Jim Steinman, hitmaker for Meat Loaf and Celine Dion, dies

NEW YORK — Jim Steinman, the Grammy-winning composer who wrote Meat Loaf’s best-selling “Bat Out Of Hell” debut album as well as hits for Celine Dion, Air Supply and Bonnie Tyler, has died, his brother said. Steinman was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2012 and won album of the year at the 1997 Grammy Awards for producing songs on Celine Dion’s “Falling Into You,” which celebrated its 25th anniversary last month and featured the Steinman-penned power ballad “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now.” He wrote the music for Meat Loaf’s classic album “Bat Out of Hell,” released in 1977 and one of the top-selling albums of all-time. Steinman also wrote Meat Loaf’s 1993 album, “Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell,” another commercial and multi-platinum success that featured the international hit “I’d Do Anything for Love.” He also worked on 2006’s “Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose,” which closed the “Bat Out of Hell” trilogy. “He has been such an influence, in fact, the biggest influence on my life, and I learned so much from him that there would be no way I could ever repay Mr. Jim Steinman.” Meat Loaf and Steinman joined forces again for Meat Loaf’s most recent album, 2016’s “Braver Than We Are.” The songs were written over a 50-year period, and include several originally intended for “Bat Out of Hell.” Steinman’s only album was 1981’s “Bad for Good,” which featured “Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through,“ a Top 40 hit that Meat Loaf later recorded with more success on the charts.