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Bonnie Tyler to represent United Kingdom

07 March 2013 at 11:15 CET

The United Kingdom is one of the last countries to announce their entry for this year's edition of Europe's Favourite TV Show, and it has led to a frenzy of speculation in recent weeks as to who would be performing the entry in Malmö. Now it can be officially confirmed that it is Bonnie Tyler who will be singing the song Believe In Me composed by Desmond Child.

Watch the Official video of Believe In Me

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Rumours and speculation...

In recent weeks, names such as Petula Clark, Kimberley Walsh, John Barrowman,Joe McElderry, Emeli Sande, Girls Aloud and the Pet Shops Boys were all being touted around by fans on various internet forums and websites.

On his weekly Radio 2 show, BBC commentator Graham Norton had hinted that the artist who would be carrying the flag for the United Kingdom had received airplay on his programme in the previous month. This led to fans scrutinising the playlists of songs and artists aired on his Saturday morning show. 

Other online sources had mentioned it would be a female soloist with a power ballad....and this turned out to be the closest, as the waiting is now over, and it is Bonnie Tyler who will have the honour of representing the United Kingdom.

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Who is Bonnie Tyler?

Bonnie Tyler (born Gaynor Hopkins on the 8th June, 1951) is from Wales, and had her first major hit with the song Lost In France, which reached the UK Top ten in 1976. The following year she was nominated at the Brit Awards in the Best British Newcomer category.

Her distinct husky voice was as a result of an operation to remove nodules from her vocal cords, but it didn't prevent her from carrying on with her career, and her 1977 single It's A Heartache became another international hit.

In 1983 she had her biggest international hit with the song Total Eclipse Of The Heart, which was a number one in several countries, including the USA, where it topped the Billboard Hot 100. The same song turned out to be a big hit for Nicki French, who had a top ten hit in the UK and the USA with a dance cover version in 1993. (Nicki French went onto represent the United Kingdom in 2000 with Don't Play That Song Again).

Bonnie Tyler's last major hit was in 1984 with Holding Out For A Hero which featured on the soundtrack of the film Footloose.

In 1984 she was nominated for three Grammy Awards and in both 1984 and 1986 she was again nominated for a Brit Award, this time for Best British Female Artist.

Throughout the 1990s she enjoyed success mainly in Europe, working with the producer and composer Dieter Bohlen, and her album Bitterblue was a big seller in Norway, Austria, Switzerland, Germany and Sweden. She was nominated for an Echo Award in 1993 for Best Pop/Rock Singer, and in the following year she won Best International Female Vocalist at the RSH Gold Award, the Goldena Europa Award and Echo Award.

In 2003 she recorded a French version of her hit Total Eclipse Of The Heart, as a duet with Kareen Antonn, entitled Si Demain...(Turn Around), it reached number one in France and remained top of the charts for an impressive ten weeks, as well as being a hit in Belgium and Poland. This was followed up by another French language remake Si Tout S'Arrête (it's A Heartache), again with Antonn, reaching the top 20.

In recent years she has also made guest performance appearances on both the Ukrainian and Romanian versions of The X Factor.

With this impressive international career, it has made Bonnie Tyler the ideal choice to represent the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2013.

Last February she announced she was working on a new album, and it was while she was doing an interview in Norway last July that she revealed the title of the album would be called Rocks & Honey.

The album was completed in December 2012 and it is from this album that the song Believe In Me has been chosen as the song Bonnie Tyler will perform in Europe's Favourite TV Show. The song is composed by Desmond Child, and the album Rocks & Honey will be released on Friday the 8th of March.

As one of the Big Five countries in the Eurovision Song Contest, the United Kingdom automatically qualifies for the Grand Final of the contest to be held on Saturday the 18th of May in Malmö.