Biography
Marvin Lee Aday,
better known as Meat Loaf, was born on September 27th 1947 in
Dallas, Texas. He owes his nickname to his own father, who called
him this way since his 13th year of life because of his
considerable girth.
The musical talent Meat Loaf became from his mother, a singer,
who even performed in Bing Cosby´s Radioshow.
1966 Meat Loaf moved to the musical metropolis L.A., where he
founded his first bands "Popcorn Blizzard", and later
"Meat Loaf Soul" and "The Floating Circus".
He was the preceding programme of stars like The Who, The Stouges
or Edgar Winter, but except of this he was not successfull at
all. So he had to earn his money as a car park attendant. After
some time the singer, whose voice had covered four octaves,
devoted himself to theater. In musicals like "Hair" or
"Jesus Christ Superstar" Meat Loaf could celebrate
first success.
In 1970 Meat recorded a LP with Stoney, a member of the
"Hair"- ensemble, but the LP "Meat Loaf &
Stoney" was a commercial flop. 1973 he went to New York. He
was singing in the Broadway-Musical "Rainbow in New
York" and attracted the songwriter and texter Jim Steinman`s
attraction, who engaged him right from the spot for his piece
"More than you deserve" (later a song on the LP
"Dead Ringer"). Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman - a
productive connection, which will cause a sensation.
1975 Meat met Ted Nugent, who urgently searched for a singer.
Result: The song "I love you so I told you a lie" on
the Nugent-LP "Free for all" sung by Meat Loaf. In the
same year Meat Loaf accepted the part of the rocker
"Eddie" in the meanwhile legendary "Rocky Horror
Picture Show". His short, but convincing performance (he
sung "Hot Patootie Bless My Soul") brought him in a
contract with Epic Records.
1977 the mega album "Bat Out Of Hell", produced by Todd
Rundgren, came out. The co-operation between Jim Steinman and
Meat Loaf beared golden fruits: The album broke all records and
is still standing in the list the best near Michael Jackson´s
"Thriller" and Pink Floyd`s evergreen "Dark Side
Of The Moon".
During the following extensive "Bat Out Of Hell" world
tour Meat Loaf ruined his voice, so he was not able to record the
next LP "Bad For Good".
Songwriter Jim Steinman published the work in 1981 as his own
solo album. 1979 Meat Loaf played the main part (beside Debbie
Harry and Alice Cooper) in the film "Roadie". The
cinema film became a box-office success.
After some healthy problems, various diets and quarrels with the
management, in 1982 the "Bat Out Of Hell"-successor
"Dead Ringer" was published. Although not as successful
as "Bat Out Of Hell", it contained two hits at least:
"Dead Ringer For Love" (the duett with superstar Cher)
and "Read ´em And Weep". Two years later the album
"Bad Attitude", recorded in the famous Abbey Road
Studios in London, came out (US-No. 1 hit "Modern
Girl").
In 1986 Meat met the successful german pop-producer Frank Farian,
who always had a faible for good rock. The result of this
collaboration is the LP "Blind Before I Stop".
Meat Loaf, called from various jounalists as "the Richard
Wagner of Rock", had his big come-back in 1993 with the
album "Bat Out Of Hell II - Back Into Hell": More than
one time Meat Loaf proves his enormous voice, which contains the
extacy of Soul, the devotion of Gospel and the enthusiasm of Rock
´n´ Roll.
In 1995 his last album (until now) came out: "Welcome To The
Neighbourhood"...