James Richard Steinman (born November 1, 1948 in New York City, New York) (also called Jim Steinman) is an American rock and musical theater composer. He is notable for having written most of Meat Loaf's hit songs, in addition to hits for many other musical artists.

The Dream Engine

While he was a student at Amherst College in Massachusetts he wrote the book, music, lyrics and starred in a play named The Dream Engine (1969), about Revolution. The story is set in a distant future, and is about a young boy named Baal. He and his rebel fellows don't accept the restraints of their society. It was quite visionary and ahead of his time. Some themes from Steinman's later songs can already be heard here, like the "Turn Around" line in Total Eclipse of the Heart.

Joseph Papp, founder of the New York Shakespeare Festival, saw the play and wanted to bring it to Broadway, but was stopped by the law because the play was much too sexually explicit to be represented in a public place.

More Than You Deserve

From the collaboration with Papp, another musical was born: More Than You Deserve (1974), co-written by Michael Weller . This marks a very important encounter for Steinman. A young actor from Texas showed up for a part; his nickname was Meat Loaf. The moment Steinman saw him he realized that Meat Loaf was going to be his voice.

Neverland

In 1977 another musical saw the light (as a workshop in New York), Neverland. Basically a re-write of The Dream Engine, this time more overtly based on J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan, but much more of an adult version. Thematically all, or at least most, of Steinman songs and works, can be seen as ongoing parts of his Neverland.

Bat out of Hell

1977 is important for another reason for Steinman. It sees the debut of the album Bat out of Hell, that he had written for Meat Loaf to sing. The album featured music of a bombastic and wagnerian style... not quite the style that was considered hit material in the Seventies. When they started proposing it to music companies they had a lot of trouble finding someone willing to produce it. They still needed a label and it took them some more time before they finally settled with Cleveland International Records. The album was not an immediate hit but soon grew to become the best selling debut album of all time until de-throned by Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill (1995).

Bad for Good

In 1981 a sequel album to Bat Out of Hell was ready, but Meat Loaf's voice, after years of continuing tour, was not. Steinman had to sing his songs himself, with the help of backup vocalist Rory Dodd ; the album was released as Bad for Good. The album produced one hit, Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through, which rose to position 32 on the Billboard charts in a 6 week run in July 1981.

Dead Ringer

When Meat Loaf's voice recovered, Steinman was able to give him some songs that were left, and they were collected in the 1981 Dead Ringer album. Meat later re-recorded some of the other tracks which were on the Steinman album as well, and also had a hit with "Dreams".

"The Other Children"

Bonnie Tyler

The collaboration with Meat Loaf went on hiatus, and Steinman started working on other projects; he produced Bonnie Tyler's Faster Than the Speed of Night, with the hit song, written by Steinman, "Total Eclipse of the Heart". At the same time he had written a song for Air Supply, titled "Making Love Out of Nothing at All", so in October 1983 , for four weeks in a row, he had two songs at the top of the US Billboard chart: Total Eclipse at number one, and Making Love at number two. Steinman is said to be the only musician that has achieved this on the Billboard list. It would take three more years until Steinman produced/wrote/composed a second album for Bonnie Tyler.

Fire Inc.

In 1984, Steinman created Fire Inc., which was a "fake band " with the sole purpose of singing his songs on the movie Streets of Fire's soundtrack. The band featured Rory Dodd , Holly Sherwood and Laurie Sargent as lead vocals. Although the Fire Inc. songs were a commercial flop, his fans have persisted with loving them and they have been covered by several artists after that. [1]

In the following years, Steinman continued to write songs for artists like Barry Manilow, Céline Dion, Barbra Streisand, and The Sisters of Mercy. In some cases, songs sung by these artists were covers of earlier Steinman works. For example, Streisand featured a cover of "Left in the Dark" on her 1984 release Emotion. The same song appeared just a few years earlier on Bad for Good.

Pandora's Box

In 1989, Steinman gathered a group of female singers and formed the one-album band Pandora's Box. Band members were Ellen Foley (who had already sung with Meat Loaf in Bat Out of Hell), Holly Sherwood (former Fire Inc.), Elaine Caswell, Gina Taylor and Jim Steinman himself.

The album was released along with a video for "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" (later covered as a hit by Céline Dion), but a planned tour was scrapped. The album was not released to the United States orignally. Sales for the album were modest, though Steinman continues to be very proud of it. Many fans and critics consider it one of his best works.

Bat Out of Hell 2: Back into Hell

During Christmas, 1989, Steinman made a visit to the home of Meat Loaf. Both Steinman and Meat Loaf began talks for a new collaberation. After several years worth of work, Bat Out of Hell 2: Back into Hell was released in 1993. The album skyrocketed to #1 in 20 countries. Sales for the album topped 11 million worldwide. The album returned Meat Loaf to prominence in the music industry and resulted in a massive tour. Among the new songs featured on the album, "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)" went on to become a top selling single. As was the case with previous Steinman records, some of the songs featured were "recycled" from Bad For Good and Original Sin, but all of them were written by Steinman.

Musicals

In the late Nineties Steinman returned to his old love: musicals. He co-wrote with Andrew Lloyd Webber Whistle Down the Wind that went on stage in the US in 1996, and in London, rearranged in 1998, with much greater success.

Tanz der Vampire

Steinman's big musical success, though, was Tanz der Vampire (in English Dance of the Vampires), which opened in Vienna, Austria on October 4, 1997. From the day of the world premiere, to January 7, 1999, Steve Barton embodied the leading role of Graf von Krolock here. Based on Roman Polanski's movie The Fearless Vampire Killers, and directed by Polanski himself, Tanz der Vampire won six International musical awards, at the International Musical Award Germany (IMAGE 1998), in Düsseldorf. The musical is still playing in Hamburg, Germany.

An English version opened on December 9, 2002 on Broadway; it was critically lambasted and closed on January 25, 2003. To date, it is the biggest financial flop in Broadway history, easily eclipsing the infamous "Carrie" (based on the film of the same name).

Bat Out of Hell 3: The Last of Bats

At the moment Steinman is said to be working on a musical version of Batman and on a second sequel to Bat Out of Hell with Meat Loaf: Bat Out of Hell III.

Discography

• Bad for Good (1981)

External links

• Dream Pollution, by the Rockman Philharmonic, The Jim Steinman Society For The Arts
• Neverland Hotel, comprehensive site including biography, discography, news, lyrics and photo gallery.

See also

• Wagnerian Rock
• Richard Wagner
• Fire Inc.
• Pandora's Box
• Meat Loaf
• Todd Rundgren