The Hitmakers Steinberg & Kelly | The Story Behind Many Songs
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- Опубліковано 21 лис 2021
- Songwriters Tom Kelly and Billy Steinberg tell the story behind the hits 'True Colors' (Cyndi Lauper), 'So Emotional' (Whitney Houston), 'Alone' (Heart), 'Eternal Flame' (The Bangles), 'I drove all night' (Roy Orbison), 'I'll stand by you' (The Pretenders). An interview from 2018.
You can watch the story behind 'Like a virgin' here: • Billy Steinberg & Tom ...
These two legends wrote the soundtrack to my life.
Same…seriously.
Whoa. Could not stop watching. These guys are giants.
This interview is a real treasure for me. I've been following Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly's work since their early 80s band i-Ten. Growing up in the 1980s, I always saw their names on some of my favorite 45 records. I even own the magazine that they graced the cover of called Music Connection. As a songwriter myself, they are a huge inspiration to me. I am a HUGE fan! The "Eternal Flame" that Billy speaks of here reminds me of their songs. A lot of the songs that these two composed together are now pop standards. They will live on forever like an Eternal Flame. 🎵
Pretty incredible these two dudes wrote all these classic tunes. I always thought these artists wrote them!
Burt Bacharach and Hal David levels of prodigious output there. I had no idea that these two were behind so many amazing songs.
Most songs by Bacharach & David are little miracles of melody and lyrics.
Dunno about the lyrics by these two , but most their melodies are pretty generic, not like I would remember, let alone , sing along. Except for Virgin & True Colours, and even the last one I need to hear the whole thing to recognize it.
Great interview! Always loved their massive contributions to the music world.
For the unenlightened: Before they had hit songs, Kelly & Steinberg released an album of original material under the name "I-Ten" called "Taking a Cold Look." This was in 1983, and the most known song from this album has to be "Alone" - later covered by Heart. The album has since become known as a classic within the AOR community. Before this, Kelly was briefly in a band called "Fool's Gold" which released two albums in the mid/late 70's. Tom Kelly was also a very sought-after session vocalist, and has sung on hundreds of albums and hit songs from the mid-70's to the mid-90's. In fact, in the late 80's Kelly was supposedly going for the job as lead vocalist in the (then) new band Giant (who had a hit with the power ballad "I'll See You In My Dreams") - but he bailed out focusing on songwriting instead.
Steinberg also had a band in the late 70's called Billy Thermal.
I-Ten "Quicksand" ua-cam.com/video/_4GziN4JkfU/v-deo.html
Fool's Gold "Wouldn't I Love to Love You" ua-cam.com/video/fY_mdf1Gkck/v-deo.html
Billy Thermal "I'm Gonna Follow You" ua-cam.com/video/362r-AkrJuU/v-deo.html
Magical songwriting team
I applaud anyone who made it through this video without crying.
Great job! I was unaware of these guys but boy, what an incredible catalogue of work.
Billy Steinberg seems like such a delicate soul.
These guys are true craftsmen. Incredibly gifted people. Thank you for brightening my life guys.
I have loved this channel for a long time and this video is precisely why. A touching, amazing interview. Incredible.
I grew up listening this hits so obviously I hate all cacophony from these days in the radio and titok. This is true art & poetry. Maestros
Didn’t realise how many of their songs I love, awesome video!
Thank you Tom and Billy... you both wrote many memorable songs. I hope you get the good amount of royalty you deserve.
These guys are true masters of composing and song writing. So many big big unforgetable everlasting hits with stunning melodies. Thanks for sharing! This documentry is worth watching every minute of it and probably over again. Cheers DimiZ
You can really see the collaborative creative relationship these 2 men have. Both have strong opinions of their own but also know when to be quiet and let the other guy cook.
This is a great document on songwriting and composing..... thanks to Arjan Vlakveld and his crew
amazing they were able to write such different sounding songs
Bravo. Well done. You captured the essence of these two songwriters perfectly. 👏👏👏🙏
That's a great compliment, Frinton!
Awesome! More longer Top 2000 a gogo videos, please!
I'll pass on the message! ;-)
Geweldig, prachtig portret! Dank jullie wel.
Jij bedankt voor je compliment, Steve!
Wow incredible talent. Such amazing songwriters and so many hits. Amazing
I love those original lyrics to ‘(Your) True Colours’: “You’ve got a long list with so many choices, a ventriloquist with so many voices and your friends in high places say where the pieces fit, you’ve got so many faces in your makeup kit” I understand why it is was changed but that is a really beautiful lyric.
This is one of your very bests and one of the very bests UA-cam videos altogether
Amazing writers!
Tom has got a beautiful voice too!
Loved these songs back then, loved them now. Thanks guys!
I love these Top 2000 a Go Go videos learning about how songs were written and this is the best one yet. Incredible!!
I had no idea so many pop songs I like were written by the same people.
Wonderful documentary, and the very ending is perfect, since the hidden thread of the documentary is authentic love.
This has to be the best one yet. Amazing. Just awesome 👏👏👏
How amazing would it be to get Mutt Lange on this show to talk about his hits.
But I don't imagine it will ever happen, since the guy is a recluse.
Yes good idea.
love these 2 guys. they maken life wonderful as friends!
Such a pleasure to watch this documentary and see these two legends chat about the "how's and why's" 💗 I did notice some great songs that weren't mentioned... "In Your Room" for The Bangles in '88 (prior to "Eternal Flame"). "Look Me In The Heart" for Tina Turner '89. "My First Night Without You" for Cyndi Lauper '89. "The Gift of Love" for Bette Midler '91. "Night In My Veins" for Pretenders '94. "Falling Into You" for Celine Dion '96. "One and One" for Robert Miles '96. 💗
Fascinerend, nooit geweten dat deze heren zoveel hits hebben geschreven die ik allemaal letterlijk meezing👌🎶😊
Legends.
One of the problems of these great (but relatively unknown to the big public) songwriters is that there has been created a precedent where the current artists with all of their market value and what not can be so demanding, as to get a co writing credit even when they've contributed barely anything
More of these, please.
These two are the real artist who made bands famous. Always find people to play an instrument, and sing what you can't find easily is someone who can write hit songs repeatedly.
These guys are so talented, I recently got their I-Ten album and love it. And their version of Alone doesn't have Ann Wilson, but it has Steve Lukather and other members of Toto.
Incredible songs!
love the i-ten cd .
Such talent. I touch myself, so clever!
Two very talented men. Thank u! for this wonderful music. The demos are great. I would buy those.
mooie reportage
Wow i loved all of these …. Songs of my youth
Wow! After hearing the demo for True Colors that song would of been perfect for Paul Young
Boy do I enjoy these features! This one is especially special. I'm a songwriter as well and if I could have just a small fraction of the success that Steinberg & Kelly have had it would be lovely.
Thanks Top2000 a gogo, finally somebody made a doc about these guys!
Two of my favourite songwriters. Thanks for sharing this great interview.
Wow. Fantastic interwie, so interesting to watch and here these two giants. ❤
Excellent, a story played out perfectly, well done!
This was a great video, thanks!
These guys are so amazing!
incredible!
I really enjoyed this interview. It was really interesting. Thank you.
These guys are pure talent icons
WOW. This was great. Loved the entire video.
Older generation had Leiber & Stoller. We have Steinberg & Kelly.
Hmmm I assume you're a lot older than me. Leiber and Stoller were around 30 years before Steinberg and Kelly and the 80s were 40 years ago now
These VTs are so good to watch!
I've said it many times. Over the course of history, it's been men who have written the most heartfelt love songs. I find that ironic as usually men are known for not showing feelings but again and again, think of your favourite love songs and you'll find a huge proportion of them were penned by men.
Wauw - stevig onder de indruk!
Mooi, Jan!
haha net wanneer ik dacht niet nog meer onder de indruk te kunnen raken van dit filmpje, zie ik aan het eind op 26:50 Noël Perdaens van het Johan Strauss orkest van André Rieu. Geweldig. Wat een minidocu. Helemaal top!
Watching this makes me think "why didn't I take up songwriting for a living?" It's inspiring.
Fantastic.
I love the True Colors demo!
Wow, these guys were behind so many great songs from the late 80s and the early 90s! More long format videos please.
EDIT: Wish we could get such documentaries for Mutt Lange and Max Martin, but both are so reclusive :(
Als je dit gezien hebt, ga je anders naar de muziek luisteren, en zijn de nummers veel mooier. Wat kunnen deze mensen mooie muziek maken.
The demos sound better than the recorded versions!
Susanna Hoffs, such a beautiful woman!!
I am former songwriter. I have spent nearly twenty years of my life writing songs. As I left the trade , I told my son, why I left the trade.i said to him, one can't write songs fyer his soul is corrupted. I look at this two men, and I see their souls are not corrupted..
drove all night beautiful song. I like Roys version best
Magical 💚
23:30 How can you not smile at that tale!
Wat een geweldige reeks!
Steinberg & Kelly meeting Madonna and Warren is everything.
I laughed my ass off when I heard that story for the first time.
One of the most amazing stories in pop.
I bet Madonnaa hated them, because she didn't write that huge hit herself (a mistake she never repeated again).
Boss Lady Madonna! I adore her.
Not my kinda music, but it's so important to shine a light on the actual creatives... the writers... they are constantly orverlooked. When people quote these song lyrics, they always attribute the lines to the singer.
I totally agree.
Steinberg & Kelly 👍
i had no idea they'd written so many great songs i knew about the madonna one if they put all
these songs together you could make it into a musical
with the extra bits that didn't fit
there's an eternal flame to princess diana in paris
Die gasten hebben de soundtrack van vijf jeugd geschreven ❤️
UA-cam if you disable the Dislike button, at least gives us a Super like button.
This video needs one!
Hahaha “are you stubborn?” Hahaha real Dutch directness, totally not appropriate but totally honest 😂😂😂
2 very clever men.
cool guys
Subscribed. Well deserved.
I remember a video where people were compareing Rush and Aerosmith and while both are great bands, the big difference was that Rush wrote all their own songs. Most of these 'power ballads' that pseudo heavy metal bands were putting out in the eighties were written by somebody else, so essentially they are just a cover band for the songwriters. Songwriting is the hardest gig there is, you've got it or you don't. Mind you, the musical part was that many of these bands best stuff were never actually formulaic enough to be 'hits'.
My biggest gripe with today’s music is that the majority of Pop artists seem to lack the ability to write a catchy song with a great hook and melody. So I wish these 2 talented guys were still writing today.
I would be surprised to know most today don't write their own music. Think about it these two lived a life of not being famous but still owned the music. I rather be song writer who face isn't known to the public no one bothers you. Being famous today must be hell everyone having a camera phone TMZ and others who pay these people to snap some crappy picture for tabloids.
If this is “corporate” pop…then give me more, more, more of this good stuff!!!
Hier zit nog enigzins variatie in, Stock Aitken en Watrman waren vele malen erger..
wtf these guys are geniuses...
Little did they know Eternal Flame would be in Ramona and Beezus later
the question is: who makes the most money? The artist or the writer of the song??
Not being in the business, I would presume the writer(s) make more money because they can/should control (and profit) from the song's use by others (besides the performer who initially had success with it). The writer(s) can license it to vocal talent shows on television, various ASPCA/UNICEF commercials, and whatever niche that particular song might fill in a tribute video or something similar.
As an aside, I'm barely old enough to remember when Phil Collins and Steve Winwood caught a bunch of flak by licensing their brand new songs to Anheuser-Busch for use in Michelob commercials, but It seems like a lot of folks are doing that now.
@@GarrettWorcester exactly! The composer/writer makes more money, think Whitney Huston (Will always love), Dolly Parton made way more money then Whitney.
The writer
@@markushutto4017 I'm not so sure if early hits made them lot of money, I would bet they were sold off to labels. Those days labels had 100% control example is John Fogerty he fought for years to get writes of his own music back he wrote those songs.
*Especially in this day & age, the writers of songs are the folks that are one of the highest paid cogs in the 'music machine'.*
I say this because a lot of people don't realize that every time a (copyrighted) song is played commercially, the songwriters of said song are sent a check.
It's called (near) perpetual royalties. And, it's one of the sweetest deals in music.
So do you make a better deal by writing than actually singing?
What about production?
What are the percentage?
@@user-yt2xv1gs7l songwriters get payed every time it’s played or performed. Defo the most royalties
@@user-yt2xv1gs7l the money is ALWAYS in the writing of the songs themselves and the subsequent publishing deals. That’s why artists fight for publishing rights and songwriting credits in works that have already been written. A good example of the keyboard part of whiter shade of pale which went to court and established that the player had partially written the song as the run on the organ was so integral to the overall work.
Another example was Claire Torrey’s unforgettable, seminal, and iconic vocal on Pink Floyds “the Great Gig in the Sky”. She received paltry session fee from the vocal delivery which became one of PFs most famous songs and fought in court to try and extract some sort of remuneration for the key role she played. I don’t know what the outcome was though -
It also illustrates that bands who write together, stay together. U2 have always split their writing and publishing straight down the quarters even though mostly it’s Edge and Bono who are main songwriters. And they’re still together over 40 years later. Sorry for long entry!
Most money goes to the company owners, not to the musicians, not the writers, not the producers. The smart guys in the office, that's were you find the big cars, _and_ they don't need to hire, they _own_ m.
Them artists in this series that ended up in the good life, had their business done well. The guys that got hustled or of their rights, those old blues cats, the down and out artists you don't see m here, or, they don't want to talk, ey, John Fogerty ?
Mooi lied over z'n moeder, die ook over een hond had kunnen gaan 😆
Wie is de interviewer, niet Leo Blokhuis toch?
Dat klopt, dit is Arjan Vlakveld!
@@Top2000agogo leuk interview hoor, sympathieke mensen
That was days music you feel as meaning old schook rules
I find it somewhat disheartening that so many big "stars" don't write their own songs. It makes the business seem like nothing more than a marketing exercise. The songwriters are the true stars.
It's been ages that performers were the big stars. Songs were handed down, changed a bit perhaps. Presley and Sinatra, the first two Really Big Stars, took other songs and made m theirs - with help of brilliant producers, mind you - Sam Phillips , Nelson Riddle. Only with Chuck Berry, Little Richard and The Beatles came the first major stars writing nearly all their own stuff ( oop Fats Domino too, but he took a lot from older stuff, Chuck lifted a lot of melodies, but his songwriting...)
Anyways, it's nothing new, folks like Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Carol King, Joni Mitchell are rare diamonds. Most stars shining are just sapphires - very good singers, top performers, but writing good songs, that's not for everyone.
uau...
I love the demo of true colors. No offense, Cindy’s voice is not my type
Agree. I prefer Roy Orbison's version of I Drove All Night by far!
I wonder what Cindy thought of Toms vocal impersonating Roy Orbison. I mean he sounds just like orbison .. so thats kinda suspect with their story..