Songwriter Billy Steinberg, who died Monday (Feb. 16) from cancer, was responsible for some of the most indelible pop songs of the ‘80s and ‘90s, including “True Colors,” which became one of Cyndi Lauper’s signature hits and reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1986.
But the Grammy-nominated song wasn’t the only tune that Steinberg and his then songwriting partner Tom Kelly had cut by Lauper. She recorded a number of their songs, including “I Drove All Night” and “Unconditional Love.”
In a statement to Billboard, Lauper said, “I’m so sorry to hear of Billy Steinberg’s passing. He was a great lyricist and a wonderful collaborator. He and Tom had such a way of capturing the range within an emotion, from the subtlety to urgency. When I think back across ‘True Colors,’ ‘Unconditional Love,’ ‘I Drove All Night,’ ‘My First Night Without You,’ and ‘Heading West,’ I’m wowed. I mean, come on, ‘I’m like a letter with no address.’ Pure genius. For ‘True Colors,’ there was a lot of back and forth which I know was hard for him. In the end, he said that I had really invented my own ‘very exquisitely beautiful version’ of the song. That really meant a lot to me. It is a special song.”
Steinberg initially wrote “True Colors” about his mom, but Lauper then amended it to be about a friend who died of AIDS during the early days of the AIDS epidemic. “”He died of AIDS, and [‘True Colors’] was for us to feel better,” she told People in 2023 on the red carpet of the Tribeca Film Festival premiere of her new documentary Let the Canary Sing. “He had wanted me to write a song for him, and I tried.”
The song subsequently became and remains a powerful LGBTQIA anthem of love and acceptance.
At the Grammy Museum’s 2023 “The Power of Song: A Songwriters Hall of Fame Exhibit,” Steinberg was represented by a demo for “True Colors” recorded on a TDK SA 60 cassette and a note from Lauper that read, “Billy — Thanks for sending me and writing such a beautiful song. [Heart] Cyndi.”
Steinberg also co-wrote such pop classics as Madonna’s “Like a Virgin,” the Bangles’ “Eternal Flame,” Heart’s “Alone” and Whitney Houston’s “So Emotional.”
