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Meat Loaf, the heavyweight rock superstar loved by millions for his \u201cBat Out of Hell\u201d album and for such theatrical, dark-hearted anthems as \u201cParadise By the Dashboard Light,\u201d \u201cTwo Out of Three Ain\u2019t Bad,\u201d and \u201cI\u2019d Do Anything for Love (But I Won\u2019t Do That),\u201d has died. He was 74.<\/p>\n
The singer born Marvin Lee Aday died Thursday, according to a family statement provided by his longtime agent Michael Greene.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur hearts are broken to announce that the incomparable Meat Loaf passed away tonight,\u201d the statement said. \u201cWe 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… From his heart to your souls\u2026don\u2019t ever stop rocking!\u201d<\/p>\n
No cause or other details were given, but Aday had numerous health scares over the years.<\/p>\n
\u201cBat Out of Hell,\u201d his mega-selling collaboration with songwriter Jim Steinman and producer Todd Rundgren, came out in 1977 and made him one of the most recognizable performers in rock. Fans fell hard for the roaring vocals of the long-haired, 250-plus pound singer and for the comic non-romance of the title track, \u201cYou Took The Words Right Out of My Mouth,\u201d \u201cTwo Out of Three Ain\u2019t Bad\u201d and \u201cParadise By the Dashboard Light,\u201d an operatic cautionary tale about going all the way. \u201cParadise\u201d was a duet with Ellen Foley that featured play by play from New York Yankees broadcaster Phil Rizzuto, who alleged \u2014 to much skepticism \u2014 that he was unaware of any alternate meanings to reaching third base and heading for home.
\nAfter a slow start and mixed reviews, \u201cBat Out of Hell\u201d became one of the top-selling albums in history, with worldwide sales of more than 40 million copies. Meat Loaf wasn\u2019t a consistent hit maker, especially after falling out for years with Steinman. But he maintained close ties with his fans through his manic live shows, social media and his many television, radio and film appearances, including \u201cFight Club\u201d and cameos on \u201cGlee\u201d and \u201cSouth Park.\u201d<\/p>\n
Friends and fans reacted to the death on social media.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope paradise is as you remember it from the dashboard light, Meat Loaf,\u201d actor Stephen Fry said on Twitter.<\/p>\n
Meat Loaf\u2019s biggest musical success after \u201cBat Out of Hell\u201d was \u201cBat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell,\u201d a 1993 reunion with Steinman that sold more than 15 million copies and featured the Grammy-winning single \u201cI\u2019d Do Anything for Love (But I Won\u2019t Do That).\u201d<\/p>\n
Aday\u2019s other albums included \u201cBat Out of Hell III: The Monster is Loose,\u201d \u201cHell in a Handbasket\u201d and \u201cBraver Than We Are.\u201d<\/p>\n
A native of Dallas, Aday was the son of a school teacher who raised him on her own after divorcing his alcoholic father, a police officer. Aday was singing and acting in high school (Mick Jagger was an early favorite, so was Ethel Merman) and attended Lubbock Christian College and what is now the University of North Texas. Among his more notable childhood memories: Seeing John F. Kennedy arrive at Love Field in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963, then learning the president had been assassinated and driving to Parkland Hospital and watching a bloodied Jackie Kennedy step out of a car.<\/p>\n
He was still a teenager when his mother died and when he acquired the nickname Meat Loaf, the alleged origins of which range from his weight to a favorite recipe of his mother\u2019s. He left for Los Angeles after college and was soon fronting the band Meat Loaf Soul. For years, he alternated between music and the stage, recording briefly for Motown, opening for such acts as the Who and the Grateful Dead and appearing in the Broadway production of \u201cHair.\u201d<\/p>\n
By the mid-1970s, he was playing the lobotomized biker Eddie in the theater and film versions of \u201cThe Rocky Horror Picture Show,\u201d had served as an understudy for his friend John Belushi for the stage production of National Lampoon and had begun working with Steinman on \u201cBat Out of Hell.\u201d The dense, pounding production was openly influenced by Wagner, Phil Spector and Bruce Springsteen, whose bandmates Roy Bittan and Max Weinberg played on the record. Rundgren initially thought of the album as a parody of Springsteen\u2019s grandiose style.<\/p>\n
Steinman had known Meat Loaf since the singer appeared in his 1973 musical \u201cMore Than You Deserve\u201d and some of the songs on \u201cBat Out of Hell,\u201d including \u201cAll Revved Up With No Place to Go,\u201d were initially written for a planned stage show based on the story of Peter Pan. \u201cBat Out of Hell\u201d took more than two years to find a taker as numerous record executives turned it down, including RCA\u2019s Clive Davis, who disparaged Steinman\u2019s songs and acknowledged that he had misjudged the singer: \u201cThe songs were coming over as very theatrical, and Meat Loaf, despite a powerful voice, just didn\u2019t look like a star,\u201d Davis wrote in his memoir, \u201cThe Soundtrack of My Life.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the help of another Springsteen sideman, Steve Van Zandt, \u201cBat Out of Hell\u201d was acquired by Cleveland International, a subsidiary of Epic Records. The album made little impact until months after its release, when a concert video of the title track was aired on the British program the Old Grey Whistle Test. In the U.S., his connection to \u201cRocky Horror\u201d helped when he convinced producer Lou Adler to use a video for \u201cParadise By the Dashboard Light\u201d as a trailer for the cult movie. But Meat Loaf was so little known at first that he began his \u201cBat Out of Hell\u201d tour in Chicago as the opening act for Cheap Trick, then one of the world\u2019s hottest groups.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember pulling up at the theater and it says, \u2018TONIGHT: CHEAP TRICK, WITH MEAT LOAF.\u2019 And I said to myself, \u2018These people think we\u2019re serving dinner,\u2019\u201d Meat Loaf explained in 2013 on the syndicated radio show \u201cIn the Studio.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd we walk out on stage and these people were such Cheap Trick fans they booed us from the start. They were getting up and giving us the finger. The first six rows stood up and screamed. … When we finished, most of the boos had stopped and we were almost getting applause.\u201d<\/p>\n
He is survived by Deborah Gillespie, his wife since 2007, and by daughters Pearl and Amanda Aday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Meat Loaf, the heavyweight rock superstar loved by millions for his \u201cBat Out of Hell\u201d album and for such theatrical, dark-hearted anthems as \u201cParadise By the Dashboard Light,\u201d \u201cTwo Out of Three Ain\u2019t Bad,\u201d and \u201cI\u2019d Do Anything for Love (But I Won\u2019t Do That),\u201d has died. He was 74. The singer born Marvin Lee […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":75130,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[13],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\t\n