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<\/p>\nBilly Steinberg, who wrote the lyrics to some of the biggest pop hits of the 1980s \u2014 including Madonna\u2019s \u201cLike a Virgin,\u201d Cyndi Lauper\u2019s \u201cTrue Colors\u201d and Heart\u2019s \u201cAlone\u201d \u2014 died Monday at his home in Brentwood. He was 75.<\/p>\n
His death was confirmed by his lawyer, Laurie Soriano, who said the cause was cancer.<\/p>\n
For the record:<\/p>\n
4:31 p.m. Feb. 16, 2026An earlier version of this post said that Billy Steinberg died at 74. He was 75.<\/p>\n
A master of the melodramatic power ballad, Steinberg wrote vividly about the experience of being overwhelmed by love. In \u201cLike a Virgin,\u201d the narrator sings of having been lost in the wilderness \u2014 \u201cI was beat, incomplete \/ I\u2019d been had, I was sad and blue\u201d \u2014 only to meet someone who makes the singer feel \u201cshiny and new.\u201d In \u201cAlone,\u201d the narrator lies in a dark room late at night, listening to the clock tick as they ponder an unconfessed infatuation.<\/p>\n
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\u201cLike a Virgin,\u201d which Steinberg co-wrote with his frequent creative partner Tom Kelly, spent six weeks atop Billboard\u2019s Hot 100 in late 1984 and early 1985. With Kelly, Steinberg went on to score four more No. 1s on the Hot 100: \u201cTrue Colors,\u201d \u201cAlone,\u201d Whitney Houston\u2019s \u201cSo Emotional\u201d and the Bangles\u2019 \u201cEternal Flame.\u201d<\/p>\n
Among the other hits he wrote were the Pretenders\u2019 \u201cI\u2019ll Stand by You,\u201d the Divinyls\u2019 \u201cI Touch Myself,\u201d and \u201cI Drove All Night,\u201d which was recorded by both Lauper and Roy Orbison.<\/p>\n