Songwriter Jim Steinman, collaborator with Meat Loaf, Celine Dion and others, dies age 73

Songwriter and collaborator with the stars Jim Steinman, whose lyrics helped push the likes of Celine Dion, Meat Loaf and Bonnie Tyler to stardom, has died.

He was 73.

The hit-maker was rushed to the hospital in the middle of the night, reported TMZ.

Steinman wrote everything from Meatloaf’s “Bat Out of Hell” album, which sold 40 million copies, to the hit “Total Eclipse of the Heart” for Bonnie Tyler — and all manner of chart-topping songs in between.

Heartfelt tributes to the man and his music began pouring in immediately as the news broke.

“Jim Steinman was a @#$%ing legend, and the patron saint of the power ballad,” wrote film critic William Bibbiani on Twitter. “I am overwhelmed by how sad I am. He wrote the kind of music that felt like it was made just for me.”

The cause of death was not revealed, other than that it appeared to be sudden, TMZ said. He had suffered a stroke in the early 2000s and had to learn to speak again, but it was not clear whether his death was related.