| Jim Steinman | |
|---|---|
Steinman in January 2005 at Joe's Pub in New York City. |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | James Richard Steinman |
| Born | November 1, 1947 |
| Origin | New York, New York |
| Genres | Various |
| Occupations | Record producer, composer, lyricist |
| Instruments | Piano, Vocals, Percussion |
| Years active | 1969–present |
| Associated acts | Meat Loaf; Bonnie Tyler; Pandora's Box; The Sisters of Mercy; Celine Dion; Air Supply; Barry Manilow; Barbra Streisand |
| Website | http://jimsteinman.blogspot.com |
James Richard "Jim" Steinman (born November 1, 1947) is an American composer, lyricist, and Grammy Award-winning record producer[1] 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, pop, musical theater, and film score genres.
His work includes such albums as Meat Loaf's Bat out of Hell and Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell, and producing albums for Bonnie Tyler. His most successful chart singles include Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart", Air Supply's "Making Love out of Nothing at All", Meat Loaf's "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)", The Sisters of Mercy's "This Corrosion" and "More", Barry Manilow's "Read 'Em and Weep" (originally released by Meat Loaf), Celine Dion's cover of "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" (originally released by Steinman's project Pandora's Box) and Boyzone's "No Matter What". The album Bad for Good was released in his own name in 1981.
Beginning his career in musical theater, Steinman's most notable work in the area includes lyrics for Whistle Down the Wind and music for Tanz der Vampire.
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Steinman was born in New York, New York. He graduated from George W. Hewlett High School in 1965 and then attended Amherst College.
According to longtime manager David Sonenberg, Steinman had serious cardiac health problems around 2004, but has been in good health since.[2]
Responding to an interviewer's asserting that his songs are tragic, Steinman says that he has "never been stomped on literally. Figuratively, I am stomped on every day ... anyway, that is the way I feel sometimes. I've never had my heart broken the way you are talking about. I've never been dumped... but probably because I don't allow myself to be dumped."[3]
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.[4] He had previously scored two other musicals at Amherst, A Man's a Man (1967) and Baal (1968), as well as co-producing The Beard (1968).[5]
The story of The Dream Engine, 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 April 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.[6]
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 his Amherst faculty advisor explained to Papp that, contrary to Papp's published claim, Steinman was never threatened with "near-expulsion" from the college. Nonetheless, Steinman worked under Papp after his years at Amherst College.[7]
In 1971, Steinman provided music for a puppet show called Ubu. The show, put on by puppeteer and filmmaker Demian, was an adaptation of Ubu on the Hill, an 1888 play by Alfred Jarry.[8]
In 1973, Steinman's song "Happy Ending" appeared on the album Food of Love, sung by Yvonne Elliman. This was the first commercially released recording of a song written by Steinman.[9]
In 1974, Steinman worked with college friend Barry Keating on a musical called Rhinegold, based on Richard Wagner's opera Das Rheingold, writing the music and co-writing the script.[10] Steinman wrote music and lyrics for a musical called More Than You Deserve (1973). One of the actors cast in this show was Marvin Lee Aday, who went by the name Meat Loaf, with whom Steinman later collaborated. A song from this show, called "More Than You Deserve" would later be recorded by Meat Loaf for the Dead Ringer album.
In 1975, while working for Joseph Papp at the New York Shakespeare Festival, Steinman contributed music and lyrics to Thomas Babe's Kid Champion, which starred Christopher Walken.[11]
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.[12] 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 Queens College in New York City.[13] 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). Some music from this show later appeared in the hit song "Making Love out of Nothing at All", and in the score of the film A Small Circle of Friends. A cast album of the songs from The Confidence Man, produced by Jeff Olmstead, was released in 2003.[14]
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.[15][16] While preparing the show, Steinman and Meat Loaf, who were touring with the National Lampoon show, felt that three songs were "exceptional" and Steinman began to develop them as part of a seven-song set they wanted to record as an album.[17] The three songs were "Bat out of Hell", "Heaven Can Wait" and "The Formation of the Pack", which was retitled "All Revved Up With No Place to Go." 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.
Steinman and Meat Loaf had immense difficulty finding a record company willing to sign them. According to Meat Loaf's autobiography, the band spent most of 1975, and two and a half years, auditioning Bat out of Hell and being rejected.[18] CBS executive Clive Davis even claimed that Steinman knew nothing about writing, or rock music in general.[19] Recording started in 1976 in Bearsville, near Woodstock.[20] After numerous further rejections, the album was released by Cleveland International Records in October 1977.[21] 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 in 2007, Cleveland International Records founder Steve Popovich said that it was around 40 million copies.[22] The highest-charting song from the album was "Two Out of Three Ain't Bad", which reached #11 on the Billboard Charts.
In 1979, the Freeway Records label made a 2-L.P. compilation album called "L.A. Radio". It was not commercially released, but promo copies were distributed. It included a spoken word segment called "Shadows on the Freeway", written and recited by Steinman. It later appeared on the 1981 Dead Ringer album with a new title, "Nocturnal Pleasure". Parts of it can also be heard at the beginning of the 1989 music video, directed by Ken Russell, for the first release of the song "It's All Coming Back to Me Now".
Steinman wrote the theme music for the 1979 National Lampoon TV show Delta House. Sean Kelly and Tony Hendra wrote the lyric for this. Michael Simmons sang the lead vocal. The music from this later appeared on the song "Dead Ringer for Love".[23]
In 1980, the film A Small Circle of Friends was released. It had an orchestral score composed by Steinman, and orchestrated by his frequent collaborator Steve Margoshes.[24] 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 "Für Sarah" from Tanz der Vampire.[25]
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 proceeded with the album, released as Bad for Good in 1981.[26] 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, and Karla DeVito sings a duet part on one song.[27] 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".
Meat Loaf again recorded songs by Steinman on the 1981 album Dead Ringer. All of the songs on the album were written by Steinman.[28] The highest charting song on this album was "Dead Ringer for Love", a duet with the uncredited Cher, and the album reached #1 on the album charts in the United Kingdom.
Steinman is credited as producer of every track on Bonnie Tyler's 1983 album Faster Than the Speed of Night.[29] Steinman also wrote two of the songs on the album: "Total Eclipse of the Heart" and "Faster Than the Speed of Night". For a period in 1983, two songs written and produced by Steinman held the top two positions on the Billboard singles chart, with "Total Eclipse of the Heart" at number one, and "Making Love out of Nothing at All", performed by Air Supply, at number two.[30] The second of those appeared on Air Supply's 1983 compilation albums Greatest Hits and Making Love... The Very Best of Air Supply, and was also released as a single.
Barry Manilow's 1983 compilation album Greatest Hits Vol. II included the song "Read 'Em and Weep", written and produced by Steinman.[31] It had appeared on Meat Loaf's Dead Ringer album in 1981, but with a slightly different lyric.[32] The song stayed at #1 on the Adult Contemporary Chart for eight consecutive weeks.[33]
In 1983, Ian Hunter released his album All of the Good Ones Are Taken. On the title track, "All of the Good Ones Are Taken", Steinman is credited with "assistance". Rory Dodd and Eric Troyer, two singers who often sang on Steinman's studio work, were credited with "additional background vocals".[34]
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.[35] The voices heard on these songs include those of Rory Dodd, Holly Sherwood, and Laurie Sargent.[36]
Steinman is credited for producing all of the tracks on Billy Squier's 1984 album Signs of Life,[37] and Barbra Streisand's album of the same year, Emotion, featured "Left in the Dark", which Steinman wrote and produced.[38] The song had previously 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.[39] 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.[40] 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.[41] The track was made during the recording sessions for Secret Dreams and Forbidden Fire. The track has no lead vocals, and it matches much of the non-vocal parts of the track of "Ravishing" that appeared on Secret Dreams and Forbidden Fire. The track was also heard as the theme music on the animated television show Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling.[42]
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.[43] This was a modified version of the original recording of the same song, which had appeared on Urgent's 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.[44] In 1986 the album Secret Dreams and Forbidden Fire was released.[45] Bonnie Tyler sang lead vocals. Steinman produced every track on the album. Four 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 others being, "Ravishing", "Rebel Without a Clue" and "Loving You's a Dirty Job but Somebody's Gotta Do It", a duet with Todd Rundgren.[46] 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 regular professional partners on Steinman's work.
The 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.[47] The soundtrack album for the 1989 film Rude Awakening included two tracks produced by Steinman.[48] 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 Original Sin was released. The album artist name is Pandora's Box.[49] Pandora's Box referred to a group assembled by Steinman, including, officially, four female singers and Steinman himself. The official four female singers were Ellen Foley, Elaine Caswell, Gina Taylor, and Deliria Wilde[50] (with Holly Sherwood doing lead vocals on "Good Girls Go to Heaven"). Sales in Europe were low. The album was successful and reached #1 on the album charts in South Africa. It was not released at all in North America. Years later, it was re-issued and became available all over the world on compact disc. Original Sin included the original recording of "It's All Coming Back To Me Now", sung by Elaine Caswell.[51] Two songs from this album "It Just Won't Quit" and "Good Girls Go to Heaven (Bad Girls Go Everywhere)" were re-recorded and released on Bat out of Hell II: Back into Hell.[52]
With Andrew Eldritch, Steinman co-wrote and co-produced the track "More" for the 1990 album Vision Thing by the group The Sisters of Mercy.[53]
Around 1992, Steinman worked with the punk band Iron Prostate, which featured guitarist and writer George Tabb. The group reportedly dissolved while working with Steinman on what was to be their second album.[54] Tabb's website has shared a recording of the song "Bring Me The Head of Jerry Garcia", with Steinman credited as executive producer.[55] The song's lyric says of Jerry Garcia, "he plays guitar like diarrhea".
After a series of financial and legal disputes during the 1980s, Steinman and Meat Loaf met at the singer's house in Connecticut at Christmas 1989[56] or 1990[57] and sang Bat out of Hell on piano. Steinman says that "working together again seemed like the cool thing to do."[56]
In 1993, the album Bat out of Hell II: Back into Hell 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.[58] 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.[59] As of 2009, this 1993 single, and the album containing it, are the most recent new song or project written entirely by Steinman to achieve major, chart topping success. The other top 40 singles from this album 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. The lyric on this release was slightly different from that heard on the original release of this song. Steinman also produced this version, with lead vocals by Taylor Dayne.[47]
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.[60] 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 versions of the past hits "Two Out of Three Ain't Bad" and "Making Love Out of Nothing At All".[47]
Steinman, along with Brothers in Rhythm and David James, with Steven Rinkoff as associate producer and engineer, co-produced the song "Never Forget".[61] It was written by Gary Barlow, for the UK group Take That. It was released on the 1995 album Nobody Else and reached the #1 position on the UK singles chart. Like many Steinman/Rinkoff productions, it featured programming and keyboard work by Jeff Bova.
Celine Dion's 1996 album Falling Into You included the song "It's All Coming Back to Me Now", written and produced by Steinman. He also produced, but not authored, two other songs on the album: "River Deep, Mountain High" and "Call the Man".[62] "It's All Coming Back To Me Now" reached #2 on the Billboard charts[63] and won Steinman the award for BMI song of the year.[64] 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.[64] Steinman also produced the track "Us", written by Billy Pace, for Dion's 1997 album Let's Talk About Love.[65] 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.
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 the 1997 film Anastasia.[66] 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.[67] Lead vocals were a duet between Tina Arena and Marc Anthony, and the track also appeared on Tina Arena's 1997 album In Deep.[68]
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.[69] A reworked and more successful West End production opened at the Aldwych Theatre on July 1, 1998.[70] 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.[71] 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.[72] The same track appeared on a Boyzone album[73] and their greatest hits album.[74] As of 2009, Boyzone's 1998 recording of "No Matter What" is the most recent new song or project written at least in part by Steinman, or to contain any new work of his at all, to achieve major, chart topping success. The track "Whistle Down the Wind", performed by Tina Arena, from the same album, also had some chart success.
Tanz der Vampire (Dance of the Vampires), opened in Vienna, Austria on October 4, 1997.[75] 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.[76] There have also been translated productions of Tanz der Vampire in Estonia, 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.[77] 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.[78] The compilation also included three new recordings of songs co-written by Steinman, all three of which he produced.[79] 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.
In 2001, the box set Andrew Lloyd Webber: Now & Forever was released. It included a recording, produced by Steinman and Andrew Lloyd Webber, and also co-produced by Steven Rinkoff and Nigel Wright, of the Steinman/Webber song "A Kiss Is a Terrible Thing to Waste", from Whistle Down The Wind. It was credited to The Metal Philharmonic Orchestra, which was an unrealized performance project idea. Kyle Gordon, a.k.a. "Scarpia", a singer on many demo recordings for Steinman, sang the lead vocal.
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".[80] Steinman also recorded her voice on a demo of "Catwoman's Song", which recycled parts of the Steinman/Eldritch song "More". This demo was part of Steinman's preparations for the unrealized Batman: The Musical. He shared it with fans through a website. 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.
Composed by Michael Reed and 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.[81] 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.[82] 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.".[83] 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."[84] 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.[85] 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.[86] That album includes a simple recording of the Steinman/Eldritch 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.
In 2002 the Opera Babes released the album Beyond Imagination. Steinman produced the track "Vittoria!", adapted from the Giuseppe Verdi opera Aida. Steven Rinkoff was credited with co-production, recording and mixing. Like many Steinman productions, it includes work by electronic-music arranger and programmer Jeff Bova. Steinman was also credited as arranger, along with Jeff Bova and Jon Cohen. In 2004 the film Shrek 2 was released, along with a soundtrack album. The album has two 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 The Everly Brothers released a limited edition album called On the Wings of a Nightingale: The Mercury Studio Recordings. 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, with the Everly Brothers version containing musical motifs recycled from the Steinman song "Out of the Frying Pan (And Into the Fire)". 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.[87] In his blog, Steinman also described the show as "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 releasing 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.[2] 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]".[2]
Produced by Desmond Child, Bat out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose was released in October 2006. 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. Steinman's demo of "In The Land of the Pig, the Butcher is King", with Rob Evan singing lead vocal, was part of the preparations for the unrealized Batman: The Musical project. Steinman's demo of "Cry to Heaven", with Kyle Gordon singing lead vocal, was intended for the possibility that Steinman would provide songs for a musical based on the film Cry-Baby. Cry-Baby has since been staged, but without any work from Steinman.
In 2006, the album's title became 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.[88] 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.[89] 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".[90] The agreement allowed Steinman to use the title "Jim Steinman's Bat Out of Hell" for a musical theatre project based on the songs from Bat Out of Hell. Describing it as "like Cirque du Soleil on acid," he expected it to open in London in late 2008[91] or 2009.[3]
In 2006 Westlife released The Love Album. It contained a cover of "Total Eclipse of the Heart", produced by Steve Mac. A remix with an added intro, presumably done by Steinman, Rinkoff, and Bova, has leaked and been in circulation among fan sites.
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. The people in this project were the first ever to publicly perform the songs "What Part of My Body Hurts the Most", "We're Still The Children We Once Were", "Speaking in Tongues", "Not Allowed to Love", and "(It Hurts) Only When I Feel". The last of those songs is partly adapted from "If It Ain't Broke (Break It)". This project was also the first to perform a revised and politicized lyric to "Braver Than We Are". With the new lyric, the song has alternatively been called "An American Elegy" and "God's Gone A.W.O.L.". According to Steinman's blog, this project was "guided" by Steven Rinkoff. This project has not performed or been active in public since 2006, aside from having a website and Myspace page.
Bonnie Tyler stated in a September 2007 interview with UK radio station Magic 105.4 that she plans to collaborate with Steinman on a country/rock album. In the interview she said that Steinman intends to provide one or two of his songs for the album.[92] In July 2008, Tyler said regarding this project, "We are trying to finish our recordings before the summer of 2009. So far we have recorded only four songs." [93] A 20 January 2008 article in icWales.co.uk implied that Steinman was interested in having Rhydian Roberts record some of his work.[94] However, that singer released his debut album Rhydian on 24 November 2008, and it contained none of Steinman's work.
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