| Jim Steinman |
Article Index for Jim |
Shopping Steinman |
Website Links For Jim |
Information AboutJim Steinman |
Jim Steinman (born , and lyricist responsible for several hit songs. He has also worked as an arranger, pianist, and singer. His work has included songs in the adult contemporary, rock and roll, dance/techno, pop, musical theater, and film score genres. His work includes the Album '' Bat Out Of Hell '' (1977), sung by Meat Loaf ; the singles " Total Eclipse Of The Heart " (1983), sung by Bonnie Tyler , " Making Love Out Of Nothing At All " (1983), sung by Air Supply , " I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That) " (1993) sung by Meat Loaf , and " It's All Coming Back To Me Now " (1996) sung by Celine Dion ; and the Musical '' Tanz Der Vampire '' (1998). PERSONAL Youth At least one of Steinman's parents was of Jewish descent. Reportedly Steinman's father owned a steel distribution warehouse in Brooklyn and his mother was a teacher of Greek and Latin . Steinman graduated from Hewlett High School in 1965 . According to Tony Kornheiser , who attended the same high school, Steinman was one of four National Merit Scholarship semifinalist in his graduating class. Steinman attended Amherst College . Adulthood Steinman is not known to have married. In an interview he claimed to live with his cats. He has claimed in various interviews, and in his blog, to be a long-time baseball fan, especially of the New York Mets and New York Yankees . Steinman claims, in his blog, to be a registered Libertarian . He expresses contempt for George W. Bush , recommending impeachment. He also claimed to despise Hillary Clinton and Charles Schumer . He rejoiced, in his blog, when the Democratic Party won a majority in Congress in 2006. According to longtime manager David Sonenberg and other sources, Steinman had health problems around 2004, but has been in good health since.1 Various reports indicate a stroke, a heart attack, multiple strokes, or a combination of multiple strokes and a heart attack. EARLY WORK As a senior at Amherst College in Massachusetts , Jim wrote the book, music, and lyrics for ''The Dream Engine'' (1969), a musical that was used to fulfill the requirements for an independent study course.2 The story, set in the distant future, is about a young boy named Baal who, along with his rebel fellows, doesn't accept the restraints and limits of their society. Baal is the leader of a group of wild boys called The Tribe, whose mortal enemies are Max and Emily, the parents of the Girl, a young woman with whom Baal has fallen in love. Steinman himself played Baal in the original production, which was staged in the Spring of 1969. Fellow Amherst College student Barry Keating was director. Several parts of songs from this show resemble parts of songs Steinman later released. For example, the words "turn around bright eyes" from " Total Eclipse Of The Heart " can be heard in the song called "The Formation of the Tribe" in Steinman's manuscript for the show.3. Steinman said in an interview that Joseph Papp , founder of the New York Shakespeare Festival , saw the play and was so impressed he signed it up during intermission. He wanted to bring it to New York (either Broadway or Central Park), but balked when leading citizens objected to its sexually explicit scenes. Steinman worked under Papp after his years at Amherst College. 4 1970S In 1974, Steinman worked with college friend Barry Keating on a musical called ''Das Rheingold,'' based on Richard Wagner 's opera of the same name. Steinman wrote music and lyrics for an unsuccessful musical called '' More Than You Deserve '' (1974). This was adapted from a play that had the working title "Souvenirs". Michael Weller wrote the book and co-wrote the lyrics. One of the actors cast in this show was Marvin Lee Aday, who went by the name Meat Loaf . Steinman would later make two albums of songs with Meat Loaf. A song from this show, called "More Than You Deserve" would later be recorded by Meat Loaf for the '' Dead Ringer '' album. In 1976, there was a minor one-month run of a musical called "The Confidence Man." It was based loosely on the novel by the same title by Herman Melville . The book and lyrics were written by Ray Errol Fox , the music by Steinman. Ray Fox described the 1976 production as "a capsule version of the show." In 1986, a more elaborate production of the show with added songs was held at Queen's College in New York City. It was directed by Susan Einhorn and performed by Queen's College students. Orchestrations were by Steven Margoshes , a frequent Steinman collaborator. One song from The Confidence Man, "Milady," was recorded by Barry Manilow , but never released. The melody of that song later appeared in '' Tanz Der Vampire '' as the melody of "Für Sarah" (for Sarah). An album of the songs from The Confidence Man, produced by Jeff Olmstead, was released in 2003. Steinman said in his blog that he found The Confidence Man "a bit cold and confusing". In 1977, a brief workshop was held for a work-in-progress musical called ''Neverland''. It was based loosely on '' Peter Pan '' by J.M. Barrie . A few of the songs heard in this show can also be heard on the album '' Bat Out Of Hell '', released in 1977. These include the songs " Bat Out Of Hell ", "All Revved Up With No Place To Go", and "Heaven Can Wait". The show also contained Steinman's "Bolero" (a.k.a. "Great Bolero's of Fire") which was later used at many live shows featuring Steinman work. Karla DeVito , who would later sing Steinman's work on the album '' Bad For Good '' and at many Meat Loaf concerts, was cast in this workshop. In 1976, Steinman recorded '' Bat Out Of Hell '' at Bearsville, near Woodstock. Meat Loaf was the lead vocalist, with Todd Rundgren as producer. Musicians on the album included Roy Bittan and Max Weinberg from Bruce Springsteen 's E Street Band . After many rejections from record companies, it 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 the total, including vinyl, cassette and compact discs, is likely close to 35 million copies. The highest-charting song from the album was " Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad ", which reached #11 on the Billboard Charts . Steinman wrote the theme music for the 1979 TV show '' Delta House ''. The music from this later appeared on the song "Dead Ringer for Love". 1980S In 1980, the film '' A Small Circle Of Friends '' was released. It had an orchestral score composed by Steinman. The motifs of this orchestral score match the melodies of numerous songs Steinman later released, including " Total Eclipse Of The Heart ", " Making Love Out Of Nothing At All " and "Fur Sarah" from ''Tanz der Vampire''. Early in the production of a follow-up album to ''Bat out of Hell'', Meat Loaf developed vocal problems and was unable to continue on the project. Steinman proceceeded with the album, released as '' Bad For Good '' in 1981. Most songs are sung by Steinman himself. Three of the songs are sung by Rory Dodd , who did not receive a clear indication for his work in the album's credits. Karla DeVito sings a duet part on one song. Steinman was this time credited as co-producer with Todd Rundgren for all but one track. Steinman was credited as co-producer with Jimmy Iovine for the song "Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through". The highest charting song from this album was "Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through" which reached #32 on the Billboard charts. In total the album has sold over one million copies. Meat Loaf again recorded songs by Steinman on the 1981 album '' Dead Ringer ''. Steinman has said in an interview that he had planned to co-produce this album with Jimmy Iovine and that both of them decided to leave the project. All of the songs on the album were written by Steinman. Stephen Galfas and Meat Loaf are credited as producers. Jim Steinman and Jimmy Iovine are credited as producers for backing tracks, presumably for the incomplete work they left behind when they left the project. Lead vocals are by Meat Loaf , with Cher singing a duet part on the song "Dead Ringer for Love". The highest charting song on this album was "Dead Ringer for Love". The album was not as successful as the previous Meat Loaf album, but was still considered successful. It reached #1 on the album charts in the United Kingdom. Released in 1983, Steinman was credited as producer of every track on the album '' Faster Than The Speed Of Night ''. Lead vocals were sung by Bonnie Tyler . Steinman wrote two of the songs on the album. The #1 chart single "Total Eclipse of the Heart" was on this album. The other song written by Steinman was "Faster Than the Speed of Night". In 1983, an Air Supply greatest hits album included the track " Making Love Out Of Nothing At All ", written and produced by Steinman. It reached #2 on the Billboard pop singles chart, at a time when another Steinman production, " Total Eclipse Of The Heart ", held the #1 spot. Barry Manilow released the compilation album ''Greatest Hits Volume II'' in 1983. It included the bonus track, "Read 'Em and Weep", written and produced by Steinman, which had appeared on Meat Loaf's ''Dead Ringer'' album in 1981, but with a slightly different lyric. The song stayed at #1 on the Adult Contemporary Chart for 11 weeks. In 1984, the film '' Streets Of Fire '' was released. The soundtrack included two songs written and produced by Steinman. They are " Tonight Is What It Means To Be Young " and " Nowhere Fast ". The performance of these two songs is credited to " Fire Inc. ", which was a reference to an assembly of studio musicians and singers hired for these two songs. The voices heard on these songs include those of Rory Dodd , Holly Sherwood , and Laurie Sargent . Steinman is credited for producing all of the tracks on Billy Squier 's 1984 album '' Signs Of Life '', and Barbra Streisand 's album of the same year, '' Emotion '', featured "Left in the Dark", which Steinman wrote and produced. The song had appeared on '' Bad For Good ''. The soundtrack for the 1984 film '' Footloose '' included the song " Holding Out For A Hero ", performed by Bonnie Tyler . Steinman produced the track and is credited with writing the music, and Dean Pitchford for writing the lyric. The song was a hit single, the soundtrack album was successful, and the film was successful. Some of the music from this song was adapted from the music used for the song "Stark Raving Love", from the album '' Bad For Good ''. In 1984, Steinman was hired by and worked briefly with the rock band Def Leppard on some tracks that were intended for a Def Leppard album. However, Steinman was fired, and the recording work he made with the band was not released. The next album Def Leppard released after this, '' Hysteria '', was produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange . In 1985 Steinman wrote and produced a theme song for WWF performer Hulk Hogan . It was released in 1985 on an album called '' The Wrestling Album ''. The track was made during the recording sessions for '' Secret Dreams And Forbidden Fire ''. Steinman produced the track "Love Can Make You Cry", written by Michael Kehr, Don Kehr and Ian Hunter, for the soundtrack album for the 1986 film '' Iron Eagle ''. This was an augmented version of the original recording of the same song, which had appeared on the 1985 album '' Cast The First Stone ''. The original recording had been produced by Ian Hunter and Mick Ronson. According to Steinman in an interview, Andrew Lloyd Webber approached him to write lyrics for '' The Phantom Of The Opera '' because Lloyd Webber felt that his "dark obsessive side" fit in with the project. However, Steinman declined in order to fulfill his commitments on a Bonnie Tyler album.5 In 1986 the album '' Secret Dreams And Forbidden Fire '' was released. Bonnie Tyler sang lead vocals. Steinman produced every track on the album. Two of the songs on the album were written by Steinman. One, "Holding Out for a Hero", was the same track from the '' Footloose '' soundtrack. The other, "Loving You's a Dirty Job (But Somebody's Got To Do It)" was not successful as a single. It was a duet with Todd Rundgren . This album was the first time Steinman worked with Steven Rinkoff , who was a recording engineer on this album. Since this album, the two have been co-producers and professional partners on all of Steinman's work. Sisters Of Mercy released their second album, '' Floodland '', in 1987. The track "This Corrosion" was produced by Steinman, and the track "Dominion/Mother Russia" was co-produced by Steinman, along with Larry Alexander and Andrew Eldritch . The soundtrack album for the 1989 film '' Rude Awakening '' included two tracks produced by Steinman. One was the song "Rude Awakening", with lead vocals by Bill Medley and was written by Rick Rose and Paul Rothchild. The other was called "Darling Be Home Soon", which featured lead vocals by Phoebe Snow and was written by John Sebastian. In 1989 the album ''''. 1990S With Andrew Eldritch, Steinman co-wrote and co-produced the track "More" for the 1990 album '' Vision Thing '' by the group Sisters Of Mercy . In 1993, the album '''' was released. Steinman wrote all the songs, and was credited as producer and arranger. Steven Rinkoff was, as usual, credited as co-producer, and others received co-producer credits. The album was very successful, reaching the peak position on album charts in many countries. The album had three top 40 singles, with " I'd Do Anything For Love (but I Won't Do That) " reaching the peak position on pop singles charts in 28 countries.6 The other top 40 singles were "Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through" and " Objects In The Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer Than They Are ". "Original Sin", the eponymous song on the 1989 Pandora's Box album, featured on the soundtrack album for the 1994 film '' The Shadow ''. Steinman also produced this version, with lead vocals by Taylor Dayne . The non-vocal parts of that track were transposed from the track on the Pandora's Box album. In 1995, the band Watershed released the album ''Twister''. Steinman was Executive Producer for the album, and Steinman's partner Steven Rinkoff was producer for all but one track of it. The album consisted of songs written by the band members. In 1995, Bonnie Tyler released the album '' Free Spirit '', featuring two tracks produced and written by Steinman. They were dance/techno versions of the past hits " Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad " and " Making Love Out Of Nothing At All ". Steinman produced the song " Never Forget ", written by Gary Barlow , for the U.K. group Take That . It was released in 1995 and reached the #1 position on the UK Singles Chart . " and "Call the Man". "It's All Coming Back To Me Now" reached #2 on the Billboard charts and won Steinman the award for BMI song of the year. That award is given for the song, out of all those represented in the BMI catalog, that receives the most radio airplay in a particular year. This album as a whole won two 1997 Grammy Awards, for Best Pop Album and for Album Of The Year. Steinman also produced the track "Us", written by Billy Pace, for Dion's 1997 album '' Let's Talk About Love ''. Steinman's production team prepared a recording of the Steinman/Black song "Is Nothing Sacred" for that album, but it was removed shortly before the album's release. A recording of Dion singing the song was leaked and has been shared on fan websites ever since. Steinman produced two tracks for films in the late 1990s. He produced "In The Dark of the Night", written by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens, for the soundtrack album of th 1997 film '' Anastasia ''. He also produced "I Want to Spend My Lifetime Loving You" (music by James Horner , lyric by Will Jennings ) for the 1998 film '' The Mask Of Zorro ''. Lead vocals were a duet between Tina Arena and Marc Anthony , and the track also appeared on Tina Arena 's 1997 album '' In Deep ''. Steinman provided lyrics for Andrew Lloyd Webber 's musical '' Whistle Down The Wind '', which opened in Washington, D.C. in December 1996. However, it received poor reviews and the Broadway run, scheduled for the following April, was cancelled.7 A reworked and more successful West End production opened at the Aldwych Theatre on 1 July 1998 .8 In addition to a full-length cast album for the London production, an album was released of well-known performers singing pop versions of the songs from the show. This album was produced by Steinman, as usual with Steven Rinkoff . One track, " No Matter What " performed by Boyzone , reached the peak position on the pop charts in many countries. The same track appeared on a Boyzone album and their greatest hits album. The track "Whistle Down the Wind", performed by Tina Arena , also had some chart success. '' Tanz Der Vampire '' (''Dance of the Vampires''), opened in Vienna , Austria on October 4 , 1997 . The show was adapted from Roman Polanski 's 1967 movie '' The Fearless Vampire Killers '', and initially directed by Polanski himself. It won six International musical awards, at the International Musical Award Germany (IMAGE 1998), in Düsseldorf . There have also been translated productions of '' Tanz Der Vampire '' in Poland , Hungary and Japan . Many of the various productions of ''Tanz der Vampire'' have had cast recordings released, some of them produced by Steinman, along with other co-producers. Like much of Steinman's work, the show includes adaptation (or, recycling) of material Steinman had released before. This includes the song "Total Eclipse of the Heart", the melody of "Objects in the Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer Than They Are", and many other parts of earlier works. Ten previously released Steinman songs were included on the 1998 2-disc compilation album '' The Very Best Of Meat Loaf ''. The included recording of the song "Life Is A Lemon And I Want My Money Back" was a new re-mix made by Steinman's production team. The compilation also included three new recordings of songs co-written by Steinman, all three of which he produced. They include the hybrid track "Home By Now/ No Matter What " and "A Kiss is a Terrible Thing to Waste" from ''Whistle Down the Wind''. Also included is the song "Is Nothing Sacred", on which Steinman wrote music for Don Black 's lyrics. 2000S Around 2001, Steinman was working with singer Karine Hannah. Plans to make an album with her were eventually abandoned. Demo recordings of Hannah singing four songs by Steinman were leaked to fans and have since been available on numerous fan sites. The songs on these demos are "Safe Sex", "Making Love Out of Nothing At All", "Is Nothing Sacred", and "Braver Than We Are".9 In 2002 Russell Watson released the album '' Encore ''. It included the Steinman/Black song "Is Nothing Sacred". Steinman had originally worked on his production of this song with Watson on lead vocals. Due to disagreements, Watson ended up releasing a less ornate re-mix production made from the parts recorded for Steinman's production. So, the track on this album could be described as not a Steinman production, but constructed from parts of one that was made but not released. Composed by Michael Reed and Jim Steinman, with a script by Warner Brown , '' Garbo - The Musical '', about the life of the late screen idol Greta Garbo , opened in Sweden to poor reviews in 2002.10 Preparation for a stage musical based on the Batman comic book series began early in the decade, with Steinman working on the music and lyrics.11 In August 2002 the '' New York Post '' reported that Warner Bros. signed Tim Burton to direct. According to an un-named source Burton was attracted to the project because it was as dark as his 1989 film '' Batman '' rather than "the goofy, campy turn the franchise took with '' Batman Forever '' and '' Batman And Robin '', both of which were directed by Joel Schumacher ."12. Steinman said about Burton and the project, "It's more like his first two movies than any of the other movies. It's very dark and gothic, but really wildly funny. It was my dream that he do this." 13 However, Warner Bros. cancelled its plans to cast and stage the show. Steinman has since shared some of the song demos from the show via the Dream Pollution website. The Dream Engine has, according to its website and myspace page, also worked on recordings of some of the songs that were in the show. Steinman was Executive Producer for the 2003 MTV Television Film '' Wuthering Heights ''. He has cited Brontë 's novel, which had inspired " It's All Coming Back To Me Now ", as one of his favorites.14 A limited-release six-track soundtrack CD was sold through MTV, on Steinman and Rinkoff's Ravenous Records label. Jim Steinman is credited as producer for the album and most of its tracks, and Steven Rinkoff is credited with recording, mixing and co-production.15 That album includes a simple recording of the Steinman/Edritch song "More" with actors Mike Vogel and Erika Christensen performing lead vocals. It also includes the first-ever release of the song "If It Ain't Broke (Break It)", written by Steinman, with lead vocals by Mike Vogel . The album also has a version of "The Future Ain't What It Used To Be" by Jim Steinman with lead vocals from Erika Christensen . The non-vocal part consists only of the same piano track heard on the Pandora's Box album, performed by Roy Bittan . In 2003 the Opera Babes released the album '' Beyond Imagination ''. Steinman produced the track "Vittoria!", adapted from the Giuseppe Verdi opera '' Aida ''. Like many Steinman productions, it includes work by electronic music arranger and programmer Jeff Bova . In 2004 the film '' Shrek 2 '' was released, along with a soundtrack album. The album has two techno/dance covers of the Steinman/Pitchford song "Holding Out for a Hero", one with vocals by Jennifer Saunders and the other credited to Frou Frou . In 2005 ''. This album included the song "A Kiss Is a Terrible Thing To Waste", written and produced by Steinman. The recording on that album was made in 1987, during the recording sessions that ended up being the 1989 album '' Some Hearts ''. However the Steinman song was not released until 2005. This song is different from the song with the same title in ''Whistle Down The Wind''. The two songs with this title share only a few words and no music in common. A demo recording of this song, with Rory Dodd singing lead vocals, has for many years been in circulation among fan websites. A separate and very different show from '' Tanz Der Vampire '', ''Dance of the Vampires'' opened on Broadway on October 16, 2002. After the original director left the show, it was directed by John Rando , who joined very shortly before the opening. The book was written by David Ives and was notable for the large number of jokes, many of which had a silly or vulgar quality to them. Whereas Tanz had been a "sung-through" musical with no breaks in the music (like an opera), ''Dance of the Vampires'' was a humorous spoken play with songs inserted at some parts. The reviews tended to be very negative. It closed on January 25, 2003 after 61 preview and 56 regular performances. Financially, it was very unsuccessful, and lost roughly $17 million. Steinman did not attend the opening night to show his disgust with the show. On his blog Steinman writes "''DOTV'' as we know was UTTER SHIT!" in one post, and describes the production as a "shit pile" in another, also stating in separate blogs that his music was "wasted" on the show. In his blog, Steinman also said about Dance of the Vampires, "DOTV, which you guys know I hated & was disgusted by, & was FIRED by my manager, acting as producer!" The manager he was referring to was David Sonenberg, who was one of the producers of the show and Steinman's longtime manager. During the concerts in his ''Hair Of The Dog'' tour, Meat Loaf told the audience that he and Steinman would be putting out a new album. Later, Meat Loaf said that "lawyers worked for over a year putting together a contract for Steinman to do ''Bat out of Hell III.'' It was one of the best producer's contracts in the history of the record business." According to Meat Loaf, the composer had suffered some health setbacks, including a heart attack. Ultimately, according to the singer, Steinman was not well enough to work on such an intense project. However, Steinman's manager refuted this version, saying that Steinman's "health is excellent" and although he had some "meaningful health problems about four years ago...he's been totally healthy the last couple of years... that's not the reason he didn't participate in ("Bat III")." Produced by '' was released in October 2006. Jim Steinman was not involved in the project, and has said he did not hear it until shortly before its release, after it was completed. It has fourteen songs, seven of which were written by Steinman; five of these were covers of songs already released on other albums. The other two were adapted from Steinman's demos of songs that were intended for musical theater projects, but not in the end used. This album's title was the subject of a legal battle between Steinman and Meat Loaf . Steinman had registered a trademark on the title "Bat out of Hell" in 1995, and sought to prevent Meat Loaf from using the title.16 Meat Loaf sought to cancel Steinman's trademark and use the title. Aside from the Trademark case, he sued Steinman and longtime manager David Sonenberg for $50 million each, for a total of $100 million.17 An out-of-court settlement was reached, ending the legal cases, allowing Meat Loaf to use the title for this album, and allowing Meat Loaf to release his recordings of the songs "In The Land of the Pig The Butcher Is King" and "Cry To Heaven".18 First publicly presented in early 2006, Steinman and Steven Rinkoff created a music performance group called The Dream Engine . The group has worked on studio recordings, and held live shows in 2006 in New York, New York. It also performed at an award show in Atlanta, Georgia . According to Steinman's blog, this project is "guided" by Steven Rinkoff . In early Summer of 2006, through the Dream Pollution website, it was announced that Jim Steinman was working on an elaborate musical theater show featuring his songs. He has said that the show is based on his "Neverland" story/concept, but was much more and much better. In interviews he has talked about "Neverland" as an evolving storyline that has continued to inspire much of his songwriting. The show on which Steinman is working was potentially to include visual stunts such as motorcyclists, skateboarders, BMX bicyclists and acrobats. In a July 9, 2006 entry to his blog, Steinman referred to this project by "Jim Steinman's BAT OUT OF HELL—the Epic Live On Stage." He wrote that this show will be "containing up to 15 songs, at least, from ''BAT1'' and ''BAT2''". Steinman also said that his unreleased song "We're Still the Children We Once Were" will be featured in the show. REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS
|
|
|