The Songwriters Hall of Fame was saddened to learn of the passing of 2012 inductee, Jim Steinman.
Steinman, whose sweeping operatic producing style was a perfect fit for the sometimes bombastic, highly melodic pop of Meat Loaf, Celine Dion, Bonnie Tyler and Barry Manilow, found a home on the theatrical stage as well, composing the score for the 2017 musical Bat Out of Hell, as well as the Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 1996 West End musical Whistle Down the Wind.
Bat Out of Hell is among the 35 best-selling albums in U.S. history, racking up 14 million units sold, per the RIAA. Its singles “Two of Three Ain’t Bad” and “Paradise by the Dashboard Light” — which peaked at No. 11 and No. 39 on the Billboard Hot 100, respectively — both were certified platinum in 2018.
Following his breakthrough with Bat Out of Hell, which eventually would reach sales of more than 50 million worldwide, Steinman wrote such hits as Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart” and “Holding Out for a Hero,” Manilow’s “Read ‘Em and Weep,” Air Supply’s “Making Love Out of Nothing at All” and Dion’s “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now.” The latter two peaked at No. 2 on the Hot 100.
"It's All Coming Back to Me Now" reached No. 2 on the Billboard charts and the album as a whole won two 1997 Grammy Awards, for Best Pop Album and for Album of the Year.
Stenman's work was featured his Tanz der Vampire (Dance of the Vampires), which opened in Vienna, Austria, in 1997. The show was adapted from Roman Polanski's movie The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967), and initially directed by Polanski himself. It won six International musical awards, at the International Musical Award Germany, in Düsseldorf. Like much of Steinman's work, the show includes adaptations of material Steinman had released before. This includes the song "Total Eclipse of the Heart," the melody of "Objects in the Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer than They Are," and many other parts of earlier works.
Steinman's songs have also appeared in the films Footloose, Streets Of Fire, and Shrek 2.
