American composer, lyricist and music producer Billy Steinberg, co-author of several hits in the field of pop, died on Monday at the age of 75. The artist died at his home in California after a battle with cancer, TASR reports, according to a report from the AFP news agency.
Steinberg along with his frequent creative partner Tom Kelly wrote some of the biggest hits of the pop scene of the 80s and 90s, including the song Like a Virgin (Madonna), which stayed at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 for six weeks at the turn of 1984/1985.
The couple also composed four other songs no. 1 of this chart: True Colors (Cyndi Lauper), Alone (Heart), So Emotional (Whitney Houston) and Eternal Flame (The Bangles). Steinberg also contributed to other famous songs such as I’ll Stand by You (The Pretenders). He later collaborated with The Corrs, The Veronicas, as well as with the Russian girl duo Tatu.
William Endfield Steinberg was born on February 26, 1950 in Fresno and raised in Palm Springs, where his father grew grapes in the Coachella Valley. He started writing songs in the late 60s, while studying literature at Bard College in New York State. Steinberg, who left behind a wife and two sons, in 1997 he won a Grammy Award for his songwriting and production work on Celine Dion’s album Falling into You. In 2011, he and Kelly were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
