by Shirley Halperin
Information from variety.com,
The singer Meat Loaf, whose “Bat Out of Hell” album is among the best-selling and most enduring rock albums of the 1970s, has died at the age of 74. A consummate performer, he also appeared as an actor in the cult classic “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” as well as “Crazy Alabama,” “Fight Club,” “Wayne’s World” and “The NeverEnding Story,” among dozens more film and television credits.
Meat Loaf, whose real name is Marvin Lee Aday, won a 1994 Grammy Award for best solo rock vocal performance for the song “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That).”
A cause of death was not given, but Deadline reports that his wife Deborah was by his side as he took his final breaths on Thursday, January 20.
An official statement from the Meat Loaf Facebook page reads:
Our hearts are broken to announce that the incomparable Meat Loaf passed away tonight with his wife Deborah by his side. Daughters Pearl and Amanda and close friends have been with him throughout the last 24 hours.
His amazing career spanned 6 decades that saw him sell over 100 Million albums worldwide and star in over 65 movies, including “Fight Club”, “Focus”, “Rocky Horror Picture Show” and “Wayne’s World.”
“Bat Out of Hell” remains one of the top 10 selling albums of all time.
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.
We thank you for your understanding of our need for privacy at this time.
From his heart to your souls…don’t ever stop rocking!
Meatloaf’s death comes less than a year after the passing of his longtime collaborator, Jim Steinman, who composed “Bat Out of Hell” in 1977. It has gone on to sell more than 50 million copies globally and yielded the hit “Paradise By the Dashboard Light,” a multi-act mini rock opera that incorporates barroom piano, a baseball play-by-play, and revving engines into an explosive combination of hooks and melodies. Meat Loaf’s work with Steinman continued on the 1981 album “Dead Ringer,” 1993’s “Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell” and 2016’s “Braver Than We Are.”
“Bat Out of Hell” also got the stage musical treatment in 2017.
A day became Meat Loaf officially in the early 1970s, after moving to Los Angeles from the Dallas area, where he was raised as an only child. His first break came by way of regional production of the musical “Hair,” which eventually led to a role on the Broadway production. His booming voice and wide frame lent heft to his performance, a trait that would define the rock star’s sound in the years to come.
Although the seeds for “Bat Out of Hell” were sown as early as 1972, acting helped propel his career throughout the first half of the decade. Among his most memorable turns as the character of Eddie in the cult movie “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” which also began as a stage show. A subsequent soundtrack, produced by Lou Adler, who also helmed the film, featured the Meat Loaf song “Hot Patootie – Bless My Soul”
But it was “Bat Out of Hell” that would make Meat Loaf a household name. Released in 1977, it spawned four radio smashes — “Bat Out of Hell”, “Paradise by the Dashboard Light”, “You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth” and “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad” — all accompanied by music videos, a novel marketing concept at the time.
It worked as the album went on to break sales records for years and decades to come. In the U.K., for instance, it’s spent more than 522 weeks in the Top 200.
Meat Loaf’s musical output continued steadily into the 1990s when he saw a resurgence in tandem with the success of “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That).” While it was a Grammy-winning song for the artist, it also became a popular punchline as comics and civilians alike wondered aloud what “That” could possibly be.
As a live performer, Meat Loaf continued to tour throughout the 2000s, though a series of falls and illnesses made the road less tenable in his final years. In 2011, he appeared as a contestant on “The Celebrity Apprentice,” alongside Gary Busey, La Toya Jackson, NeNe Leakes, Lisa Rinna, and Dionne Warwick, among others. Although he wasn’t affiliated with any particular political party, Meat Loaf was complimentary of former President Donald Trump, who hosted the NBC reality show, describing him as “intelligent” in a 2017 Billboard interview.
In the hours after news of his death broke, tributes began flooding in on social media.
To read more about Meat Loaf here : Meat Loaf (variety.com)
