Bonnie Tyler: ‘Heartbroken’ Catherine Zeta-Jones leads tributes to Total Eclipse of the Heart star

Welsh First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth called the singer “a true icon”, while Welsh Minister Jo Stevens described Tyler as “the voice of my teenage years”.

Wales-born screenwriter and television producer Russell T Davies offered: “What a magnificent Welsh woman!”

Tyler was scheduled to perform at the Sunshine Festival in Worcester this summer, along with a string of European concerts.

She was also booked to sing at the Utilita Arena in Cardiff on 17 December.

Stock Aitken Waterman music producer Pete Waterman, famous for a string of hits in the ’80s performed by stars including Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan, compared Tyler’s distinctive vocals to those of Tina Turner.

“She had a magnificent voice and I think she was the equal of Tina Turner,” he told the BBC.

“If you think of Tom Jones, he was the closest thing Britain had to a soul star; so was Bonnie, and she was as good as Tina Turner. You can imagine Tina singing Heartache.”

He added that early in his career he was managed by Gordon Mills, who “already had Tom Jones and Englebert Humperdinck.”

“He created a kind of Welsh music and recruited Welsh artists from the clubs, like Brian Epstein did with the Beatles, he was a huge impresario.”