Bonnie Tyler was remembered as “a star, but never a diva” as hundreds of mourners gathered to celebrate the life of the Welsh music legend at an emotional funeral in Swansea.

Fans applauded and shouted “goodbye” as the singer’s white coffin was carried into Swansea Minster on Monday, marking a poignant final farewell for the woman whose distinctive husky voice made her an international superstar.

Tyler’s coffin was decorated with symbols representing her extraordinary career, including a microphone and treble clef. It was carried into the church to the sound of two of her own songs, If I Sing You A Love Song and It’s A Heartache, immediately turning the solemn occasion into a celebration of the music she had given to generations of fans.

The service also featured performances of some of Tyler’s most famous songs, with Welsh choir Only Men Aloud delivering a rendition of Total Eclipse Of The Heart, the dramatic 1980s anthem that became synonymous with her career.

The choir also performed Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon and Garfunkel during the service.

Among those paying tribute was Matthew Davis, Tyler’s manager since 1988, who offered a deeply personal account of the singer away from the spotlight.

Davis described Tyler as someone who had achieved enormous fame without allowing celebrity to change her personality.

“She was always polite and pleasant to waiters and hotel staff and would not put up with anyone else not being so too. To me, that is the mark of a good person,” he said.

He then delivered a phrase that appeared to capture the affection felt for Tyler by those who knew her best.

“Bonnie was always a star and never a diva,” Davis said.

“She still felt she was just a girl from Skewen and she never forgot her roots.”

For Davis, Tyler’s extraordinary career was only one part of who she was. Despite becoming one of Wales’ most recognisable entertainers, she remained closely connected to her family, friends and hometown.

He said she would have been “amazed and very gratified” by the enormous response following her unexpected death.

Davis also made an important distinction between Tyler’s career and her personal priorities, saying that although music was her profession, it was never the most important thing in her life.

“Music was her living, but not her life,” he explained.

Instead, Davis said, family remained at the centre of Tyler’s world, particularly her husband Robert Sullivan.

The couple married in 1973 and remained together for more than five decades, with their relationship described as a “true lifetime of love, respect and partnership”.

“Most of all in her life was Bonnie’s love for her husband Robert, her husband of 52 years and with whom she’d been together for 56 years,” Davis said.

Sullivan was among those at the centre of the emotional farewell, later waving to the crowds gathered outside the church as he left the funeral.

Tyler’s long connection to Wales was also repeatedly highlighted throughout the service.

Her real name was Gaynor Sullivan, and she was born and raised in Skewen before her singing career took her around the world.

Roger Bell, the talent manager who discovered her while she was performing at a club in Swansea, described her as “one of a kind” and someone who was “loved by millions worldwide”.

Bell recalled how Tyler had received tributes from across the globe following her death, including messages and flowers connected to public figures and institutions.

“She was loved by millions worldwide, and has all the tributes, flowers, and cards from the Houses of Parliament, Prince and Princess of Wales, the Portuguese government, Cliff Richard, Rod Stewart, Suzi Quatro, and many, many more fans,” he said.

Yet Bell stressed that the international superstar was still simply known as Gaynor to the people closest to her.

“But in Swansea she was loved by Robert and the family as Gaynor and Auntie Gaynor,” he added.

That contrast between global fame and humble beginnings became one of the strongest themes of the funeral.

Bell said there had always been a “warmth and sincerity” about Tyler and recalled her willingness to stop for fans.

“She never said no to having a photo taken or giving an autograph to anyone who asked,” he said.

He added that almost everyone attending the funeral was likely to have their own memory of meeting the singer.

“I think everyone here today has a story about meeting Gaynor, or Bonnie Tyler, and will treasure it,” Bell said.

Canon Justin Davies delivered a eulogy written by Tyler’s family, reflecting on her childhood and the modest beginnings from which her extraordinary career emerged.

The service recalled Tyler growing up in a four-bedroom council house in Skewen with her parents and siblings.

“A cute baby girl took her first breath on the eighth of June, 1951,” Davies said.

“A star was born to Elsie and Glyndwr Hopkins and the best was yet to come, they just didn’t know it.”

The family also remembered the moment Tyler first discovered that she could captivate an audience.

In the late 1960s, she entered a singing competition at Skewen Rugby Club and finished second.

Her prize was just one pound, but the experience proved to be the beginning of something much bigger.

“She came in second and won just one pound but was hooked,” Davies recalled.

Tyler had performed Those Were The Days by Mary Hopkin, and from that moment her path towards becoming a professional singer began to take shape.

Decades later, that young woman from Skewen would become an international star, selling millions of records and producing some of the most recognisable songs of her generation.

Her career reached extraordinary heights in the 1980s, particularly following the release of Total Eclipse Of The Heart.

The song became a worldwide phenomenon, reaching number one in both the UK and the United States and cementing Tyler’s place in pop culture.

Her album Faster Than The Speed Of Night, which featured the track, also became a major success and remains her only UK number one album.

Tyler’s powerful, gravelly voice became her trademark, helping distinguish her from other singers of the era.

Alongside Total Eclipse Of The Heart, she enjoyed major success with songs including Holding Out For A Hero, It’s A Heartache and If You Were A Woman (And I Was A Man).

Yet the funeral repeatedly returned to the idea that behind the global fame was still the same woman from Skewen.

The funeral procession later travelled through Tyler’s hometown, where residents gathered along the streets to say goodbye.

For many people there, the singer was not simply a celebrity. She was someone they had watched grow from a local performer into a worldwide sensation.

Hilary Burgum, 76, described Tyler as a “Skewen girl through and through”.

“She never forgot her roots, her family, her friends. She didn’t change,” she said.

“I think everybody in Skewen is proud of Gaynor.”

Tyler died in July at the age of 75 after becoming seriously ill in Portugal. Her death came only months after she had undergone emergency intestinal surgery and was later placed in an induced coma while receiving intensive care.

Her passing prompted an outpouring of grief from fans, fellow musicians and public figures around the world.

But as her funeral demonstrated, the deepest affection came from those who remembered Bonnie Tyler not simply as the voice behind huge international hits, but as Gaynor — the woman from Skewen who never forgot where she came from.

As mourners gathered to hear her own songs echo through Swansea Minster, the farewell offered a fitting tribute to a performer whose music travelled around the world while her heart remained firmly rooted in Wales.