Billy

I’ve noticed something in common with the few people I’ve sadly witnessed in the throes of succumbing to cancer. There’s a grace about them. It’s as if they don’t want you to carry any of the burden.

So let’s not. Let’s celebrate my friend (and many of yours) Billy Steinberg. Feel free to share an anecdote of your own.

Billy’s songs weren’t just hits. They were iconic milestones. Some of my favorite pop songs ever. “True Colors,” “I Touch Myself,” “So Emotional.” I’m not just saying that because my friend passed away. They were a bar I would never reach.

When I moved to LA in the 90’s I reached out to Billy Steinberg. It was a ballsy move. I never thought he’d welcome me into his world. But he did. He wrote with me. He invited me to his home. Introduced me to his wife, Trina. Gave me my first pair of readers when I didn’t realize I needed them yet. He’s been trying to fix up his son Ezra with my daughter since they were in sixth grade.

From the looks of him you’d never guess Billy was an award-winning songwriter with fiery ideas in his head. He could just as easily have been a schoolteacher. A woodworker. Billy was unassuming. Soft spoken. Although he had so much to say.

Like at his Record Pulls where Billy would select deep cuts from his abundant album collection, lower the needle on his state of the art turntable and ask us – a bunch of fellow song-junkies –  to listen. Really listen. Then we’d share thoughts about the song, the production, the mix, the harmonies. Billy would enlighten us with new elements we’d never heard before.

And then of course … we’d eat.

When asked about having the balls to use the word “virgin” in a song title, he told me he’d always aspired to be Bold rather than Beige. He’d prefer to take the chance of offending someone than putting them to sleep. That stuck with me, especially when I wondered if “Bitch” could fly.

So thank you, Billy for that. And thank you for being a friend to songwriters, large and small. For letting us in. For raising the bar so high that even though we couldn’t reach it, it made us try. It made us better.

You were our role model. We will miss your presence in our orbit but we will continue to burn your eternal flame in our hearts.

Sleep well.

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