Bonnie Tyler's only surviving sibling, Paul Hopkins, has spoken of his grief four months after her death, as her first Christmas single, Love Light and Peace, was released posthumously this week.
Paul, 64, said: "Christmas will never be the same again, and I don't know what we will do this year. I just can't believe she's gone. A major part of our family has gone. She meant everything to us and to many people around the world. It's a massive blow."
A Heart-Wrenching Release
The Total Eclipse of the Heart singer, who died on July 8 aged 75, can be heard at the end of the track saying: "Merry Christmas all, and to all goodnight."
Paul described the release as an emotional experience: "It's heart-wrenching. I can't hold back the tears. It's so special and I'd love it to be a hit for her. It's been four months since we lost her and it's still very raw."
Remembering Gaynor
Bonnie, who had homes in Mumbles on Wales' Gower Peninsula and in Portugal, where she died two months after emergency surgery for a perforated intestine, was the fourth of five sisters and had two brothers. All have died except Paul, who calls her Gaynor, the name she used before adopting the stage name Bonnie Tyler in 1975.
Paul recalled her final months: "Gaynor wasn't totally well before she went to Portugal [in the spring], but she wanted to go. On the second day they were out there I had a phone call, jumped on a plane and went over. I was there with Gaynor and Robert for 67 days. It was an extremely tough time. The last thing I said to Gaynor was that I loved her."
Cherished Memories
Paul remembers his sister's extravagant Christmas parties, saying: "Gaynor absolutely loved Christmas. She and her husband Robert used to have a party on Christmas Day with 3-400 people in the house."
He also recalled her taking him in her first car, a Ford Anglia, on drives to Oxwich Bay, and buying him a Fender Stratocaster guitar in 1976. After a serious car crash at 18, when he was told he'd never see again, Gaynor was there for him in hospital every day.
Paul, who still sings with a band called Sunshine Cab Co, said he found it hard to sing her songs after her death: "About four weeks after she passed, I got three quarters of the way through Total Eclipse and I broke down on stage."
Bonnie, who was married to Robert for 53 years, sold more than 100 million records worldwide and was awarded an MBE for services to music in 2022. Paul said: "It never went to her head. She never changed. She was always the same girl – a normal person without a bad bone in her body."
He added: "A couple of years ago, after she'd got the keys for a new Portuguese penthouse apartment... she said to me 'you know, Paul, I can't believe what I've achieved, I'm just a girl from Skewen!'"
Paul, who still lives in Skewen, drives seven miles each week to his sister's mansion overlooking Swansea Bay. He said: "It is difficult being there now, but also somehow comforting. When I'm there, I sit down where her ashes are [by the mantelpiece] and have a chat with her. I tell her how much I miss her and that I will love her forever."
