This Day in History: Jim Steinman died on this day (April 19) in 2021. Steinman was an American composer, lyricist and record producer, and his works include albums such as Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell (one of the best-selling albums in history) and Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell, and producing albums for Bonnie Tyler.
His songs were over-produced and over the top, which is why people loved them. Steinman once stated, "If you don't go over the top, you can't see what's on the other side." A bio on his website calls him "The Lord of Excess," and notes that the L.A. Times once referred to him as "the Richard Wagner of rock."
His most successful chart singles include Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart", Air Supply's "Making Love Out of Nothing at All", Meat Loaf's "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)", the Sisters of Mercy's "This Corrosion" and "More", Barry Manilow's "Read 'Em and Weep"and Celine Dion's cover of "It's All Coming Back to Me Now."
Despite the success of Bat Out Of Hell, they had a hard time getting signed by a record label. According to Meat Loaf's autobiography, the band spent most of 1975, and two-and-a-half years, auditioning Bat Out of Hell and being rejected. CBS executive Clive Davis even claimed that Steinman knew nothing about writing, or rock music in general. After numerous further rejections, the album was released by Cleveland International Records in October 1977. The album was an immediate success in Australia and the United Kingdom, and later in the United States. Reports vary as to how many copies of the album have been sold, but in 2007, Cleveland International Records founder Steve Popovich said that it was around 40 million copies. The highest-charting song from the album was "Two Out of Three Ain't Bad", which reached No. 11 on the Billboard Charts.
His song for Bonnie Tyler "Holding Out For a Hero" was covered by 49 artists, and Total Eclipse of the Heart was covered by 76.
For 3 straight weeks in 1983, Jim was responsible for the #1 and #2 songs on the Billboard charts.
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