'I'm definitely not ready to retire yet!'

Singer Bonnie Tyler on life in the spotlight, her famous friends and ageing

-  JORDAN PARAMOR

They say you can't keep a good woman down and that's certainly true of Bonnie Tyler. She recently celebrated the 40th anniversary of the rock classic Total Eclipse of the Heart, and the Welsh native is still selling out tours at the age of 72. She's not planning on stopping any time soon, either.

'I'm definitely not ready to retire yet!' she laughs, in her trademark gravelly voice. 'I love what I do too much. I'm going to scale back on very long tours, but I will still be performing at festivals and one-off shows. I could never stop completely.

Bonnie has spent an incredible 50 years in the spotlight, during which she's released some of the most iconic rock tracks of all time. International fame soon came calling when her single It's a Heartache become a huge hit in America in 1978. But it was the rock anthem Total Eclipse of the Heart that elevated her to superstar status in 1983. Now she's set to unleash her no-holds-barred autobiography, Straight From the Heart, later this month. The book charts her rise to fame from her happy, humble upbringing in Skewen, south Wales, to singing in front of Michael Jackson at the Grammys and beyond.