MEAT LOAF
(27 September 1947 – 20 January 2022)
The global rock 'n' roll superstar who was Meat Loaf made such an enormous impact on the music business that his story comprises almost nothing but success. Although he worked as an actor on stage, in films and on television, he is known chiefly for his three Bat Out of Hell albums in 1977, 1993 and 2006. The first one has spent over five hundred weeks in the UK music charts and sold 43 million copies; the second, Bat Out of Hell II, gave rise to Meat Loaf's only number one UK single, 'I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)' which stayed at the top for seven weeks, selling 14 million copies and won a Grammy Award; and although Bat Out of Hell III was less successful, between them the three albums shifted over 65 million records. Meat Loaf’s success was due in no small part to the songs, most of which were written by Jim Steinman, who died in April 2021. And now Meat Loaf has died, aged 74, possibly from complications brought on by Covid-19. He had previously suffered from Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which causes a rapid heartbeat. He was also asthmatic.
Meat Loaf was born Marvin (later changed to Michael) Lee Aday in Dallas, Texas, to the former police officer Orvis Aday and the schoolteacher and gospel singer Wilma Hukel. They later went into business with their own cough mixture as the Griffin Grocery Company. Young Marvin Lee began his performing career in school plays at Jefferson High School and was also a gifted footballer. He was known by his initials of M.L. but, on account of his weight, M.L. became known as Meat Loaf. His mother died when he was 19 and a fight with his alcoholic father led him to move to Los Angeles where he formed a band called Meat Loaf Soul which later took on other names with some success and began supporting other bands, including The Who, The Stooges, Grateful Dead and the Grease Band.
His having been in a stage production of the musical Hair led to Meat Loaf getting a record deal in 1971, duetting with Shaun 'Stoney' Murphy as Stoney & Meatloaf. Then he went back into Hair on Broadway and eventually met Jim Steinman, his future musical collaborator. After more theatre work in As You Like It in a Shakespeare in the Park production in New York's Central Park, he eventually played Eddie and Dr Everett Scott in The Rocky Horror Show and also subsequently appeared in the film version. By then Meat Loaf and Steinman had started work on Bat Out of Hell, although it took a while to find a record label for it, until Todd Rundgren decided to produce the album for Cleveland International Records in 1977. The rest is rock music history.
Meat Loaf made more records and toured during the 1980s and 1990s, with Bat Out of Hell II coming out in 1993 among many more recordings that he continued to make. Initially finding it hard to be successful in the US, Meat Loaf eventually became very popular in Europe and in particular the UK and Ireland and after he won a Brit Award in 1994 he continued to be a success touring the world up until 2016. Bat Out of Hell was turned into a stage musical in 2017 and it premiered at the Manchester Opera House and then played the West End, Canada, had a North American tour and was revived in London in 2018. It returned to Manchester in 2021 and is touring until November 2022.
Not only was Meat Loaf a rock star on stage but he also made umpteen appearances on television and in films. He had made his film debut in a small part in the 1962 remake of the Rodgers and Hammerstein movie musical State Fair with Pat Boone, Ann-Margret and Alice Faye. Jump then to 1975 and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Later on he was in over forty films, mainly in small parts or guest shots, such as Scavenger Hunt (1979) with Richard Benjamin, Scatman Crothers, Cloris Leachman and Robert Morley, Wayne's World with Mike Myers, Leap of Faith with Steve Martin, Spice World (the Spice Girls film), Black Dog with Patrick Swayze, Alan Rudolph's Roadie (1980) top-billed as a truck driver for a travelling rock 'n' roll show, David Fincher's Fight Club with Brad Pitt, Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny with Jack Black, and many others. He also appeared on television in Saturday Night Live, Monsters, Tales from the Crypt, South Park, The Outer Limits, Monk, Glee, The Celebrity Apprentice and Ghost Wars among other shows.
Meat Loaf was first married to Leslie Edmonds, a secretary at a recording studio in Woodstock, New York, from 1979 and they have a daughter, Amanda. He also adopted a daughter, Pearl, from Leslie's previous marriage. After divorcing Leslie in 2001 he married Deborah Gillespie in 2007.
MICHAEL DARVELL