Celine Dion and Andrew Lloyd Webber Join Tributes To Jim Steinman

Celine Dion and Andrew Lloyd Webber have added their tributes to late rock songwriter Jim Steinman.

Steinman died from kidney failure at the age of 73 on Monday.

Following the sad news, Steinman’s famous fans and collaborators have taken to social media to pay their respects, with Dion, who recorded Steinman’s It’s All Coming Back to Me Now, calling him “an amazing producer and songwriter”.

She tweeted: “He was a musical genius… and having the opportunity to work with him was one of the greatest privileges of my career.”

While Lloyd Webber, who worked with Steinman on the musical Whistle Down The Wind, compared the songwriter to German composer Richard Wagner.

“He was a one-off,” the theatre impresario told the BBC. “One of the nicest, kindest people I’ve ever met in this business… He was kind of the Wagner of rock, if you like.”

Lloyd Webber also recalled an evening out with Steinman in New York City, adding, “There were six of us and he took all six of us to this Mexican restaurant in New York. He said to the waiter…, ‘We’ll have one of everything,’ which was typical of him. And the waiter said, ‘Mr. Steinman, are you sure you want one of everything?’ He said, ‘No you’re right, we need six of everything!’

“These trolleys of food appeared, and he was extraordinary.”

Total Eclipse of the Heart singer Bonnie Tyler, who was one of the first people to pay tribute to Steinman upon hearing of his death on Tuesday, added to her statement, writing: “Jim writes these very bombastic sort of Wagnerian kind of music (sic). When you see him play the piano, he starts with his hair all lovely and dry. By the time he is finished, it’s dripping with sweat and it’s all stuck around his face because he plays with such vigour.”
Meanwhile, Meat Loaf, who collaborated with Steinman throughout his career, wrote: “Coming here soon, My brother Jimmy. Fly Jimmy Fly.”