Bonnie Tyler has been put into a medically induced coma as she recovers from emergency intestinal surgery, a representative confirmed on Thursday. The singer’s doctor ordered the coma to aid her recovery after she was admitted to a hospital in Faro, Portugal.
A post on Tyler’s website on Wednesday said she had been hospitalized in Faro, where she has a home, for emergency intestinal surgery. The statement said the surgery went well and that she was recuperating, and it urged privacy while adding that family, friends and fans would be hoping for a full and swift recovery. Her representative later said, “Bonnie has been put into an induced coma by her doctors to aid her recovery,” and asked for privacy at “this difficult time.”
Tyler’s website still listed upcoming tour dates on Thursday, including a May 22 show at the SummerLUST Music Festival in Għaxaq, Malta, and European and U.K. dates booked through Dec. 17 in Cardiff, Wales. The apparent mismatch between the public schedule and her hospitalization shows how quickly the situation has changed, even as no cancellation had yet appeared on the site.
Now 74, Tyler is one of the most recognizable voices of the 1980s. “Total Eclipse of the Heart” topped charts in the U.S., U.K., Canada and Australia and was nominated for a Grammy in 1984 for best female pop vocal performance. She also became known for “Holding Out For a Hero” and “It’s a Heartache,” and released her 18th studio album, “The Best is Yet to Come,” in 2021.
The immediate question is not whether Tyler has a devoted audience. It is whether the tour dates now on her website will hold while she remains under medical care in Portugal. For now, her representative has promised another statement when the family is able to give one.
