Remembering Meat Loaf
He was one of the most enduring and hard-working artists in the showbiz
Remembering Meat Loaf
Meat Loaf was born Marvin Lee Aday on September 27th, 1947 in Dallas, Texas. During his early years he engaged on an acting career, however he switched directions in 1965 when he moved to Los Angeles, where he formed his first band Meat Loaf Soul. The band earned a reputation in the Los Angeles area, but switching name regularly, they became known as Popcorn Blizzard and later Floating Circus. among the bands and artists, they opened for are Them, The Who, The Stooges, Janis Joplin, MC5, The Fugs and The Grateful Dead. In the late 1960’s, still with the acting bug, Meat Loaf joined the Los Angeles production of the musical “Hair”. During the early 1970’s he kept recording as a solo artist and simultaneously acting, he joined Broadway as an actor where he played a variety of roles in several plays. His big break came during the winter of 1973, after returning from a short production of “Rainbow in New York” in Washington, D.C., Meat Loaf was asked to be in “The Rocky Horror Show,” playing the parts of Eddie and Dr. Everett Scott. The success of the musical led to the filming of the movie “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” in which Meat Loaf played only Eddie, a decision he said made the movie not as good as the musical, however, was a role that brought him worldwide success in 1975.
Meat Loaf started to work on his famous “Bat Out of Hell” trilogy in 1972, but it wasn’t until 1977 that the first album from the trilogy was released. The album became Meat Loaf’s biggest music success, a blend of Rock and Classical Music that fitted well with his distinctive vocals. To this day, “Bat Out of Hell” has sold an estimated 43 million copies globally (15 millions of those in the United States), making it one of the highest selling albums of all time and is also one of only two albums that has never exited the Top 200 in the U.K charts, this makes it the longest stay in any music chart in the world. The album includes his hits “Bat Out of Hell,” “You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth (Hot Summer Night),” “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad” and “Paradise by the Dashboard Light” a duet with Ellen Foley. Meat Loaf continued his double acting/singing career and in 1981 scored another hit album with “Dead Ringer” that includes the famous duet with Cher “Dead Ringer for Love”. Throughout the 1980’s Meat Loaf had a very active career by releasing several albums, acting and touring, it wasn’t until 1990 that he started to work on “Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell,” against all odds, when it was released in 1993, an era where Alternative Rock ruled the charts, it sold over 15 million copies, and the single “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That),” a duet with Lorraine Crosby, reached number one in 28 countries. Meat Loaf won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Solo in 1994 for “I’d Do Anything for Love.” The song stayed at No. 1 in the United Kingdom charts for seven consecutive weeks and is often regarded as his signature song. After continuing his successful career in the 1990’s and early 2000’s, including a role in the hit movie “Fight Club”, Meat Loaf released “Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose,” the final album of the trilogy that included one more hit “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now” featuring Marion Raven, the song entered the U.K singles chart at No. 6, giving Meat Loaf his highest U.K chart position in nearly 11 years and debuted at No. 8 on the Billboard 200 selling 81,000 copies in its opening week, but after that did not sell well in the United States and yielded no hit singles. Meat Loaf continued to work actively on his acting and singing career, he was one of the most enduring and hard-working artists in the showbiz. He passed in 2022 at the age of 74. In a statement, his family said: “We know how much he meant to so many of you and we truly appreciate all of the love and support as we move through this time of grief in losing such an inspiring artist and beautiful man.”
Watch the 1993 music video of “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That)” by Meat Loaf
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