Jim Steinman, the mastermind behind some of pop music’s most epic ballads of the past 40 years, has passed away at 73.
The Grammy-winning hitmaker who collaborated on chart toppers for Meat Loaf, Céline Dion, Bonnie Tyler, Barbra Streisand, Def Leppard and more, died Monday in Connecticut, TMZ has confirmed. His death comes after an undisclosed medical emergency occurred at 3:30 a.m. Sunday, according to the state medical examiner.
Steinman’s “Paradise by the Dashboard Light” and other songs made up the bulk of Meat Loaf’s 1977 blockbuster record “Bat Out of Hell,” which went on to become one of the best-selling albums of all time. The pair continued to work closely for volumes II — which 1993’s “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That)” came out of — and III of the rock music series.
Their karaoke mainstay “Total Eclipse of the Heart” helped launch Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler to legendary status in 1983.
The enigmatic songwriter was known for drawing inspiration from the arts. His song “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now,” most famously performed by French-Canadian icon Dion in 1996, was said to be inspired by Emily Brontë’s “Wuthering Heights.” Critics hailed Dion’s recording as a “highlight” of her English-language music career, undoubtedly paving the way for her global, decade-spanning success.
Steinman later received his first and only Grammy in 1997 for writing on Dion’s album “Falling Into You.”
In 2004, a stroke left Steinman temporarily unable to speak, and he spent years relearning to use his voice, according to a speech he delivered at Amherst College in 2013.
Steinman’s exact cause of death has not been revealed.