Jim Steinman, Meat Loaf Composer + Producer, Dead at 73

Acclaimed songwriter and producer Jim Steinman, best known for his work with Meat Loaf, has died at the age of 73.

The news was first announced by TMZ, who reported that Steinman died Monday (April 19) in Connecticut, citing a report from the state’s medical examiner. The cause of death was not listed.

Steinman, who also was a recording artist, enjoyed his biggest successes as a songwriter and producer for others. He first rose to fame working as the composer on Meat Loaf’s 1977 album Bat Out of Hell and later returned to reunite with Meat Loaf on the sequel albums Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell and Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose.

Steinman, who started working in musical theater, carried over some of the more theatrical elements of doing so to his own songwriting. One of the bigger hits from the initial Bat Out of Hell was “Paradise By the Dashboard Light,” an epic piece broken into three acts, as can be heard below.

Meat Loaf, “Paradise By the Dashboard Light”

Bat Out of Hell II included the Steinman-written compositions “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That)” and “Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through,” the latter of which had cracked the Billboard Top 40 at No. 32 for Steinman as a solo artist in 1981 and later hit No. 13 for Meat Loaf in 1994.

Jim Steinman, “Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through”

Steinman’s other works included producing Bonnie Tyler’s Faster Than the Speed of Night in 1983, which included her epic single “Total Eclipse of the Heart.” Plus he produced her Footloose soundtrack contribution “Holding Out for a Hero.” Steinman also co-producing Billy Squier’s 1984 album Signs of Life and composed songs for Sisters of Mercy, Barbra Streisand, Barry Manilow, Air Supply and Celine Dion among others.

Bonnie Tyler, “Total Eclipse of the Heart”

He would later write lyrics for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Whistle Down the Wind musical and wrote more for theater and film in his latter years. Steinman was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2012 with Meat Loaf on hand (as seen in the featured photo) to congratulate him.