{"id":233896,"date":"2026-02-16T18:16:20","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T23:16:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/2026\/02\/16\/cyndi-lauper-on-the-late-billy-steinberg-true-colors-co-writer-pure-genius\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T18:16:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T23:16:20","slug":"cyndi-lauper-on-the-late-billy-steinberg-true-colors-co-writer-pure-genius","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/2026\/02\/16\/cyndi-lauper-on-the-late-billy-steinberg-true-colors-co-writer-pure-genius\/","title":{"rendered":"Cyndi Lauper on the Late Billy Steinberg, \u2018True Colors\u2019 Co-Writer: \u2018Pure\u00a0Genius\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\tSongwriter Billy Steinberg<\/strong>, who died Monday (Feb. 16) from cancer<\/a>, was responsible for some of the most indelible pop songs of the \u201880s and \u201890s, including \u201cTrue Colors,\u201d which became one of Cyndi Lauper<\/a>\u2019s signature hits and reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1986.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tSongwriter Billy Steinberg, Co-Writer of \u2018Like a Virgin\u2019 and \u2018True Colors,\u2019 Dies at\u00a074\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tGone But Not Forgotten: Musicians We Lost in\u00a02026\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\u2018Stealing Isn\u2019t Innovation\u2019: Cyndi Lauper, Questlove & More Artists Sign on to AI Licensing\u00a0Campaign\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n

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\n\tBut the Grammy-nominated song wasn\u2019t the only tune that Steinberg and his then songwriting partner Tom Kelly had cut by Lauper. She recorded a number of their songs, including \u201cI Drove All Night\u201d and \u201cUnconditional Love.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a statement to Billboard<\/em>, Lauper said, \u201cI\u2019m so sorry to hear of Billy Steinberg\u2019s passing. He was a great lyricist and a wonderful collaborator. He and Tom had such a way of capturing the range within an emotion, from the subtlety to urgency. When I think back across \u2018True Colors,\u2019 \u2018Unconditional Love,\u2019 \u2018I Drove All Night,\u2019 \u2018My First Night Without You,\u2019 and \u2018Heading West,\u2019 I\u2019m wowed. I mean, come on, \u2018I\u2019m like a letter with no address.\u2019 Pure genius. For \u2018True Colors,\u2019 there was a lot of back and forth which I know was hard for him. In the end, he said that I had really invented my own \u2018very exquisitely beautiful version\u2019 of the song. That really meant a lot to me. It is a special song.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSteinberg initially wrote \u201cTrue Colors\u201d about his mom, but Lauper then amended it to be about a friend who died of AIDS during the early days of the AIDS epidemic. \u201c\u201dHe died of AIDS, and [\u2018True Colors\u2019] was for us to feel better,\u201d she told People<\/em> in 2023<\/a> on the red carpet of the Tribeca Film Festival premiere of her new documentary\u00a0Let the Canary Sing<\/em>. \u201cHe had wanted me to write a song for him, and I tried.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe song subsequently became and remains a powerful LGBTQIA anthem of love and acceptance.<\/p>\n

\n\tAt the Grammy Museum\u2019s 2023 \u201cThe Power of Song: A Songwriters Hall of Fame Exhibit,\u201d Steinberg was represented by a demo for \u201cTrue Colors\u201d\u00a0recorded on a TDK SA 60 cassette and a note from Lauper that read, \u201cBilly \u2014 Thanks for sending me and writing such a beautiful song. [Heart] Cyndi.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSteinberg also co-wrote such pop classics as Madonna\u2019s \u00a0\u201cLike a Virgin,\u201d the Bangles\u2019 \u201cEternal Flame,\u201d Heart\u2019s \u201cAlone\u201d and Whitney Houston\u2019s \u201cSo Emotional.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Aller \u00e0 la source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Songwriter Billy Steinberg, who died Monday (Feb. 16) from cancer, was responsible for some of the most indelible pop songs of the \u201880s and \u201890s, including \u201cTrue Colors,\u201d which became one of Cyndi Lauper\u2019s signature hits and reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1986. Related Songwriter Billy Steinberg, Co-Writer of \u2018Like a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-233896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-musique","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233896\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}