Jim Steinman — the American composer, lyricist and producer who helped birth some of rock's biggest hits — has died. Today news has broke that the legendary Steinman died on Monday (April 19) in Connecticut, according to the state's medical examiner. He was 73.
So far, Steinman's cause of death is unknown, but according to TMZ, his death was sudden.
For the unfamiliar, Jim Steinman is responsible for a wide array of hits — high among them Meat Loaf's hit albums Bat Out of Hell and Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell. This includes Steinman writing and producing the Meat Loaf mega-hit "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)."
Steinman's hits didn't stop there either. Over the years, he famously was behind such classic tracks as Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart," Céline Dion's "It's All Coming Back to Me Now," Air Supply's "Making Love Out of Nothing at All," and the Sisters of Mercy's "This Corrosion" and "More."
Born on November 1, 1947, in New York, Steinman started his music career by penning musicals, with his The Dream Engine famously arriving in 1969. By the early '70s, though, he also began turning his attention to pop, first penning "Happy Ending" for Yvonne Elliman in 1973.
This soon led Steinman to strike up his most famous creative partnership with Marvin Lee Ray, who would soon be better known as Meat Loaf. The pair would go on to release one of the most successful rock albums of all time with 1977's Bat Out of Hell, which would later spawn two sequels and the chart-dominating hit "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)."
This soon kickstarted a truly prolific career for Steinman, who again found major success by working alongside Bonnie Tyler for her 1983 album Faster Than the Speed of Night. The record would spawn such hits as "Total Eclipse of the Heart" and its title track.
Along with all the aforementioned artists, Steinman worked as a hitmaker for the likes of Barry Manilow, Ian Hunter, Billy Squier, ELO Part II and Barbra Streisand, to just name a few.
Steinman also famously penned the 1985 theme song for Hulk Hogan that appeared on The Wrestling Album, and in 1987, the composer worked with the Sisters of Mercy on their sophomore effort Floodland. He again worked with the band on 1990's Vision Thing.
In 1996, Steinman would work on Céline Dion's album Falling into You and its hit "It's All Coming Back to Me Now," which Steinman both wrote and produced for the Canadian singer. He also produced the album tracks "River Deep, Mountain High" and "Call the Man," though he did not write the songs. Steinman later worked with Dion on her 1997 album Let's Talk About Love, whose song "Us" he produced.
In 1998, Steinman also helped birth the mega-hit "No Matter What" by Boyzone, with both him and collaborator Andrew Lloyd Webber penning the song.
Throughout it all, Steinman continued to work on multiple musicals and stage plays, in addition to film soundtracks. One of his final works was Bat Out of Hell the Musical, which first opened in 2017.
You can revisit a few of Steinman's many career highlights below.
So far, Steinman's cause of death is unknown, but according to TMZ, his death was sudden.
For the unfamiliar, Jim Steinman is responsible for a wide array of hits — high among them Meat Loaf's hit albums Bat Out of Hell and Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell. This includes Steinman writing and producing the Meat Loaf mega-hit "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)."
Steinman's hits didn't stop there either. Over the years, he famously was behind such classic tracks as Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart," Céline Dion's "It's All Coming Back to Me Now," Air Supply's "Making Love Out of Nothing at All," and the Sisters of Mercy's "This Corrosion" and "More."
Born on November 1, 1947, in New York, Steinman started his music career by penning musicals, with his The Dream Engine famously arriving in 1969. By the early '70s, though, he also began turning his attention to pop, first penning "Happy Ending" for Yvonne Elliman in 1973.
This soon led Steinman to strike up his most famous creative partnership with Marvin Lee Ray, who would soon be better known as Meat Loaf. The pair would go on to release one of the most successful rock albums of all time with 1977's Bat Out of Hell, which would later spawn two sequels and the chart-dominating hit "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)."
This soon kickstarted a truly prolific career for Steinman, who again found major success by working alongside Bonnie Tyler for her 1983 album Faster Than the Speed of Night. The record would spawn such hits as "Total Eclipse of the Heart" and its title track.
Along with all the aforementioned artists, Steinman worked as a hitmaker for the likes of Barry Manilow, Ian Hunter, Billy Squier, ELO Part II and Barbra Streisand, to just name a few.
Steinman also famously penned the 1985 theme song for Hulk Hogan that appeared on The Wrestling Album, and in 1987, the composer worked with the Sisters of Mercy on their sophomore effort Floodland. He again worked with the band on 1990's Vision Thing.
In 1996, Steinman would work on Céline Dion's album Falling into You and its hit "It's All Coming Back to Me Now," which Steinman both wrote and produced for the Canadian singer. He also produced the album tracks "River Deep, Mountain High" and "Call the Man," though he did not write the songs. Steinman later worked with Dion on her 1997 album Let's Talk About Love, whose song "Us" he produced.
In 1998, Steinman also helped birth the mega-hit "No Matter What" by Boyzone, with both him and collaborator Andrew Lloyd Webber penning the song.
Throughout it all, Steinman continued to work on multiple musicals and stage plays, in addition to film soundtracks. One of his final works was Bat Out of Hell the Musical, which first opened in 2017.
You can revisit a few of Steinman's many career highlights below.