With his eyes bulging and his hair flying, Meat Loaf was a swashbuckling showman who belted out epic songs like few others could.
He was best known for his huge-selling Bat Out of Hell album and power ballad I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That).
The force in his vocals and the energy of his stage performances seemed to match the wild stories he told about his life.
But family, friends and fans knew him as a gentle and sensitive soul.
Heaven could no longer wait for the US singer who has died aged 74.
His pal, fellow US singer Alice Cooper, said: “Meat Loaf was one of the greatest voices in rock’n’roll.
“He was so much fun. He felt like a best friend to everyone no matter how long it [was] since you last saw him.
“He would treat the audience almost like [he was] a Pentecostal preacher. He was so powerful on stage.
“There was nobody like Meat Loaf. His shoes can never be filled.”
Meat Loaf reportedly died due to complications of Covid.
He criticised vaccine mandates and told last year how he was “scared to death” of the virus but did not support strict government restrictions.
The singer and actor said: “If I die, I die, but I’m not going to be controlled.”
A statement on his Facebook page said yesterday: “Our hearts are broken to announce that the incomparable Meat Loaf passed away, surrounded by his wife Deborah, daughters Pearl and Amanda and close friends.”
Rare
US star Cher, who sang alongside Meat Loaf on 1981 hit Dead Ringer for Love, said: “Had so much fun with [him] when we did Dead Ringer. Am I imagining it, or are amazing people in the arts dying every other day?”
Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler said: “He was, as you might imagine, a larger than life character with a voice and stage presence to match and is one of those rare people who truly was a one-off talent and personality.”
Meat Loaf – born as Marvin Lee Aday in Dallas, Texas – was an only child. His mum was a teacher and his dad was an alcoholic ex-policeman.
Twice-married
According to Meat Loaf’s book and other sources, the year was 1947 but in 2003 he showed a passport with a birth date of 1951 and later said about the discrepancy: “I continually lie.”
He spent a lot of his youth at his gran’s house. He believed it may have been because his mum was shielding him from his dad’s drinking.
Meat Loaf once said he got his stage name due to a high school stunt when he let a Volkswagen run over his head and a fellow pupil shouted: “You’re as dumb as a hunk of meatloaf.”
But the commonly accepted reason was that he was so red when he was born that his dad called him “Meat”, before the “loaf” was added by a high school sports coach.
While in school, Meat Loaf began acting and singing before moving to Los Angeles after his mum’s death in 1965.
He briefly recorded for Motown and opened for bands including The Who.
Then in 1971, he landed a part in the LA production of musical Hair. Meat Loaf joined the original cast of The Rocky Horror Show in 1973, playing the parts of Eddie and Dr Everett Scott. He also took the role of Eddie in the 1975 film adaptation, The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Bat Out of Hell was rejected by all the major labels before being picked up by an independent label and released in 1977.
Some critics thought it was overblown and melodramatic, but Meat Loaf was a perfect fit for the songs which included Paradise by the Dashboard Light and Heaven Can Wait.
Jim Steinman wrote every track on the album and the pair became close friends – although they fell out and were estranged in the early 1980s.
The album made Meat Loaf a global star but he struggled with the intense pressure and had a nervous breakdown.
Meat Loaf, who enjoyed even more success in the UK than in his homeland, had a run of top 10 albums in the 1980s but the hits dried up and he had not released an album for seven years when he rocketed back into the charts in 1993 with Bat Out of Hell II, featuring I’d Do Anything for Love – a No1 in 28 countries.
Steinman, who died last year aged 73, again wrote all the tracks. Meat Loaf, who appeared in many films including Fight Club, suffered numerous health issues. He had heart surgery in 2003 after collapsing on stage at Wembley Arena.
He went on to have back surgery and said his famed wide-ranging voice was wrecked because the pain stopped him hitting the high notes.
He reportedly suffered a broken collarbone after falling off stage at a horror film convention in Texas two years ago.
Sources told website TMZ that he was due to attend a business dinner this week but cancelled as he was seriously ill with Covid. It is not clear if he was vaccinated.
In May, he said “listen and learn” when sharing a clip of Eric Clapton and Van Morrison’s anti-lockdown song Stand & Deliver.
Meat Loaf, who changed his real first name to Michael, was a fan of Hartlepool United. He chose them as he liked the tale that the town had hanged a monkey thinking he was a Frenchman.
Meat Loaf was renowned for his wit and sense of fun. Singer Boy George praised him yesterday, adding: “[He] once turned me upside down in a Chinese restaurant”.
Fan Sandra Allender, 60, of Warrington, Cheshire, said: “We met many times. He was the most kind, sensitive and loving man.”
But he was no pushover, even with royalty. He claimed to have had a scuffle with Prince Andrew at It’s a Royal Knockout in 1987.
Meat Loaf claimed Andrew suspected him of flirting with his then-wife Fergie and tried to shove him in the water.
The singer said he grabbed the duke and threatened him with a growl: “I don’t give a sh*t who you are, you’re goin’ in the moat.”
Bat Out Of Hell: The Musical, in Wimbledon
At the end of the show, the cast of Bat out of Hell gathered on stage for a speech and encore song in tribute to Meat Loaf.
Sharon Sexton, who pays Sloane in the musical, said: "He was a man with a big heart, a bigger personality and the iconic voice that made Jim Steinman's music fly.
She added: "Tonight's show we've dedicated to his honour, and we promise you Meat, wherever you are, that we're going to keep the flame of rock and roll burning."
Rob Fowler, who plays villain Falco, said: "He was a huge inspiration to Jim, a huge inspiration to this show and a huge inspiration to all of you and all of us.
"Meat Loaf, we love you and may the beat be yours forever."
The cast performed a touching version of Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through, which Meat Loaf often said was his favourite of the
Steinman-penned songs he recorded.
