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

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

Screenwriter and television producer Russell T Davies, who was born in Wales, offered: “What a fabulous Welsh woman!”

Tyler had been due to perform at the Sunshine Festival in Worcester this summer, along with a number of European dates.

She had also been booked to sing at Cardiff’s Utilita Arena on 17 December.

Pete Waterman, the Stock Aitken Waterman music producer famous for a string of hits during the 80s with stars including Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan, likened Tyler’s distinctive vocals to Tina Turner’s.

“She had an amazing voice and was equal to Tina Turner in my opinion,” he told the BBC.

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

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

“Like Brian Epstein had done with the Beatles, he had created sort of a Welsh sound and taken on Welsh artists from the clubs, he was a massive impresario.”