Award-winning songwriter Billy Steinberg, who co-wrote Madonna’s ‘Like a Virgin’, has died aged 75 after a battle with cancer.

LOS ANGELES: Award-winning songwriter Billy Steinberg, who co-wrote some of the biggest pop hits of the 1980s and 1990s, has died at the age of 75.

His attorney confirmed to the Los Angeles Times and BBC News that Steinberg died on Monday following a battle with cancer.

Steinberg’s career-defining hits included Madonna’s “Like a Virgin”, which he co-wrote with Tom Kelly. The song spent six consecutive weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

He also helped write five number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 list for artists including Whitney Houston and Celine Dion.

Steinberg won a Grammy Award in 1997 for his work on Celine Dion’s album “Falling Into You”. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2011.

His family paid tribute in a statement to media outlets. “Billy Steinberg’s life was a testament to the enduring power of a well-written song — and to the idea that honesty, when set to music, can outlive us all,” they said.

Born in 1950, Steinberg grew up in Palm Springs, California, where his family ran a table grape business. He attended Bard College in New York before launching his songwriting career.

 The Sun Malaysia