1 hits "Like a Virgin" by Madonna (1984), "True Colors" by Cyndi Lauper (1986), "Eternal Flame" by the Bangles (1989), "So Emotional" by Whitney Houston (1987), and "Alone" (covered by Heart in 1987).
His father, Lionel Steinberg, ran the David Freedman Company, the largest grape grower in the Coachella Valley.
Also that year, Steinberg began writing with Tom Kelly, who had written another song ("Fire and Ice") on the album for Benatar.
Steinberg later recalled writing the lyric in 1983 following a failed relationship, stating that he had genuinely felt that he'd "made it through the wilderness" and that he was "beat, incomplete".
The success of the partnership continued with more number one singles, "True Colors" (recorded by Cyndi Lauper), "So Emotional" (by Whitney Houston), "Eternal Flame" (by the Bangles) and "Alone" (by Heart).
Their other hits include "In Your Room" (the Bangles), 'Spirit of Love' (by Laura Branigan), "I Drove All Night" (recorded by Roy Orbison, Cyndi Lauper and Celine Dion), "I Touch Myself" (Divinyls), "Sex as a Weapon" (by Pat Benatar), and "Look Me in the Heart" (by Tina Turner).
Artists such as REO Speedwagon, Cheap Trick, Bette Midler, Belinda Carlisle, and Taylor Dayne (on her multi-platinum debut album Tell It to My Heart) also recorded their songs.
In the mid-1990s, Steinberg began writing with Rick Nowels, who had established himself as a songwriter for artists such as Stevie Nicks and Belinda Carlisle.
They wrote JoJo's 2006 single "Too Little Too Late" and Leigh Nash's "Nervous in the Light of Dawn" and "My Idea of Heaven", and Katharine McPhee's "Over It" in 2007.