Musician Mal Pope, who was Bonnie's friend for more than 50 years, says it was an "emotional" weekend leading up to today.

"She felt like a really local person and I think sometimes we forgot she was an international superstar.

"We recorded together, we performed on stage together, she'd come on my TV and radio shows, she would always turn up to support me and never ever ask for anything in return."

Image source, Mal Pope

Meleri Williams
Reporting from Swansea

Married couple Chris Campbell, 76, and Alison Jones, 66, from Ystradgynlais, are both emotional ahead of the funeral.

"I knew Bonnie from the Valbon nightclub days," says Chris.

"Fame didn't change her at all. She was the same down-to-Earth Bonnie.

"We just want to pay our respects. I keep breaking down all the time."

Meleri Williams
Reporting from Swansea

There are about 1,000 people gathered outside the church in the centre of Swansea - everyone has their story about the local legend, and many are emotional.

Family and friends have started to enter the church ahead of the service.

The bells are ringing and there’s a sense of celebration as people pay their respects to Tyler - or Gaynor, as she was known to many who grew up with her.

Image source, Getty Images

Colin Paterson
Entertainment correspondent

Tyler's trademark raspy voice was caused by a very un-rock'n'roll reason - forgotten strawberries.

In the mid-1970s, about the time of her breakthrough hit Lost in France, she developed vocal nodules due to strain.

The medical advice was to have surgery, which she did.

Her recovery involved complete vocal rest. However, one day she was going to visit her brother in hospital and on the way, realised that she had forgotten her gift of some strawberries.

In her autobiography Straight from the Heart, she explained what happened next.

"I was so frustrated that I'd have to drive all the way back home, I let out an 'Oh no!' scream."

Her consultant told her there had been permanent damage. But what could have ended her career, actually turned out to be a blessing.

Tyler was left with a new - more husky - voice, which she came to love. In particular the emotional depth it gave her vocal performances. She even joked that it made her sound like a female Rod Stewart.

Pop history - changed forever by one purchase of a punnet.

Aimee Thomas
Reporting from Swansea

Broadcaster Roy Noble says it was a "huge shock" that Gaynor, as he knew Tyler, had died.

Noble, who befriended Bonnie Tyler after interviewing her, says: "It's very sad indeed, and we feel for Robert, her husband.

"It's a real privilege to have been invited. It's mixed feelings here this morning, but we want it to be a celebration."

Image source, Getty Images

Producer David Mackay, who worked Tyler on her first hits, said: "I knew from the moment I met her she was going to be a global superstar.

"We recorded Lost in France and she was such an amazing person. I'm gutted."

Meleri Williams
Reporting from Swansea

Childhood friends Elaine Haidar, 66, and Linda Richards, 66, from Pontarddulais, near Swansea, have set up their deck chairs outside the church.

Haidar came all the way from Kuwait, saying Tyler's songs are "a big part of her life".

Former midwife Linda met Tyler after she delivered her sister’s baby.

"She was a wonderful woman. We had to come down," she said.

"She was one of us and we're so proud of that. We were going dancing in Swansea at the same time as she was singing."

Swansea council says the funeral procession will travel along Fabian Way to Ashleigh Terrace, through the village of Jersey Marine, Pen Y Heol, Burrows Road, Hen Hoel, New Road, Sidling Terrace, Park Avenue and Peniel Green Road.

From a young age, Tyler was "carrying records in carrier bags" up to her aunt's house to play with her cousins.

She said she loved rock music and wanted to be in a band.

But, after seven years of performing at rugby and working men's clubs, an opportunity to record came up as a surprise.

She said: "When I starting singing I was 17 and all I wanted to do was be in a band.

"I had no big ideas about being a recording artist but, luckily for me, Roger Bell, who worked for Chapel Music in London, discovered me singing in a club in Swansea.

"He knew that Ronnie Scott and Steve Wolf were looking for a girl to record their songs so he told them about me.

"I went to London and one of the first demos I recorded was Lost in France and then I was on Top Of The Pops."

But the love of rock never left her and she wanted to do "more raunchier stuff".

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

The funeral service will be conducted by Reverend Canon Justin Davies, while the entry music will be two of Tyler’s songs: If I Sing You A Love Song and It’s A Heartache.

Roger Bell, the talent scout who discovered the performer when she was performing in a club in Swansea, will share a tribute, as will Tyler’s long-time manager Matthew Davis.

Her family also asked that, in lieu of flowers, people supported two charities of which she was a patron - Noah's Ark Children’s Hospital for Wales and Cerebral Palsy Cymru.

In the order of the service, they said of Tyler: "She is remembered as a warm, generous artist whose music touched generations and continues to fill dance floors and karaoke booths around the world."

They also said that Tyler's legacy "lives on in the timeless songs that made her a legend".

Bonnie wasn't always Bonnie.

Born in a Neath council house as Gaynor Hopkins, the singer admitted she "never really liked the name" and decided to change it to Sherene Davies at her first chance.

"When I was in my band Bobby Wayne and the Dixies, I was called Sherene - that was my sister's first little girl's name and I loved that name," she previously told BBC Radio Wales.

But when she signed her first record deal, RCA Records suggested another change, believing Sherene "sounded like a belly dancer".

Tyler said: "I got a broadsheet newspaper and I made an effort to write all the first names I came across on one list and all the surnames on another and I went through them both and came up with Bonnie Tyler.

"And it's been a brilliant name."

Aimee Thomas
Reporting from Swansea

Fans have started arriving outside St Mary’s Church in Swansea city centre ahead of the remembrance service.

A large screen has been set up outside where people will be able to watch and hear the service later.

Gail Hayes and Andrew Hayes were among the first to arrive and have travelled from Towcester in Northamptonshire.

Gail said: "We're both big fans, we've been to a few concerts. We did meet her backstage at the palladium, and she was lovely.

"It's an emotional day and it’s been an emotional weekend.

"We went to Oystermouth Castle yesterday and they played Total Eclipse of the Heart. At the end I think everyone was choked."

In May, Tyler was taken to hospital in Faro, Portugal, for emergency intestinal surgery and was placed in an induced coma to aid her recovery.

In June, a spokesperson said she was out of a coma but was still in intensive care.

At the time, they said her condition was improving and doctors were "confident" she would recover, but progress was "slow".

They also cancelled or postponed dates for the singer's summer tour.

Then, on 8 July, her family and team announced that the gravel-voiced singer had died in hospital in Portugal as a result of the illness she was being treated for.

The funeral of Welsh powerhouse singer Bonnie Tyler will take place later today, with fans around the world able to watch a celebration of life service via an online broadcast.

The 75-year-old, whose real name was Gaynor Hopkins, was known for a series of hits in the 1970s and '80s, including Total Eclipse of the Heart and Holding Out for a Hero.

Image source, Getty Images

The service will take place at Swansea Minster at midday and she will then "return to her hometown" of Skewen, Neath Port Talbot, travelling through the village at about 13:20 en route to a private family service.

Fans are expected to gather outside the church this morning before the service begins.