American musician and actor (1946-2022). Born Marvin Lee Aday in Dallas, Texas in 1946, he was nicknamed "Meat Loaf" in high school because of his heavy frame. He played football in high school and at colleges in Lubbock and Denton before his mother's death made him decide to move west.
He moved to Los Angeles in 1967 and formed a group called Meat Loaf Soul and Popcorn Blizzard, which opened for the Who, the Stooges, and Ted Nugent. He acted and sang in the West Coast production of "Hair." He acted in a number of other off-Broadway shows, appearing with everyone from Raul Julia and Fred Gwynne to Ron Silver and Mary Beth Hurt. He was in the L.A. Roxy cast of "The Rocky Horror Show" as both Eddie and Dr. Scott -- once they made that into "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" in 1975, he appeared as Eddie.
His gigantic voice and incredible live performances, along with Jim Steinman's fantastic songwriting, helped make "Bat Out of Hell" one of the biggest albums of the 1970s.
Meat Loaf and Steinman had a nasty split after "Bat Out of Hell", and Meat's follow-up albums -- "Dead Ringer," "Midnight at the Lost and Found," "Bad Attitude," and "Blind Before I Stop" -- were not successful. Meat Loaf declared bankruptcy in the 1980s.
After that, he did nothing for several years, but he and Steinman reunited in 1993 for "Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell," which was as big as "Bat I", both musically and commercially. Meat Loaf recorded "Welcome to the Neighborhood," which featured only a few songs from Steinman, and "Couldn't Have Said It Better," which was Steinman-free. He released "Bat out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose" in 2006, which had fewer Steinman songs because of the songwriter's health troubles.
Meat Loaf also had a pretty strong acting career, appearing in films like "Spice World," "Black Dog," "Crazy in Alabama," "Fight Club," "The 51st State," and "Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny."
He died on January 20, 2022 in Nashville. No cause of death was indicated. But we know which pandemic was running wild around that time, and Loaf had expressed opposition to masking.
Hell of a performer, at any rate.