About Billy Steinberg
William Endfield Steinberg (February 26, 1950 – February 16, 2026) was an American songwriter. He achieved his greatest success in the 1980s with songwriting partner Tom Kelly, together they wrote or co-wrote the No. 1 hits "Like a Virgin" by Madonna (1984), "True Colors" by Cyndi Lauper (1986), "Alone" (covered by Heart in 1987), "So Emotional" by Whitney Houston (1987) and "Eternal Flame" (co-written with Susanna Hoffs and recorded by the Bangles in 1989). Steinberg and Kelly also wrote or co-wrote the hit songs "I Drove All Night" (recorded by various artists, initially recorded by Roy Orbison in 1987 but first released by Lauper in 1989), "I Touch Myself" by Divinyls (1990) and "I'll Stand by You" by The Pretenders (1994). After Kelly retired from music in the 1990s, Steinberg collaborated with other songwriters. With Rick Nowels and Marie-Claire D'Ubaldo he wrote the hit songs "Falling into You" (covered by Celine Dion) and "One & One". He wrote several songs with Josh Alexander, including "All About Us" and "Fly On The Wall" by t.A.T.u. (2005), "Too Little Too Late" by JoJo (2006), "Over It" by Katharine McPhee (2007), and "Give Your Heart a Break" by Demi Lovato (2012). Their breakthrough occurred in 1980 when Linda Ronstadt heard their album and decided to record their song "How Do I Make You?" for her 1980 Mad Love album. Artists including REO Speedwagon, Cheap Trick, Bette Midler, Belinda Carlisle, and Taylor Dayne (on her multi-platinum debut album Tell It to My Heart), also recorded their songs. In his mid-20s, he formed the group Billy Thermal, which eventually signed to Richard Perry's Planet Records. Steinberg wrote "Precious Time", which became the title track for Benatar's album Precious Time. Steinberg and Kelly also wrote or co-wrote the hit songs "I Drove All Night", "I Touch Myself" by Divinyls (1990) and "I'll Stand by You" by The Pretenders (1994).
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.