|
The rotund pop-metal vocalist Meat Loaf was born Marvin Lee Aday
in Dallas, Texas in 1946, where he grew up in a family of gospel
singers. Nicknamed "Meat Loaf" as a child, presumably due to his
large girth, the aspiring singer moved to Los Angeles at age 21,
forming a band called Meat Loaf Soul; the group gained a small
reputation after opening locally for The Who, The Stooges and
Ted Nugent. Meat Loaf landed a spot in a production of Hair,
where he met an enigmatic actor named "Stoney." Together the
pair recorded a 1971 LP for Detroit's Rare Earth Records simply
entitled Stoney and Meat Loaf. The record completely
flopped, and Meat Loaf continued performing in musicals, landing
parts in Rainbow, More Than You Deserve, and the
movie The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Meat Loaf got his big break in 1976 when his old acquaintance
Ted Nugent asked him to sing on his new album, Free-For-All.
His musical reputation, now somewhat established, Meat Loaf and
a theatre friend, Broadway producer/lyricist Jim Steinman,
collaborated on a grand concept album, 1977's Bat Out Of Hell
(Epic). Produced by Todd Rundgren, the album was an instant hit,
selling millions of copies and spawning three Top 40 singles,
including the immortal "Paradise by the Dashboard Light.
"Unfortunately for Meat Loaf, he and Steinman parted ways
shortly thereafter, amid rumors that the 300-pound vocalist had
become impossible to work with due to drug and emotional
problems. Without the lyrics and concepts of his producer, Meat
Loaf's attempted follow-ups to Bat Out of Hell -- 1981's
Dead Ringer, 1983's Midnight at the Lost and Found,
1984's Bad Attitude, and 1986's Blind Before I Stop
-- suffered from poor production, bad writing, and general lack
of quality. Though they sold fairly well in Britain and Europe,
by his third or fourth record Meat Loaf's albums ceasedto be
distributed in the U.S. Steinman filed suit against Epic and
Meat Loaf, eventually bankrupting the singer, who retired from
music in 1986 to undergo physical and psychological treatment.
Surprisingly, Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman reunited in the early
'90s, producing the first commercially successful Meat Loaf
album in years, 1993's Bat Out Of Hell II: Back Into Hell.
Though the album sold over 10 million copies and spawned the hit
single"I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)," Steinman
and Meat Loaf soon parted ways again; not surprisingly, 1995's
Welcome to the Neighborhood was another Meat Loaf flop. |
