''The World Starts Tonight'' is the debut studio album by Welsh singer

Bonnie Tyler Gaynor Sullivan (née Hopkins; born 8 June 1951), known professionally as Bonnie Tyler, is a Welsh singer who is known for her distinctive husky voice. Tyler came to prominence with the release of her 1977 album '' The World Starts Tonight'' a ...

, released in February 1977 by

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...

. Most of the songs were written by

Ronnie Scott Ronnie may refer to: *Ronnie (name), a unisex pet name and given name * "Ronnie" (Four Seasons song), a song by Bob Gaudio and Bob Crewe *"Ronnie," a song from the Metallica album '' Load'' *Ronnie Brunswijkstadion, an association football stadium ...

and Steve Wolfe, who worked as her managers while she was signed to RCA. They also produced the album alongside David Mackay. Musically, the album features

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

and pop songs. Two singles were released from the album. The first, "

Lost in France "Lost in France" is a song recorded by Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler. It was released as a single in September 1976 by RCA Records, written by her producers and songwriters Ronnie Scott and Steve Wolfe. "Lost in France" was Tyler's second single and ...

", was certified silver by the BPI for sales of over 250,000 copies. "

More Than a Lover "More Than a Lover" is a song recorded by Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler from her debut studio album '' The World Starts Tonight'' (1977). It was released by RCA Records in January 1977, shortly before the release of the album, and was written by her at ...

" was also a hit, but failed to make progress in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

after the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

banned the song for its controversial lyrical content. Shortly after recording the album, Tyler had surgery to remove nodules from her vocal cords. The operation left Tyler with a permanently raspy voice. ''The World Starts Tonight'' was received positively by contemporary critics, who praised Tyler for releasing a "promising debut". The album was hugely popular in Sweden, where it reached number two. Despite this, it failed to chart in any other country.

Background

Bonnie Tyler (then known as Gaynor Hopkins) spent seven years performing in local pubs and clubs around

South Wales South Wales ( cy, De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards ...

between 1969 and 1976, first as part of Bobbie Wayne & the Dixies, and then with her own band Imagination. In 1975, she was discovered singing with Imagination by talent scout Roger Bell. She was invited to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

to record two demos; "My! My! Honeycomb" and "

". After months passed,

contacted Tyler announcing that they would be releasing "My! My! Honeycomb" as a single in April 1976.

Recording

Tyler recorded ''The World Starts Tonight'' in

Morgan Studios Morgan Studios (founded as Morgan Sound Studios) was an independent recording studio in Willesden in northwest London. Founded in 1967, the studio was the location for recordings by such notable artists as Jethro Tull, the Kinks, Paul McCartney, ...

and Round House Studios in London between 1975 and 1976. The session began with recording four demos; "My! My! Honeycomb", with its B-Side "Got So Used to Loving You", and "Lost in France", with its B-Side "Baby I Remember You".

and Steve Wolfe wrote most of the songs from the album, and produced it with David Mackay.

Critical reception

Tomas Mureika of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

has retrospectively described ''The World Starts Tonight'' as "filled with promise and indications of great things to come". He called the album a "formidable debut" but that it only paved the way for her pairing with

Jim Steinman James Richard Steinman (November 1, 1947 – April 19, 2021) was an American composer, lyricist and record producer. He also worked as an arranger, pianist, and singer. His work included songs in the adult contemporary, rock, dance, pop, mus ...

in the 1980s. ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'' gave a positive contemporary review, naming "Lost in France" the "stand-out track", whilst praising her cover of

Janis Joplin Janis Lyn Joplin (January 19, 1943 – October 4, 1970) was an American singer and musician. One of the most successful and widely known Rock music, rock stars of her era, she was noted for her powerful mezzo-soprano vocals and "electric" stage ...

's "Piece of My Heart".

Commercial performance

On the week ending 10 March 1978, over a year since its release, ''The World Starts Tonight'' debuted at number thirteen on the

Swedish Albums Chart Sverigetopplistan (, lit. "the Sweden top list") is the Swedish national record chart, formerly known as Topplistan (1975–1997) and Hitlistan (1998–2007) and known by its current name since October 2007, based on sales data from the Swedish R ...

. It reached its peak position at number two in the following week, remaining there for a total of three weeks. In the fifth running week on the chart, ''The World Starts Tonight'' fell to number six, replaced by Tyler's second studio album ''

Natural Force ''Natural Force'' is the second studio album by Welsh people, Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler, released in May 1978 by RCA Records. In the United States, the album was titled ''It's a Heartache''. As with her The World Starts Tonight, debut, Ronnie S ...

''. Following this, ''The World Starts Tonight'' slowly fell from the Swedish Albums Chart, after a total of eight weeks on the chart.

Singles

" was released as the

lead single A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. Release s ...

from ''The World Starts Tonight'' in September 1976.Hendriks, Phil (2009). "The World Starts Tonight". In ''The World Starts Tonight'' (pp. 2–4)

D booklet D, or d, is the fourth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''dee'' (pronounced ), plural ''dees''. History The ...

London: Cherry Red Records. ''

'' described the song as the "stand-out track" from the album. "Lost in France" became Tyler's first charting single, peaking at no. 9 in the UK. It was certified silver by the BPI for sales of over 250,000 copies. "

" was released as the second single from ''The World Starts Tonight'' in January 1977. In December 1976, Tyler informed ''

Record Mirror ''Record Mirror'' was a British weekly music newspaper between 1954 and 1991 for pop fans and record collectors. Launched two years after the ''NME'', it never attained the circulation of its rival. The first UK album chart was published in ''Re ...

'' that her follow-up single to "Lost in France" would be "much more gutsy". ''Record Mirror'' described the song as "more meaty" than "Lost in France", but did not think the song was as commercial as its predecessor. Following a performance of the song on ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...

'', it was banned by the

due to "unsuitable lyrical content". The ban resulted in the song only reaching number 27 in the UK.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits are adapted from

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner notes are desce ...

of ''The World Starts Tonight''. *

– vocals *

Terry Britten Terence Ernest Britten (born July 1947) is an English-Australian singer-songwriter and record producer, who has written songs for Tina Turner, Cliff Richard, Olivia Newton-John, Status Quo and Michael Jackson amongst many others. Britten (along w ...

– guitar *Dave Christopher – guitar *

Mo Foster Mo Foster (born Michael Ralph Foster, 22 December 1944) is an English multi-instrumentalist, record producer, composer, solo artist, author, and public speaker. Through a career spanning over half a century, Foster has toured, recorded, and perf ...

–

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

*Barry Guard –

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

* Simon Phillips –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

Alan Tarney Alan Tarney (born 19 November 1945) is an English record producer and musician. He was born in Northside, Workington, Cumberland, but spent his teenage years in Adelaide, Australia, where he met his songwriting and musical partner Trevor Spencer ...

– bass guitar, guitar *Steve Wolfe – guitar Technical and production *Dave Harris – assistant engineering *Ashley Howe – engineering *Andrew Hoy – production co-ordination *David Mackay – arranging, engineering, producer *George Nicholson – engineering *

– producer *Simon Wakefield – assistant engineering *Steve Wolfe – producer

Charts

Release history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:World Starts Tonight, The 1977 debut albums Bonnie Tyler albums Albums produced by David Mackay (producer) Chrysalis Records albums RCA Records albums