RIDGEFIELD, CT (CelebrityAccess) — Jim Steinman, the Grammy-winning composer, producer, and songwriter who wrote hits for artists such as Meat Loaf, Celine Dion, Air Supply among others, has died. He was 73.
According to the Associated Press, Steinman’s brother said he had been ill for some time and died at his home in Ridgefield, Connecticut, from kidney failure.
Born in New York in 1947, Steinman began his career writing music for theatrical productions, including an adaptation of Bertolt Brecht’s Baal by the Island Theater Workshop on Martha’s Vineyard in 1968 and the 1973 musical More Than You Deserve, which starred a young Marvin Lee Aday, better known today as Meat Loaf.
In 1977, Steinman served as composer for Meatloaf’s seminal album Bat Out of Hell when went on to be one of the best-selling albums in history, reaching 14x platinum with more than 14 million albums sold in the U.S. alone.
Steinman later served as songwriter, composer and producer for Meat Loaf’s 1993 album, Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell” which proved to be another multi-platinum success.
As well, Steinman produced albums such Billy Squier’s 1984’s hit Signs of Life and wrote hits such as “Faster Than the Speed of Night” and “Total Eclipse of the Heart” for Bonnie Taylor’s 1982 album Faster Than the Speed of Night.
In 1981, Steinman released a solo album of his own, Bad For Good, which included the top 40 hit “Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through,“ which Meat Loaf later recorded to greater success. The album also included “Left In The Dark” which proved to be a hit for Barbara Streisand three years later.
Steinman was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2012 and won a Grammy in 1997 for his producer role on Celine Dion’s Falling Into You, as well as writing credits on the ballad “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now.”
“There is no other songwriter ever like him,” Meat Loaf said during at Steinman’s induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
“I can never repay him. He has been such an influence, in fact, the biggest influence on my life, and I learned so much from him that there would be no way I could ever repay Mr. Jim Steinman,” Meat Loaf continued.
