"Total Eclipse of the Heart" is a song written and produced
by Jim Steinman and recorded by Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler in
1983 on her fifth studio album
Faster Than the Speed of Night. The song was the first
single release from the album and is Tyler's biggest hit.
The song remains Tyler's most successful song, peaking at #1
in the United States, Australia, Canada, and the United
Kingdom. At its peak, it sold 60,000 copies per day, and
approximately 6 million copies in total. It won the Variety
Club award in the UK for best single of 1983.
According to Meat Loaf, Steinman had given the song, along
with "Making Love (Out of Nothing At All)", to Meat Loaf for
his
Midnight at the Lost and Foundalbum. However, Meat
Loaf's record company refused to pay for Steinman and he wrote
separate songs himself. "Total Eclipse of the Heart" was then
given to Bonnie Tyler and "Making Love (Out of Nothing At All)"
to Air Supply.
The music video for "Total Eclipse of the Heart" was
directed by Russell Mulcahy. It was story-boarded by Jim
Steinman and drew inspiration from the 1976 film
Futureworld. The Gothic themed video features Bonnie
Tyler clad in white, apparently having a dream or fantasy about
her students in a boys' boarding school. Young men are seen
dancing and participating in various school activities such as
swim team, karate, fencing, football, and singing in a choir.
The video was shot at Holloway Sanatorium.
The original version of the song, on
Faster Than the Speed of Night, was just over seven
minutes in length. Thus, an edited version was, and still is
most commonly played on radio. The radio version is four and a
half minutes, and removes the entire third verse and trims the
extended fade-out ending. The music video version is roughly
one minute longer than the radio version.
In November 2002, it was voted the #72 in "The Greatest
Number Ones Of All Time" in UK. It was also voted #94 in the
"Greatest Music Videos of All Time" poll held by Channel 4. In
October, 2006, VH1's "100 Greatest Songs of the 80s" special
included "Total Eclipse of the Heart" at #56. MuchMoreMusic
aired a four-episode series in 2006 titled
Top 50 Guilty Pleasures, and listed the song at #9.
It has been covered several times, and rewritten with
Michael Kunze for the musical
Tanz der Vampireas "Totale Finsternis".
Nicki French released a dance cover of the song in 1994,
which was also a worldwide hit. In the United States, French's
version peaked at #2 on the Hot 100 and garnered frequent
airplay on CHR and AC radio. It also reached #5 in the UK
Singles Chart after being re-issued in 1995. On June 2006 Nicki
French released an updated version of the track with the Diva
DJs.