| Mostly Credited As: | Jim Steinman |
| Birth Name: | James Richard Steinman |
| Date Of Birth: | November 01, 1947 |
| Country Of Birth: |  USA |
| Birth Place: | New York City, New York |
James Richard Steinman is a rock and musical theater composer. He is quite famous for writing most of Meat Loaf’s hit songs, and other songs by well-known artists. He attended Amherst College, located in Massachusetts. While he was a student there, he wrote the music and book for The Dream Engine, a musical.
In 1974, Steinman began to write for the musical More Than You Deserve. During the auditions for the show, Steinman met a young actor from Texas, nicknamed
Meat Loaf. Steinman realized the actor’s potential immediately after Meat Loaf sang a song from an album he had previously produced.
1977 marked the release of Meat Loaf’s Bat Out Of Hell album, the songs of which Steinman had written. While it wasn’t an immediate success, it eventually ended up being one of the greatest-selling albums of all time.
Bat Out Of Hell’s sequel was ready in 1981. However, due to constant touring, Meat Loaf’s voice was not. Because of this, Steinman decided to sing the songs he’d written himself, and released them on an album, Bad For Good. While it was mostly unsuccessful, the single “Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through” had some amount of success. Steinman then began to work on other projects, including producing Faster Than the Speed of Night, by Bonnie Tyler. He had simultaneously written the
Air Supply song “Making Love out of Nothing at All.”
Steinman gathered a group of female singers together in 1989 and thus formed Pandora’s Box. The album was released to modest sales, but Steinman says he is proud of the results.
In December of 1989, Steinman and Meat Loaf met and discussed a new collaboration. Four years later, Bat Out Of Hell II: Back Into Hell was released and launched to the number one spot in twenty countries. All of the songs, including the hit single “I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That)” were written by Steinman.
Steinman returned to the musical theater division in the late nineties, writing lyrics for Whistle Down the Wind, by Andrew Lloyd Webber, and, more notably, his great success Tanz der Vampire (Dance of the Vampires). While it was a major success in Germany and Austria, the American version was a complete failure, reportedly losing 17 million dollars.
Steinman’s hits have been covered by countless artists, such as
Barbra Streisand,
Barry Manilow, and
Celine Dion.
Major Works
- The Dream Engine (Epic College Musical) (1969)
- Rhinegold (Off-Broadway Musical) (1972)
- More Than You Deserve (Off-Broadway Musical) (1973)
- Neverland (Progressing Rock Musical) (1977)
- Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell (1977)
- Delta House (Television Theme) (1979)
- A Small Circle of Friends (Film Score) (1980)
- Bad For Good (Solo Album) (1981)
- Meat Loaf's Dead Ringer (1981)
- Air Supply's Greatest Hits (Contribution) (1983)
- Bonnie Tyler's Faster Than the Speed of Night (1983)
- Barry Manilow's Greatest Hits (Contribution) (1983)
- Footloose (Musical Contribution) (1984)
- Streets of Fire (Musical Contribution) (1984)
- Barbra Streisand's Emotion (Contribution) (1984)
- Hulk Hogan's Theme (World Wrestling Federation) (1985)
- Bonnie Tyler's Secret Dreams and Forbidden Fire (1986)
- The Confidence Man (Queen's College Musical) (1986)
- Pandora's Box Original Sin (Concept Album) (1989)
- Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell (1993)
- The Shadow (Musical Contribution) (1994)
- Celine Dion's Falling Into You (1996)
- Andrew Lloyd Webber's Whistle Down the Wind (1996)
- Tanz der Vampire das Musical (Foreign) (1997)
- The Mask of Zorro (Production of a Song) (1998)
- Garbo (Foreign Musical in Stockholm) (2002)
- Dance of the Vampires (Broadway Musical) (2002)
- The Confidence Man (Original Cast Records) (2003)
- Wuthering Heights (Executive Producer) (2003)
- Bat Out of Hell: The Next Generation (2006)
- Bat Out of Hell the Musical (2007)
Minor works
- The Beard (Co-Producer) (1968)
- A Man's A Man (Musical Score) (1968)
- Ubu (Sweet Corn Productions) (1971)
- Good Woman of Setzuan (Musical Score) (1972)
- Yvonne Elliman's Food of Love (Contribution) (1973)
- Steinman and Friends (Off-Broadway Cabaret) (1974)
- Bloodshot Wine (Off-Broadway Cabaret) (1974)
- Kid Champion (Music Score & Lyrics) (1975)
- The Confidence Man (Manhattan Theater Club) (1976)
- The National Lampoon Road Show (Arrangement) (1976)
- Karla DeVito's Cool World (Contribution) (1981)
- Ian Hunter's All of the Good Ones are Taken (1981)
- Billy Squier's Signs of Life (Production) (1984)
- Meat Loaf's Bad Attitude (Contribution) (1984)
- Iron Eagle (Production Contribution) (1986)
- Sisters of Mercy's Floodland (Production) (1987)
- Rude Awakening (Musical Contribution) (1989)
- Sisters of Mercy's Vision Thing (Contribution) (1990)
- Watershed's Twister (Executive Producer) (1995)
- Bonnie Tyler's Free Spirit (Contribution) (1995)
- Meat Loaf's Welcome to the Neighborhood (Contribution) (1995)
- Take That's Greatest Hits (Production Contribution) (1996)
- Cecilia Vennersten (Contribution) (1996)
- Celine Dion's Let's Talk About Love (1997)
- Anastasia (Production of a Song) (1997)
- The Very Best of Meat Loaf (Three New Songs) (1998)
- Rick Rose's Songs from the Studio B Sessions (1999)
- The Confidence Man (Beechmont Players) (2004)
- Over the Top (Tribute Show) (2005)
- Meat Loaf's Bat Out Of Hell III: The Monster is Loose (2006)
