The news was confirmed by the Connecticut state medical examiner on Monday, although a cause of death has not yet been given. 

 

A statement was also posted on Steinman's Facebook page, reading, "It's with a heavy heart that I can confirm Jim's passing. There will be much more to say in the coming hours and days as we prepare to honour this giant of a human being and his glorious legacy. 

 

"For now, do something that makes you feel young, happy and free. He'd want that for you!"

 

Steinman was born in New York City in 1947, and attended school at Amherst College in Massachusetts, where he wrote The Dream Engine, a musical that laid the foundation for much of his later work, including Bat Out Of Hell and Bonnie Tyler's 1983 hit Total Eclipse Of The Heart.

 

After several years working on the periphery of musical theatre (Bette Midler recorded a version of the the Bat Out Of Hell classic Heaven Can Wait in 1973), Steinman met Meat Loaf during a workshop for The Dream Engine – now titled Neverland – and the two decided to record the project. 

 

Bat Out Of Hell was revved up with plenty of places to go. Songs like Paradise By The Dashboard Light, Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad and For Crying Out Loud echoed the textbook teenage view of sex and life: irrepressible physical urges and unrealistic romantic longing, with enough musical bombast to make the outwardly trivial seem entirely epic.

 

Bat Out Of Hell became a classic and a huge commercial success, selling over 50 million copies worldwide and famously spending over 500 weeks on the UK chart. and while neither Meat Loaf or Steinman would ever repeat its success, the two men worked together again on the follow-up, 1981's Dead Ringer, and on Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell, released in 1993.

 

Steinman would go on to work with an array of artists including Bonnie Tyler, Billy Squier, Air Supply, Barry Manilow, Ian Hunter, the Sisters Of Mercy and Def Leppard, on the aborted sessions for what became their Hysteria album.