Billy Steinberg, the accomplished singer-songwriter who dominated the Eighties and Nineties with hits for Madonna, Whitney Houston, Cyndi Lauper, and more, has died, the BBC reports. He was 75.
Steinberg died in Los Angeles after a battle with cancer, his lawyer confirmed, though no further details were given. In a statement, Steinberg’s family called him a “visionary lyricist, devoted husband, loving father, and one of the most influential songwriters of his era.”
They continued: “[H]is lyrics often began as deeply personal reflections, transformed into anthems in which millions found themselves. Billy Steinberg’s life was a testament to the enduring power of a well-written song — and to the idea that honesty, when set to music, can outlive us all.”
Often working alongside Tom Kelly, who handled the music, Steinberg penned the lyrics to an array of Eighties and Nineties classics, five of which went to Number One on the Billboard Hot 100: Madonna’s “Like a Virgin,” Lauper’s “True Colors,” Houston’s “So Emotional,” the Bangles’ “Eternal Flame,” and Heart’s “Alone.”
“I’m so sorry to hear that my friend Billy Steinberg has passed away,” Lauper wrote on Instagram. “He was such a nice guy and very supportive. My thoughts are with his family, loved ones, and Tom during this sad time.”
While Kelly retired in the Nineties, Steinberg continued to find success, writing for established stars like Celine Dion and Linda Ronstadt, as well as a new generation of pop artists, including Demi Lovato, Jojo, and Nicole Scherzinger.
Before becoming a professional songwriter, Steinberg spent the late Seventies and early Eighties fronting a new wave band, Billy Thermal. The group recorded an album that was never released, but their demos did reach Ronstadt, who recorded the song “How Do I Make You” for her 1980 album, Mad Love. It peaked at Number 10 on the Hot 100.
The following year, Steinberg and Kelly linked up. They formed the band i-Ten and released a debut album, Taking a Cold Look, in 1983. While the album failed to make an impact, it did contain the first version of Steinberg and Kelly’s “Alone,” which Heart would turn into a hit four years later.
Steinberg and Kelly’s breakthrough as songwriters came soon after, when Madonna released “Like a Virgin” in 1984. In an interview on his website, Steinberg recalled jotting down some initial lyrics while driving around the Southern California vineyard his father owned.
“At that time I was very happy to be involved in a new relationship with a woman I had met and I was relieved to have extricated myself from a very difficult relationship and I think that inspired the lyrics,” he said, adding: “I was aware that I was writing a song lyric when I wrote, ‘Like a virgin.’ I remember there was a little spark when I put that down. I said to myself, ‘That’s a good hook!’”
While a few artists passed on “Like a Virgin,” the pair eventually played it for Michael Ostin, a top A&R rep at Warner Records, who thought it would be a great song for Madonna. Steinberg was thrilled and recalled, “I even think we started scheming about it right there on the spot and I really think I said to him right then and there, she could sing it wearing a wedding dress.”
“Like a Virgin” kicked off a dominant run for Steinberg and Kelly. Along with the four other aforementioned Number Ones, the pair scored hits with the Divinyls (“I Touch Myself”), the Pretenders (“I’ll Stand By You”), and Tina Turner (“Look Me in the Heart”). Their song “I Drove All Night,” originally written for Roy Orbison, became a Top 10 hit for Lauper in 1989; Orbison eventually recorded it, too, and it went to Number Seven on the U.K. singles chart in 1992; then, in 2003, Celine Dion cut a version, which enjoyed significant success around the world.
After Kelly’s retirement, Steinberg started working with an assortment of other songwriters. With Rick Nowels, he co-wrote songs like Melanie C’s “I Turn To You” and Dion’s “Falling Into You.” (The latter helped secure Steinberg his only Grammy when Dion’s accompanying album, Falling Into You, took home Album of the Year in 1997.) His closest collaborator after Kelly became producer Josh Alexander, with whom Steinberg wrote several new millennium pop hits: Jojo’s “Too Little Too Late,” the Veronicas’ “When It All Falls Apart,” t.A.T.u.’s “All About Us,” and Lovato’s “Give Your Heart a Break.”
Steinberg was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2011.
