Rock superstar Meat Loaf dies aged 74

NEW YORK (AP) – Meat Loaf, the heavyweight rock superstar loved by millions with his album “Bat Out of Hell” and heart-wrenching theatrical anthems like “Paradise By the Dashboard Light,” “Two Out of Three Ain” t Bad,” and “I Would Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do It), ” are dead. He was 74 years old.

Marvin-born singer Lee Aday passed away on Thursday, according to a family statement provided by his longtime agent Michael Greene.

“Our hearts are broken to announce that one-of-a-kind Meat Loaf passed away this evening,” the statement said. “We know how much he means to so many of you, and we truly appreciate all the love and support as we get through this traumatic time at the loss of our family. such an inspirational beautiful man and artist… From his heart to yours… never stop shaking! ”

No cause or other details were given, but Aday has suffered from numerous health phobias over the years.

“Bat Out of Hell,” his best-selling collaboration with songwriter Jim Steinman and producer Todd Rundgren, debuted in 1977 and made him one of rock’s most popular artists. Fans were in awe of the 250-pound, long-haired singer’s resounding vocals and the comical unromanticism of the title track, “You Took The Words Right Out of My Mouth,” “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad” and “Paradise By the Dashboard Light”, a special cautionary tale about going all the way. “Paradise” is a duet with Ellen Foley, which features play by New York Yankees broadcaster Phil Rizzuto, who alleged – to many skeptics – that he was unaware of any alternate meaning when he reached third base and headed home.

After a slow start and mixed reviews, “Bat Out of Hell” became one of the best-selling albums in history, with over 40 million copies sold worldwide. Meat Loaf hasn’t been a consistent hit, especially after working with Steinman for so many years. But he maintains a close relationship with his fans through euphoric live shows, social media, and numerous television, radio, and film appearances, including “Fight Club” ” and guest appearances on “Glee” and “South Park.”

Friends and fans reacted to the death on social media.

“I hope heaven is like you remember it from the dashboard lights, Meat Loaf,” actor Stephen Fry said on Twitter.

Meat Loaf’s biggest musical success after “Bat Out of Hell” was “Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell,” a 1993 reunion with Steinman that sold more than 15 million copies and featured a Grammy-winning single. “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do It). ”

Steinman passed away in April.

Aday’s other albums include “Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster is Loose,” “Hell in a Handbasket,” and “Braver Than We Are.”

A Dallas native, Aday is the son of a school teacher who raised him on his own after a divorce from his alcoholic father, a police officer. Aday sang and acted in high school (Mick Jagger was an early favorite, so was Ethel Merman) and attended Lubbock Christian College and now the University of North Texas. Among his notable childhood memories: Witnessing John F. Kennedy arrive at the Love Field in Dallas on November 22, 1963, later learning that the president had been assassinated and driven in a car went to Parkland Hospital and watched bloody Jackie Kennedy get out of the car.

He was still a teenager when his mother passed away, and when he was nicknamed Meat Loaf, the origins are believed to range from his weight to a favorite recipe of his mother. He moved to Los Angeles after college and soon joined the band Meat Loaf Soul. Over the years, he alternated between music and theater, making brief recordings for Motown, opening acts like Who and the Grateful Dead and appearing in the Broadway production “Hair.”

In the mid-1970s, he played mountain bike racer Eddie in the theater and film versions of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”, which he served as his friend John Belushi for staged for National Lampoon and began working with Steinman on “Bat Out of Hell.” The dense, bombastic production was openly influenced by Wagner, Phil Spector and Bruce Springsteen, bandmates Roy Bittan and Max Weinberg who played the record. Rundgren initially thought of the album as a parody of Springsteen’s grandiose style.

Steinman has known Meat Loaf since the singer appeared in the 1973 musical “More Than You Deserve” and several songs from the movie “Bat Out of Hell”, including “All Revved Up With No Place to Go” ,” was originally written according to a stage show plan based on a story by Peter Pan. “Bat Out of Hell” took more than two years to find a buyer because many record executives turned it down, including RCA’s Clive Davis, who disparaged Steinman’s songs and admitted that he We misjudged the singer: “The songs became very theatrical, and Meat Loaf, despite her powerful voice, did not look like a star,” Davis wrote in his memoirs. ,“The Soundtrack of My Life ”.

With the help of another Springsteen aide, Steve Van Zandt, “Bat Out of Hell” was acquired by Cleveland International, a subsidiary of Epic Records. The album made little impact until a few months after its release, when a concert video of the title track was broadcast on the UK program The Old Gray Whistle Test. In the US, his connection to “Rocky Horror” helped him convince producer Lou Adler to use the video for “Paradise By the Dashboard Light” as the trailer for the hit movie. But at first, Meat Loaf was so little known that he embarked on a “Bat Out of Hell” tour in Chicago as the opening act for Cheap Trick, then one of the hottest bands in the world. gender.

“I remember pulling up to the movie theater and it said, ‘TONIGHT: CHEAP: CHEAP, WITH LOAF OF MEAT.’ And I said to myself, ‘These people think we’re serving dinner,'” Meat Loaf explained in 2013 on the fusion radio show “In the Studio.”

“And we walked out onto the stage and these people were the Cheap Trick fans, they booed us from the start. They got up and gave us the finger. The top six stood up and shouted. … By the time we finished, most of the booing had stopped and we almost got a round of applause. ”

He is survived by Deborah Gillespie, his wife since 2007, and daughters Pearl and Amanda Aday.