{"id":430023,"date":"2026-02-17T07:29:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T07:29:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/430023\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T07:29:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T07:29:10","slug":"grammy-winning-songwriter-dies-at-74","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/430023\/","title":{"rendered":"Grammy-Winning Songwriter Dies at 74"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tBilly Steinberg, the Grammy-winning songwriter who co-wrote such pop classics as Madonna<\/a>\u2019s \u201cLike A Virgin,\u201d Cyndi Lauper<\/a>\u2019s \u201cTrue Colors\u201d and the Bangles\u2019 \u201cEternal Flame\u201d that were some of the biggest, most indelible hits of the 1980s and beyond, has died, his attorney confirmed to Billboard. Steinberg, who was 10 days away from his 76th birthday, died of cancer in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tIn addition to those three songs, Steinberg \u2014 who specialized in big, emotional power ballads with impactful, vulnerable lyrics \u2014 had two other songs reach No. 1 on Billboard\u2019s Hot 100: Whitney Houston<\/a>\u2019s \u201cSo Emotional\u201d and Heart\u2019s Alone,\u201d all co-written with his longtime writing partner, Tom Kelly. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe lyricist, who landed chart hits for more than 30 years, also penned such tunes as the Pretenders\u2019 \u201cI\u2019ll Stand by You,\u201d the Bangles\u2019 \u201cIn Your Room\u201d and the Divinyls\u2019 \u201cI Touch Myself.\u201d Taylor Dayne, Tina Turner<\/a>, Pat Benatar, Bette Midler, Cheap Trick, Belinda Carlisle and many other artists also recorded his songs.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a statement to Billboard, Lauper called Steinberg \u201cgreat lyricist and a wonderful collaborator. He and Tom had such a way of capturing the range within an emotion, from the subtlety to urgency\u2026For \u2018True Colors,\u2019 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 \u2018very exquisitely beautiful version\u2019 of the song. That really meant a lot to me. It is a special song.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI remember my mom picking me up from elementary school and there was this urgency and magic in the air,\u201d recalls Steinberg\u2019s son, Ezra, who is a songwriter signed to Sony Music Publishing. \u201cI asked what was going on, and she said, \u2018Dad has a hit.\u2019 It was [JoJo<\/a>\u2018s 2006 song] \u2018Too Little Too Late.\u2019 It was the first time I was old enough to really experience one of his hits, and to see the whole process \u2014 loving the demo for months, asking him every day when it was coming out, and then finally hearing it on KIIS-FM on the way to and from school. I felt this deep sense of pride and elation. That was magical.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tA 2011 inductee into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Fresno, California, native grew up in Palm Springs, California. After attending Bard College in New York\u2019s Hudson Valley, he pursued a career as an artist with his band Billy Thermal. While they may not have flourished, Steinberg\u2019s career took off after the group\u2019s guitarist played \u201cHow Do I Make You,\u201d penned solely by Steinberg, for Linda Rondstadt, who recorded it for her Mad Love album in 1980. The song reached No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.<\/p>\n

\n\tSteinberg and Kelly, in addition to recording as the duo I-10 for Epic Records, were one of the top songwriting teams of the \u201880s and \u201890s, often writing signature songs for artists, including \u201cLike A Virgin,\u201d which remained at No. 1 for six weeks, the most of any of Madonna\u2019s hits. Billboard ranked the song as Madonna\u2019s biggest hit <\/a>of her career in 2024.<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter Kelly retired as a songwriter, Steinberg continued to write, often with Rick Nowels, including penning Dion\u2019s \u201cFalling Into You,\u201d the title track for Dion\u2019s 1996 album, which won album of the year for the 39th Grammy Awards and for which both Steinberg and Nowels took home a Grammy.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe two originally wrote \u201cFalling Into You\u201d with Marie-Claire D\u2019Ubaldo for the Argentine singer\u2019s album, but that album failed to take off. The songwriters bought back the track, complete with Paul Buckmaster string arrangements, for $15,000 so Dion could record it and added her vocals. The song went to No. 1 in a number of countries including Spain and Greece. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cBilly began as a poet and he developed a sense for that, an esthetic, where in one sentence or two sentences you can create a whole story. He was a one off. They won\u2019t make another one. He had an encyclopedic knowledge, of popular songs and that\u2019s where he and I connected,\u201d Nowels says of Steinberg, whom he met in the early \u201980s through Nowels\u2019 wife as the two men were both experiencing their first flushes of success. \u201cWe just enjoyed each other\u2019s brains. We enjoyed each other\u2019s minds. We were friends to the very end.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMore recently, in the 2010s, Steinberg\u2019s songs were cut by Nicole Scherzinger, Miranda Cosgrove and Demi Lovato, who took \u201cGive Your Heart A Break\u201d (co-written with Josh Alexander) to No. 16 on the Hot 100 in 2012.<\/p>\n

\n\tAt the Grammy Museum\u2019s 2023 \u201cThe Power of Song: A Songwriters Hall of Fame Exhibit,\u201d Steinberg was represented by a demo for \u201cTrue Colors\u201d\u00a0<\/a>recorded on a TDK SA 60 cassette and a note from Lauper that read, \u201cBilly \u2014 Thanks for sending me and writing such a beautiful song. (heart) Cyndi.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe is survived by his beloved wife, Trina; his sons, Ezra and Max; his sisters, Barbara and Mary; and his stepchildren, Raul and Carolina.\u00a0<\/p>\n


\"Billboard
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