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HomeNewsChelsea great Gianfranco Zola: 'I don't star in Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse of the Heart video'

Chelsea great Gianfranco Zola: 'I don't star in Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse of the Heart video'

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Rob Parker
 @ May 16th, 2012

Gianfranco Zola has laid one of football’s great urban legends to rest by confirming that he didn’t appear in the music video for Bonnie Tyler’s 1980s classic Total Eclipse of the Heart.

Popular myth – and Wikipedia – have long claimed that the pint-sized forward featured in the power ballad video. But Zola says it’s not him.

OTP’s Ben Davies quizzed the ex-Chelsea star over his supposed musical heritage. Although he denied every working with Tyler, he was so taken aback by the similarity that he asked to keep OTP’s printout of his doppelganger. We duly obliged.

Here’s Ben’s chat with Gianfranco on the subject.

OTP: Gianfranco, I’ve got a question that is really important to me because it is a story I have been telling for a while but I want you to tell me if it’s true. Were you in the music video “Total Eclipse of the Heart”?

Gianfranco Zola: You are not the first one to ask me that. The first person asked me this and surprised me so I went to see the video, to see whether it was right that this guy looked like me. It’s not me.

OTP: It’s not you?! OK, now I finally know. Can I show you the picture of the boy in the video?

GF: OK, show me the picture!

[OTP gives Gianfranco a print-out of a choir boy in Bonnie Tyler’s music video.]

GF: Okay it looks like me. Can I keep the picture? [Starts laughing]

OTP: Yes, of course.

GF: Let me say this: if Bonnie Taylor heard me singing… [laughs]

OTP: On the internet a lot of people believe it is true.

GF: I know it’s on Wikipedia, isn’t it?

OTP: Possibly. I would have researched elsewhere. [OTP has been rumbled]

GF: It’s not me, trust me. I can start singing if you wanna sing.

OTP: I’d love to sing with you Gianfranco. [OTP tentatively sings the chorus but Zola leaves us hanging]

Listen to OTP’s interview with Zola in full on the audio player below:

OTP were talking to Zola courtesy of Indesit, who hosted the Indesit Football Talents Final at the Emirates Stadium yesterday – the climax of an exciting Europe-wide competition that saw thousands of football fans compete to be coached for the day by footballing legends Robert Pires, Gianfranco Zola, Jean-Pierre Papin and Daniele Massaro.

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