The singer Meat Loaf, whose “Bat Out of Hell” album is among the best-selling and most enduring rock albums of the 1970s, died on January 20 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” and “Wayne’s World,” 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.
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!
Meat Loaf’s death comes less than a year after the passing of his longtime collaborator, Jim Steinman, who composed the 1977 album “Bat Out of Hell,” which was produced by Todd Rundgren. It has gone on to sell some 50 million copies globally and yielded the hit “Paradise by the Dashboard Light,” a multi-act mini rock opera that incorporates juke joint piano, a baseball play-by-play and revving engines into an explosive combination of hooks and melodies.
Meat Loaf continued to record Steinman’s songs on albums from 1981’s “Dead Ringer” to his swan song, 2016’s “Braver Than We Are,” which consisted of numbers written by Steinman decades earlier. Meat Loaf also looked to other songwriters for material through most of his post-1970s recorded output.
The only Meat Loaf album to be fully produced as well as written by Steinman was 1993’s “Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell,” a reteaming that became an International smash. The reunion was certified five-time platinum in the U.S. and gave the singer his only No. 1 album in the States and U.K. (where it was on top for 11 weeks) after the original “Bat” album.
“Bat Out of Hell” also got the stage musical treatment in 2017, opening to some strong reviews on London’s West End and leading to a tour, although plans to bring the jukebox musical to Broadway were thwarted.
Aday 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 a regional production of the musical “Hair,” which eventually led to a role on the Broadway production. His booming voice and wide frame lent a 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 was the character of Eddie in the cult movie “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” which also began as a stage show. A subsequent soundtrack 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 possible 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.
Among his most memorable performances was 2004’s “Bat Out of Hell: Live with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.” Two years later, the third volume of the “Bat” series, “Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose” album, with Desmond Child producing and Steinman uninvolved, beyond the use of five of his songs. It led to a legal tussle between the singer and the songwriter, who claimed a trademark on the “Bat Out of Hell” title, but it was ultimately resolved. Steinman gave his blessing and counsel when Meat Loaf went on to record a full album of Steinman trunk songs, “Braver Than We Are,” as the final album to be released during the singer’s lifetime.
In 2011, Meat Loaf 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. He was also a frequent guest in recent years on Mike Huckabee’s cable talk show, often discussing his patriotism and fervent support for the U.S. military.
The singer described having four separate back surgeries in 2016-2018 and experiencing debilitating pain. “Before the back surgeries I was still trying to do shows, that’s when some of you saw or heard of me collapsing on stage and finally stopping the tour in the U.K.,” he wrote. “I couldn’t hit high notes because of back pain. Not a slight back pain. Pain that would bring you to your knees.”
After singing several songs on Huckabee’s show this past September, Meat Loaf wrote, “I watched it. Vocally strong. I just can’t walk very well anymore. I want to do shows but I will have to stay seated, I was upset watching me walk. I am happy I did the show and I sang very well but walking sucked. Walking really sucked!” While being candid about his physical state, he boasted in his post about the final Huckabee appearance that he did “Out of the Frying Pan” “in the same key that I recorded in on ‘Bat II’.”
Meat Loaf was active on social media as recently as two months before his death, talking about new recordings he was making and touting his participation in Cameo. He had appeared as a guest at conventions several times during 2021, singing for fans who stood in line for hours to get their albums and merchandise autographed.
In his next-to-last Facebook posts in November, Meat Loaf wrote that he had booked studio time for January to work on seven new songs for a planned album that would also include live tracks from the ’70s through 2000s.