Jonas Brothers, who recently had a hit single with “Cake By The Ocean.”
Asked about performing “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” which has become her signature song, Tyler snarked on how long and cinematic it actually is.
“The eclipse of the sun lasts two minutes and 40 minutes, I’m told,” said the Eighties singer. “Unlike my song. It had to be chopped about because it was so long. I never thought it would be played on the radio, in the beginning.”
Thanks in no small part to her participation in the Total Eclipse cruise, “Total Eclipse of the Heart” has more than 302 million views on the official Vevo/YouTube page, and its Spotify streams have jumped by more than 75 percent since the announcement was made.
The interesting thing is, while Bonnie Tyler is best known for “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” she didn’t write the song — she merely performed it.
Bonnie Tyler is going to sing “Total Eclipse Of The Heart” during the eclipse and it’s perfect https://t.co/qSG6YRLQcp pic.twitter.com/Tn5dVx0QtW
— BuzzFeed (@BuzzFeed) August 16, 2017
The person responsible for the song was songwriter Jim Steinman — if that name sounds familiar, it’s because he’s best known for writing some of the greatest hits of all time for artists like Meat Loaf. Remember “Paradise by the Dashboard Light”? Or “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now” by Celine Dion? Those were all Steinman-penned modern classics.
“Total Eclipse of the Heart” was Billboard Magazine ‘s sixth-best selling song of 1983. It was also the fifth-best selling single in the UK for the same year.
Despite the fact that it’s been one of the most famous songs of 1983, “Total Eclipse of the Heart” was only famously covered once — by Nikki French, who released a “dance/electronic” (though she preferred the term “Hi-NRG,” pronounced “high energy”) version of the song in 1995, where it hit Number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts.
See Bonnie Tyler’s 1984 #GRAMMYs performance of “Total Eclipse of the Heart” https://t.co/EwRROQlrdf pic.twitter.com/TMHGDu7190
— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) August 16, 2017
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[Featured Image by Columbia Records]
