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Billy Steinberg is an American songwriter. He has achieved most of his success as part of a songwriting team, most notably with Tom Kelly. He has also cowritten several hit songs with Rick Nowels.
Steinberg grew up in Palm Springs, California and as a teenager formed the group Billy Thermal which was eventually signed to Richard Perry's Planet Records label. Linda Ronstadt heard their album and decided to record their song "How Do I Make You?" for her 1980 Mad Love album. Ronstadt's version of the song reached the American top ten.
In 1981 Steinberg began writing with Tom Kelly, and together they contributed the title track for Pat Benatar's Precious Time album.
Their breakthrough occurred in 1985 with the song Like a Virgin. Steinberg later recalled writing the lyric in 1983 following a failed relationship, and recalled that he had genuinely felt that he'd "made it through the wilderness" and that he was "beat, incomplete". For the next year Steinberg and Kelly tried to find the right person to record the song. They had added a falsetto chorus in frustration at the length of time it was taking to sell the song, and after they added this, both felt it would be a big hit. Several singers turned the song down on the basis of its slightly controversial lyric and by 1984 they were beginning to believe the song would never be recorded. The duo played several rock songs for a Warner Brothers executive and impulsively played "Like a Virgin" at the end. The executive had been noncomittal to the other songs but said "Like a Virgin" would be perfect for Madonna, who had just released her first album and who was quickly establishing a fanbase. Her version of the song spent six weeks at number one in the United States in 1985, and became a worldwide hit. It was also the title track for her number one album, one of the decade's highest selling albums throughout the world, and the biggest success of Madonna's career.
The success of the partnership continued with more number one singles "True Colors" (recorded by Cyndi Lauper), "So Emotional" (by Whitney Houston), "Eternal Flame" (by The Bangles) and "Alone" (by Heart).
Some of their other hits include "I Drove All Night" (recorded by both Cyndi Lauper and Roy Orbison), "I Touch Myself" (the Divinyls), "Sex as a Weapon" (by Pat Benatar) and "Look Me in the Heart" (by Tina Turner). They also wrote several songs with Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders including the top ten single "I'll Stand By You". Artists such as REO Speedwagon, Cheap Trick, Bette Midler and Belinda Carlisle have also recorded their songs.
In the mid 1990s Steinberg began writing with Rick Nowels, who had previously established himself as a songwriter for such artists as Stevie Nicks and Belinda Carlisle. Their greatest success of the period was the Celine Dion recording of "Falling Into You" for which they won Grammy Awards. Their songs have been recorded by artists such as Kylie Minogue, k d lang, Melanie C., The Corrs, Robert Miles, Amber, Enrique Iglesias, Chynna Phillips and Ace of Base.
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