Jim Steinman
Producer, Songwriter | 2016Though Jim Steinman began his career in theater, he is best known as a songwriter/producer whose records have sold more than 100 million copies. At Amherst College, Steinman wrote and starred in an epic musical The Dream Engine. It caused a sensation, and the New York Shakespeare Festival’s Joe Papp bought the rights at intermission. His first professional musical was More Than You Deserve at Papp’s Public Theater, where he worked for five years. When a singer named Meat Loaf auditioned for Steinman, Spin magazine called the meeting “one of the top 10 most important moments in the history of rock and roll.” The Steinman/Meat Loaf collaboration would produce the legendary Bat Out Of Hell, which would become one of the best-selling albums of all time. (In 1993, Bat Out Of Hell II: Back Into Hell would top the charts in 38 countries.) Many of Steinman’s compositions hit No. 1—“Total Eclipse of the Heart” by Bonnie Tyler, “Making Love Out of Nothing at All” by Air Supply, and Celine Dion’s “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now,” which was named the Song Of The Year by BMI in 1997. That same year, Steinman won a Grammy Award as the producer of the Best Album of the Year, Celine Dion’s Falling Into You.
Jim Steinman (November 1, 1947 – April 19, 2021)