- published: 30 Jun 2014
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William Endfield "Billy" Steinberg (born February 26, 1950) is an American songwriter. He has achieved most of his success as part of a song writing team, most notably with Tom Kelly. He has also co-written several hit songs with Rick Nowels.
Steinberg grew up in Palm Springs, California and worked with his father's table grape operation. He attended Cate School in California, and Bard College in New York. In his mid-20s he formed the group Billy Thermal which was eventually signed to Richard Perry's Planet Records label.
Their breakthrough occurred in 1980 when Linda Ronstadt heard their album and decided to record their song "How Do I Make You?" for her 1980 Mad Love album. The album hit the top three of the charts and went platinum. Ronstadt's version of their song reached the American top ten.
In 1981, Steinberg wrote "Precious Time", the title track for Pat Benatar's Precious Time album; he also penned "I'm Gonna Follow You", which appeared on her second album Crimes of Passion the previous year. His band Billy Thermal included "I'm Gonna Follow You" as well as "How Do I Make You?" on their EP released by Planet Records in 1979. Also that year, Steinberg began writing with Tom Kelly, who had written another song ("Fire and Ice") on the album for Benatar.