Remember Bonnie Tyler’s Surprising Carrie Underwood Connection?

She is remembered primarily as a pop legend who sang booming power ballads such as "Total Eclipse of the Heart" and "Holding Out For a Hero," but Bonnie Tyler also maintained strong country ties throughout her career.

Read More: Remembering the Country Stars Who Died in 2026

Those include a Top 10 country hit, a fully country-leaning album project and even a duet with Vince Gill. She also once covered a Carrie Underwood song, and recorded another that Underwood co-wrote.

• Bonnie Tyler died on Wednesday (July 8) in a Portugal hospital. She was 75.
• The singer had been hospitalized since May, when she underwent emergency intestinal surgery and was placed in a medically induced coma for about a month.
• Tyler woke up from that coma in June, but remained in critical condition in the hospital.

What Are Bonnie Tyler's Country Connections?

The singer was born in Wales and cut her teeth in the London music scene, so she didn't quite fit the profile of an up-and-coming country star. But Bonnie Tyler was country-curious throughout her career.

Her breakout hit, "It's a Heartache," peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and crossed over into country music. The song reached No. 10 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in the late 1970s.

Country singer Juice Newton released her own version of "It's a Heartache" as a single in 1978, a year after Tyler.

In 1979, Tyler released her third studio album, Diamond  Cut, and the whole project was country pop. It included singles "Louisiana Rain" and "My Guns Are Loaded," and was a modest success at No. 42 on the U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums chart.

Tyler fully immersed herself in the pop world in the 1980s with her mega-hit "Total Eclipse of the Heart," which would become her signature song. Other massive hits from that era included "Holding Out For a Hero."

But the singer would return to country music in the 2010s.

Bonnie Tyler Had a Surprising Carrie Underwood Connection + Recorded a Vince Gill Duet

Bonnie Tyler came to Nashville to record her 2013 album Rocks and Honey, which was the the first collection of new music she'd released since 2005.

The track list features a cover of "Flat on the Floor," which Carrie Underwood had recorded six years earlier for her 2007 Carnival Ride album. Rocks and Honey also includes a song called "Lord Help Me," which Underwood co-wrote with fellow Nashville singer-songwriter Ashley Monroe as well as Katrina Elam.

The Rocks and Honey track list also includes "What You Need From Me," a duet with Vince Gill. They recorded the track together at Gill's home studio in Nashville.

The same track list also included a song called "Mom," which Garth Brooks later covered and release as a single. He included it on his 2014 album, Man Against Machine.

Bonnie Tyler Dies at 75 

Bonnie Tyler's family announced her death on Thursday (July 9) in a statement.

“Bonnie’s family and team are heartbroken to announce that Bonnie unexpectedly passed away last night in hospital in Portugal as a result of the illness that she was being treated for," that statement reads.