Presenter: Julian Fisher (JF)

Chat guest: Bonnie Tyler (BT)

JF: Hello and welcome to today's show, I'm delighted to be joined by the living legend that is Bonnie Tyler.

BT: Hello. How are you?

JF: Hello, very well thank you. Thank you for joining us in the studio today. Now Bonnie's here because this year, would you believe, is her 30th anniversary of being in the business. That's 30 years of great shows, great albums and singles, and to celebrate there is a whole range I believe of celebrations this year - DVDs, CDs, tours.

BT: Yup - my first ever live DVD is coming out 10th July, and I've got a brand new album, all new songs coming out on 22nd May called 'Celebrate' and, something else - oh yeah my single's coming out, I think, I can't remember the date the single's coming out but it's coming out...it's called 'Louise'.

JF: Well we'll listen to that later on in the show, and we'll take all of your questions. Thank you so much for submitting all your questions, we've had dozens and dozens of questions and we'll try and deal with as many as we can but before we do let's take a sneak preview of the DVD that Bonnie mentioned that's coming out later in the year, July I believe. We'll show a few clips from some of the tours around Europe that you've recorded, and a little trip down memory lane looking at some of Bonnie's greatest hits.

BT: With the big hair I suppose...

[DVD of Bonnie on tour plays]

JF: Well, just a few of the fantastic hits from Bonnie's back catalogue. That tour - I mean, how many places were you playing? Some massive crowds!

BT: Yeah, all around really. There's some of Saragossa there from Spain. But basically there's only a couple of places on the DVD. Segal in Paris, which was actually my birthday, just happened to fall on the same day.

JF: There are some clips of everyone coming up giving you presents and cakes

BT: Yeah, well they brought this huge cake on the stage as well, and this lovely little chocolate cake somebody actually brought from the audience. Yeah, it's good. They've added a few things that I didn't know were going to be on the DVD mind. Things like going shopping in Tunisia and eating and drinking and basically made a fool of myself I think.

JF: But it really gives you a real look behind the scenes.

BT: It's my first one ever you know, my first DVD ever, so you know the fans have been asking for a DVD for a long time, but it's out on the 10th July.

JF: Talking about the fans, I mean, you still get fantastic attendance at gigs. A number of questions have come in for the chat, and we will get round to your questions shortly I promise you. It's fantastic.

BT: All my fans are great. They're very loyal, but I have new ones you know as well. Since last year, or just over a year ago I was number one for 12 weeks continually in France, I had a number one for 12 weeks and the audience are like young to all ages you know. So my audience are right across the board, but they've stuck with me you know, my fans are brilliant. They've grown up and they've got children and they come as well.

JF: Well not only just that they're here today, and quite a lot of you out there, so very quickly we're going to try in the next 20minutes to get through as many as we can, answer as many questions.

BT: Come on then fire away!

JF: Let's start off with Wendy. Wendy wants to know, what's kept your music for the past 30 years, do you ever think 'I'm tired of this' and doing something different?

BT: Because I really love what I do, you know? I suppose the difference for me was, when I started singing when I was 17 and a half, I was singing for 7 years before I had my first opportunity of ever going into a recording studio you know? So I had 7 years going round the clubs with my band and everything like that. Well I wanted to be a singer, I didn't want to be famous, you know, I never even dreamt I could be famous. I wanted to be a singer in a band and I was, I was having my dream you know by working with a local band. Then I had the opportunity by chance, because someone came from Chapel music in London, Roger Bell, came into a club where I was working because there were two bands. There was one band upstairs, one band downstairs, and he'd come particularly to hear Vic Oakley singing upstairs.

JF: Whatever happened to Vic Oakley?

BT: He came in on the wrong floor and heard me singing, so how lucky could you be you know!? So I got the opportunity to go to London but you know, I first and foremost wanted to be a singer, not just to be famous, but that was the icing on the cake though you know.

JF: Well excellent, I hope that's answered your question Wendy. Amy wants to know, with Bonnie Tyler not being your real name, why did you decide to change your name when you started, where did it come from - I also heard that you also went under the name 'Shareen Davis'? They find these things out the fans don't they?

BT: Haha, I know I know I know. But, well, my real name is Gaynor Hopkins, right - Gaynor Hopkins. Well, Mary Hopkins was very very popular, for the young ones that don't remember Mary - "Those were the days my friend" - you know that Paul McCartney and it's an old Russian folk song as well.

JF: Is it?

BT: So, she was Hopkins and she lived just up the road from me, you know, so I thought 'Well I'd better change my name' you know, and I didn't ever really like Gaynor when I was a little girl. So I decided 'Now's my chance to change it you know'. But silly me, you know, I changed it to my first little niece's name which was Shareen, and then I changed my last name to my favourite auntie's name 'Davis' - Shareen Davis, do me a favour it's not a very good name is it!? But when I recorded 'Lost in France' and 'It's a Heartache' then, when I met Ronnie Scott and Steve Wolff they said "How do you feel about changing your name, you sound more like a belly dancer than a singer?". I said, "Yeah, alright" so I just got a newspaper out and I made a note of all the Christian names in one line and all the surnames in another one, and I matched them up until I came up with a sound that I like you know - Bonnie Tyler, so that's how it came around.

JF: Well there you go Amy, there's your answer to that one. Tracy's joined us, thanks for joining us Tracy. She wants to know, one thing that always comes across with Welsh musicians is that they're always very proud of their roots and associations with Wales. Is this something that you also feel?

BT: I'm not so patriotic as a lot of people. I know that a lot of people are very patriotic and of course I love going back to Wales because my family are there you know? I got three sisters, two brothers, 16 nieces and nephews, and a beautiful home overlooking the sea; it's great, you know. But do you know I live in Portugal most of the time? I live in the Algarve. And so I commute so much to Europe because so much of my work is not in this country, it's easier for me to commute from Portugal believe it or not you know. And I love it you know, we have a beautiful boat over there in Villamoura which I spend my days off on, you know, it's just great.

JF: You've never lost the Welsh accent?

BT: Me!?!? I'll tell you a story about that later, but that's the answer to your question...

JF: Thank you for that Tracy. Quentin wants to know - obviously Janis Joplin and Tina Turner were huge influences for you. Who else proved to be a big inspiration?

BT: Ooooh....You said Tina Turner and Janis Joplin yeah... Joe Cocker, Wilson Pickett, I loved all that kind of, you know, I loved all kinds of music because in our house, you know, because there's so many kids, there was all kinds of music like my brother was into Elvis Presley, Eddie Cochrane and you know, my sister was into Frank Sinatra, my mother was an opera fanatic - wonderful voice my mother. I could hear my mother singing from down the bottom of the road when I used to come home from school, you know, she'd be doing the house cleaning, you know, singing her head off, you know, getting rid of all her troubles by singing, you know what I mean? People used to stand outside the house just to listen to her sing because she was so fantastic. She had a marvellous voice. Anyway.

JF: Those singers that you've listed all sang with passion didn't they? Joe Cocker's really from the soul, from the heart didn't he?

BT: Yeah, but I tell you who I really like at the moment is ... Katie... Katie...

JF: KT Tunstall?

BT: Yes! She's great she's got real balls hasn't she? And I like Joss Stone, awww...

JF: Oh she's fantastic.

BT: I love that song - 'I got a right to be wrong' is it called? I bought the album.

JF: She broke into the scene when she was a teenager with a huge voice. Did you have a voice like that? A voice like you have now when you were young?

JF: She was asking who your influences were and you've told her. Michael Calzon joins us and says...

BT: I know Michael!

JF: Well he says 'Hello darling' so he obviously does know you.

BT: Aww yeah, he came to see me in...I was at Scandinavia; he runs one of the websites as well yeah.

JF: He says 'I got the DVD from a couple of weeks ago, I simply love it, I've seen that you are coming to Stockholm in November/December for a show. See you in August? Many hugs and kisses'. So no question, just a hello.

BT: Oh he's coming to one of my gigs in August then obviously.

JF: At Schloss Wolffbrunnen.

BT: Ahh, I got so many, you take a look on my website and you'll see them all.

JF: Hah.

BT: But it was great to see you last time. Oh, and you want to see this boy he's handsome!

JF: Is he? Well Michael there you go! Looking forward to seeing you in August. Bulpen wants to know; ah there we go from Sweden to Hungary now. I'm the webmaster of Bonnie Tyler's Hungarian page, this is your Hungarian fan site. We are mostly young people, we love your music very much, congratulations on your work, and we'll bow to your elbow - not a Hungarian phrase I thought.

BT: Thank you very much, thank you for taking an interest in my music and I hope that you like the new DVD that's coming out on 10th July, the album's coming out 22nd June.

JF: Well I know you're touring Europe but at the moment we're doing a very fast tour of Europe from Germany, Sweden to Hungary and onto Belgium. John wants to know "Hi Bonnie, it's great to hear from you. I'm 21 years and a big fan of you."

BT: 21 see!

JF: Yeah. "When will you come to Belgium again for a concert? With love from John."

BT: Oh well, you know I was number one in Belgium for 12 weeks as well about a year ago. Belgium, France, Switzerland, Poland was number one. Anyway, as soon as possible! I got to check my website out so I know where I am as well, but you know, there's plenty of European summer festivals and come on, you're not so far away, you can come and see me somewhere soon.

JF: Why do you have such a big following on the continent?

BT: What do you mean!? Haven't you listened to my albums they're good!

JF: No, I just wondered what it is that gives you that international appeal; do you get the feedback that tells you these things?

BT: Because I'm always out there doing live work you know. I'm not a studio artist; I'm at my best on the stage when I'm performing with my band you know? I have two bands actually; I've got one that's on the video...

JF: They're French aren't they?

BT: They're French yeah. Because I do a lot of work around France and areas like that. But the band that I'll be doing the Harley Davidson rock festival with, they are all British, all from London, and I've been with them for basically like 15 years you know? And but we do most of the German summer festivals, Spanish ones, most of the work is with them you know? And I'm in the Millennium stadium in Cardiff with them on 3rd June.

JF: Bit of a homecoming?

BT: Well it's a Speedway thing, I think it's motorbikes, Speedway is it? I don't know. Motorbikes or rough cars, but I'm doing a show there. Unfortunately the show there is not a...they don't want a full show there they haven't got time for it! I wish they did because my show is one and three quarter hours long normally but they only want half an hour - please!

JF: Well, Selma has actually joined us and actually asked a question, you know, she can see from watching her DVD that you've got fantastic support in many European countries and she was asking why you think that is. International appeal.

BT: Yes.

JF: Moving onto Josephina who wants to know - 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' is an all time classic, do you still sing it?

BT: Course I do! And I love it, I love singing it. Oh and you'll never guess what. I worked with Jim Steinman in New York, I've done six shows over there this year, with Jim Steinman and a band called the Dream Engine and I'll be going back to do more as well. What it is, it's like tribute shows of all Jim Steinman's songs right and there's different artists singing songs, and I went over to do a couple of the ones I've done with him. And it was a blast it was really great.

JF: Will you be bringing that here because we've had actually a lot of questions saying 'Will you ever work with Jim Steinman again?'.

BT: Oh yeah, I mean I'd love to work with Jim again. Actually Jim asked me not so long ago, well about 6 weeks ago when I saw him last. He asked me would I be interested in doing another album with him. But in a totally different field of music you know? And I said, well, let's get the songs together and then we'll decide if I like them or not you know? So, I think he's thinking of completely a different direction.

JF: So you're waiting to see them are you, or hear them?

BT: Yeah I'm waiting to hear them yeah.

JF: Fantastic, well, keep the questions coming in, we'll try and get as many as we can. We've not got that much longer but we'll keep rattling through. Anna from Mallorca says "I met Bonnie last summer, I'd like to know if she's coming back soon?"

BT: Where to?

JF: Mallorca.

BT: Oh Majorca, Mallorca yeah. I got a house in Mallorca as well.

JF: Sorry that's my pronunciation.

BT: Majorca I'm not sure. I don't think there's anything booked at the moment but Spain is a fantastic market for me you know. I hope so because I love, we love being on tour in Spain you know. They go crazy! I just did a show over in Tenerife with my British band and we'd been sold out for weeks you know. When we got there we were in this auditorium that looked like, you know the Sydney Opera House, it looks like that you know! And it was sold out, it'd been sold out for weeks and we had the most fantastic show there. It's great working in Spain.

JF: Well she said her favourite song when she saw you there was 'Loving You's a Dirty Job'.

BT: Ooooh, well somebody's got to do it.

JF: And she's asking if you can sing it but I think...

BT: Yeah I know I don't do that because I recorded with Todd Rungrun, and it's very hard to get anyone to sing it like Todd Rungrun would you know, but yeah...I will be back but I don't know when.

JF: Excellent. Well let's move on. Denise wants to know "I read a quote saying that your strong marriage prevented you from the temptation of drugs during the early stages of your career, I guess your husband has been a huge source of strength throughout your career as he's been with you from the very beginning?".

BT: Well my husband wasn't the only reason why I, influence on me not touching drugs I mean...

JF: There's a lot of musicians who haven't made it to 30 years in the business.

BT: Because I'm not interested in drugs anyway, you know. I mean I drink red wine that's my drug you know. And actually I've given up drink at the moment because I need to lose some weight you know so I'm trying to cut down on the old calories. But... I forgot the question...

JF: She was just saying what's kept you on the straight and narrow, is it your husband?

BT: Oh well I suppose because I was already married to him for 3 years before I had a recording contract you know? So...

JF: Does he come out on the road with you now?

BT: Yeah, he drove me over today you know. Yes, we've been married for 33 years in July.

JF: Congratulations!

BT: Hahaha.

JF: Moving on, I hope that answered all of your questions Anna. Francesca wants to know, you've made about 20 albums up until now, which one stands out as your favourite?

BT: Well of course 'Faster than the Speed of Night' has got to be the tops I mean, that was number one in America for 4 weeks running, number one in the UK for 3 weeks.

JF: That must've sold an awful lot of copies.

BT: And...it sold about 6 million something like that. I was the first girl to go straight in the British album charts at number one, and so that means I'm in the book of records for doing that, somebody else has done it since, I think it was Kate Bush, but I was first! And I knocked Pink Floyd off the number one spot.

JF: Excellent now not many people can say that. We've got about 5 minutes left on the chat...

BT: There's another one that I really like as well. 'Hide Your Heart' is an old album that I did.

JF: When was that released?

BT: I recorded it in Woodstock in America with Desmond Child OK? And, that album, it sold over the years, you know it's always tipped over but to me that was one of the best albums, apart from of course 'Celebrate' which is my new album coming out on 22nd June.

JF: Which we're going to talk about very shortly. We've only got a few minutes left and we want to see the new single before we play out. So, couple of very quick questions, I'm sorry to interrupt but we're going to try and rattle through as many. Julian from Bonn in Germany's just joined us. "Been a fan for over half my life, you've always inspired and encouraged with your music. I just want to take the chance to say thank you, and I'd like to know, with whom could u imagine yourself doing a duet with in future and is there anything planned?"

BT: Well Julian can you sing? Who do I imagine doing a duet with? Well...I don't know, I have been thinking about that KT Tunstall and all, but you know she's a new flyer now so that probably won't happen but...

JF: That could make an interesting collaboration.

BT: Well I think it could be good. I have got a duet actually, on this album, the album 'Celebrate'. There's a duet on there with Lorraine Crosby and you probably don't know who Lorraine Crosby is but she was the girl that sang with Meatloaf - 'I'd do anything for love, but I won't do that'. And you know the girl singer in that, everybody thought it was me but it wasn't me, it was her. And we're big mates anyway and her fella, Stuart, he wrote two of the songs on the album, right, and I do one of them as a duet with her, but he wrote that song actually about us, about me and Lorraine you know, and how we met and how friendly we became, you know, and it's a lovely story, you know that song.

JF: How many of the songs on the album...have you got a variety of contributors to it or?

BT: There are two with Stuart Emerson that wrote completely, he wrote them on his own. And then all the other ones I co-wrote with Paul Fitzgerald and with Karen Drutter and Sergio and Eric and you know, different songs.

JF: And you like the collaborative approach to writing songs?

BT: Yes. I only do lyrics you know, I'm no good at music.

JF: Hahaha, well I'm no good at either so...let's move back, last couple of questions before we look at the new single. Regina Sweek wants to know, what kind of fans do you think you have? Do you have young fans as well or do you only have fans that've been with you since Total Eclipse of the Heart - I think we spoke about that earlier didn't we?

BT: Oooh, absolutely across the board, really across the board! But you know what? If you ever came to any of my concerts you'd be amazed at how many guys like, camera guy, you're only in your 20s I bet, yeah? Fantastic, you know!

JF: Well if you look on the DVD at some of the concert footage you can see a sea of faces - old, young, all ages.

BT: Everything yeah! But the majority of my live gigs, I mean, the one on my DVD, most of the DVD is live in the Segal, and to be honest, that's not the best of settings for a live DVD because it's a sit down gig you know it's like a small theatre. Whereas I like the stand up gigs like the last few...

JF: There is one clip on there of you going "Come on everybody up!"

BT: Yeah, well the last few, the other tracks after the Segal, they've put on Saragossa from Spain, you know there's thousands of people in the audience then of course it's a normal concert where they're all standing up and that's the real vibe you know, that's the concert to me.

JF: Fantastic. Well from France to Spain and now onto Norway where Evan has just joined us and Evan says "Bonnie, I just love you. How did your family take it when you became rich and famous?" I think what he's asking is, he's asking a number of questions but I think he's asking the question do you still feel rooted, feel part of the family or...?

BT: Oooh, course. I'm auntie Gaynor I am darling you know? You know I've only been home for a few days now because I came back from Portugal last week to do some interviews, I've been doing interviews for the last few days but of course, when you're not in the country very much and you're home, you try to get to see all the family you know so it's like a rota - my sister Avis, my sister Mahleen, my brother Linn, my brother Paul, you know...Angela, you get everybody in there and you try and see as many of the nieces and nephews as you can you know? And it's really hard to fit everybody in plus your friends as well you know? But of course I am very down to earth, I've never changed, but you know, one of the nicest things about being famous was I was able to buy my mother and father a house in 1976, in France, by the sea. We used to live in a council house when we were small you know, and so it was a real great thing for them you know?

JF: Sure.

BT: And they were proud of me of course, they've passed on now but I feel them with me you know?

JF: Well Evan I hope that answers your question. There are hundreds of more questions, I'm afraid we're not going to get the chance to go through them because we do want to play out with your new single. Talk us through it.

JF: Well Evan I hope that answers your question. There are hundreds of more questions, I'm afraid we're not going to get the chance to go through them because we do want to play out with your new single. Talk us through it.

JF: And the video?

BT: And the video was shot in Tunisia in an old battle...not an old battleship, in an old cargo ship right - shipwreck, and it's been there for 25 years or something. Huge shipwreck, but it's a marvellous setting because you'd think we'd got lots of special effects in there but we haven't, it's just the lighting that makes it look like the special effects because all the water's coming through the holes in the ship you know, the waves are crashing up against the ship, and they're coming through the boat you know, while I'm in a safe place obviously on a stage singing with the band. But it was freezing freezing cold in this boat. So there were a couple of tricks, we had a wind machine blowing in my hair and everything, not that it wasn't windy enough in the ship as it was, but it was so cold that there was a lady standing behind me with the hot hair dryer so that I could at least get some warmth you know! So my hair's going everywhere but it looks ok!

JF: You're shattering the illusion; we're going to watch it in a second. Very quickly, when's the single out?

BT: The single's out I think, 12th July, no the DVD's 12th July, the single....the album's out before the single

JF: 12th June I think we've been told your single's out.

BT: Oh, 12th June, 22nd May my album's coming out.

JF: Fantastic.

BT: And it's called 'Celebrate'.

JF: Well Bonnie, thank you very much for joining us, thank you everyone out there for joining us.

BT: Thank you everybody and thank you for sticking with me.

JF: Brilliant, and we'll play out with 'Louise.

BT: Great.

['Louise' plays]