Bonnie Tyler developed her distinctive husky voice by mistake after operation

09 October 2023 , 16:58

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Bonnie Tyler developed her distinctive husky voice by mistake after operation

Bonnie Tyler says she got her distinctive husky after accidentally letting out a scream of frustration. The Holding Out for a Hero singer failed to rest her voice after a throat op in the 1970s following a succession of hits.

Bonnie, 72, said: “I started to get a sore throat because all the singing was taking its toll. A doctor discovered that I had nodules on my vocal cords. The only option was for them to be surgically removed. After the procedure, I was told by my surgeons not to talk, let alone sing, for six weeks.”

The Welsh star said screamed after forgetting to take strawberries to her brother Lynn, who was in hospital with a leg injury, in 1977. She wrote in her new book Straight from the Heart: “I was so frustrated that I’d have to drive all the way back home, I let out an ‘Oh no!’ scream.

“When I went for a check-up with the specialist, he looked at me and said, ‘You could have done permanent damage.” When it healed, she and her producer David Mackay discovered she had a new gravelly style of singing - and liked it.

(Sebastian Gollnow/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images)

Bonnie, who was born Gaynor Hopkins and brought up in Skewen, a small village near Swansea, said: “I’d always had quite a husky tone to my voice anyway, but as David joked, I now sounded like a female Rod Stewart!”

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It comes after the music legend recently revealed that her secret to her age-defying looks is all down to Botox. The singer, famed for her youthful appearance as well as her show-stealing voice - revealed she seeks out the treatment twice a year.

"I've been having Botox twice a year, for many years, darling," glamorous Bonnie said. "I haven't had the opportunity since the Christmas before last. But I'm doing all right. I'm quite fit for my age, thank God. And I'm never going to retire. I look at Tom Jones. He's amazing. His voice is as strong as ever - he's got ten years on me."

And the singer also explained her pre-stage ritual, saying: "My ritual before I go on stage is we all hug each other, the band and crew, and I have one Jack Daniel's and a Red Bull, and then it gives me wings. I just love it. The hour and a half just flies by."

Straight From The Heart, published by Coronet, is out now.

Mark Jefferies