Michael Lee Aday
(born Marvin Lee Aday
; September 27, 1947), better known by his stage name Meat Loaf
, is an American rock musician and actor. He is noted for the Bat out of Hell
album trilogy consisting of Bat Out of Hell
, Bat out of Hell II: Back into Hell
and Bat out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose.
Bat out of Hell
has sold more than 40 million copies. [1] After more than 30 years, it still sells an estimated 200,000 copies annually, and stayed on the charts for over 9 years. [2] [3]
Although he enjoyed success with Bat Out of Hell
and Bat out of Hell II: Back into Hell
, and earned a Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Solo for a track on the latter album, Meat Loaf experienced some initial difficulty establishing a steady career within his native United States. However, he has retained iconic status and popularity in Europe, especially the UK, where he ranks 23rd for number of weeks overall spent on the charts. He ranked 96th on VH1's '100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock'.
Meat Loaf has also appeared in over 50 movies or television shows [4] sometimes as himself, or as characters resembling his stage persona. His most notable roles include Eddie and Dr. Scott in the American premiere of The Rocky Horror Show
, Eddie in The Rocky Horror Picture Show
, Robert "Bob" Paulson in Fight Club
, a memorable role as Tiny the bouncer in Wayne's World
, and JB's father in Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny
.
|
MEAT LOAF TICKETS
|
Biography
Early life
Meat Loaf was born as
Marvin Lee Aday
in
Dallas,
Texas,
United States. He was the first child of Wilma Artie (née Hukel), a school teacher and a member of the Vo-di-o-do Girls gospel quartet, and Orvis Wesley Aday, a police officer. His father was an
alcoholic who would go on
drinking binges for days at a time.
[5] Marvin and his mother would drive around to all the bars in Dallas, looking for Orvis to take him home. Because of this, Marvin often stayed with his grandmother, Charlsee Norrod.
Meat Loaf relates a story in his autobiography,
To Hell and Back
, about how he, a friend, and his friend's father drove out to
Love Field to watch
John F. Kennedy land. After watching him leave the airport, they went to Market Hall, which was on Kennedy's parade route. On the way they heard that Kennedy had been shot, so they headed to
Parkland Hospital, where they saw
Jackie Kennedy get out of the car and
Governor John Connally get pulled out, although they never saw the president taken out.
In 1965, Meat Loaf graduated from
Thomas Jefferson High School, having already started his acting career via school productions such as
Where's Charley?
and
The Music Man
.
[6] After attending college at
Lubbock Christian College, Marvin transferred to North Texas State University (now the
University of North Texas at Denton). While there, he was called in for an
Army physical, which he tried to fail by gaining sixty-eight pounds (31 kg) in four and a half weeks. They determined that he was fit despite being
color blind, having a trick shoulder, and being very
concussion prone.
Move to California
In 1967, when his
draft notice arrived, Meat Loaf ignored it. Instead, after seeing his mother hospitalized and her health deteriorating, Marvin stole his dad's credit card and moved to
Los Angeles, where he became a
bouncer at a teenage nightclub.
In his autobiography, Meat Loaf claims that shortly after his mother died, his father, in a drunken rage, tried to kill him with a knife, and that he barely managed to escape after they had a bad fight. After Marvin got his inheritance from his mother's death, he rented an apartment in Dallas and isolated himself for three and a half months. Eventually a friend found him. Marvin bought a car with his inheritance and drove to California.
Early musical career
In Los Angeles, he formed his first band, Meat Loaf Soul.
[7] During the recording of their first song, Meat Loaf hit a note so high that he managed to blow a fuse on the recording monitor; he was immediately offered three recording contracts, which he turned down.
Meat Loaf Soul's first gig was in
Huntington Beach at the Cave, opening for
Them,
Van Morrison's band. While performing their cover of the
Howlin' Wolf song "
Smokestack Lightning", the smoke machine they used made too much smoke and the club had to be cleared out. Later, the band was the opening act at
Cal State Northridge for
Renaissance,
Taj Mahal and
Janis Joplin. The band then underwent several changes at
lead guitar, changing the name of the band each time - including Popcorn Blizzard, and Floating Circus.
As Floating Circus, they opened for
The Who,
The Fugs,
The Stooges,
MC5,
Grateful Dead and
The Grease Band. Their regional success led them to release a single, "Once Upon a Time" backed with "Hello." Meat Loaf joined the Los Angeles production of
Hair
.
Early recordings
Stoney & Meatloaf
With the publicity generated from
Hair
, Meat Loaf was invited to record with
Motown. They suggested he do a duet with
Stoney Murphy, who had performed with him in
Hair
, to which he agreed. The Motown production team in charge of the album wrote and selected the songs while Meat Loaf and Stoney came in only to lay down their vocals. The album, titled
Stoney & Meatloaf
(Meatloaf being shown as one word), was completed in the summer of 1971 and released in September of that year. A single released in advance of the album,
What You See Is What You Get,
reached number thirty six on the
R&B charts and seventy-one on
Billboard Hot 100 chart. To support their album, Meat Loaf and Stoney toured with
Jake Wade and the Soul Searchers, opening up for
Richie Havens,
The Who,
The Stooges,
Bob Seger,
Alice Cooper and
Rare Earth. Meat Loaf left soon after Motown replaced his and Stoney's vocals from the one song he liked, "Who Is the Leader of the People?" with new vocals by
Edwin Starr. The album has been re-released after Meat Loaf's success, with Stoney's vocals removed from all songs from the original Stoney and Meatloaf album. "Who Is the Leader of the People?" was released with Meat Loaf's vocals intact, only Stoney was missing and the album failed. Stoney, in Meat Loaf's absence, brought out a solo single which flopped and she quit Motown shortly after.
Stoney, aka Shaun Murphy, went on to sing backup with many acts, including Bob Seger and Eric Clapton, and became a full time member of
Little Feat in 1993. She continues to work with Little Feat and Seger.
More Than You Deserve
After the tour, Meat Loaf rejoined the cast of
Hair
, this time on
Broadway. After he hired an agent, he auditioned for the
Public Theater's production of
More Than You Deserve
. It was during the audition that Meat Loaf first met his future collaborator
Jim Steinman. He sang a former Stoney and Meatloaf favorite of his, "(I'd Love to Be) As Heavy as Jesus" (On VH1 Storytellers, Meat Loaf shares his first introduction with Jim Steinman. Meat would revive Steinman's reaction to his intimant audience, "Well, I think you're heavy as two Jesuses to be a matter of fact!") , and with that, got the part of Rabbit, a maniac that blows up his fellow soldiers so they can "go home." Also in the show were
Ron Silver and
Fred Gwynne. After it closed he appeared in
"As You Like It"
with
Raúl Juliá and
Mary Beth Hurt.
He recorded a single of
More Than You Deserve
and had a
cover of
In the Presence of the Lord
as its b-side. He was only able to save three copies of it because the record company wouldn't allow its press release. With those three copies he released many rare CDs featuring the two songs, which can occasionally be spotted at CD outlets. He later recorded it again (1981) in a slightly rougher voice.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
During the winter of 1973, after returning from a short production of
Rainbow in New York
in
Washington, D.C., Meat Loaf received a call asking him to be in
The Rocky Horror Show
where he played the parts of Eddie and Dr. Scott. The success of the play led to the filming of
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
where Meat Loaf played only Eddie. About the same time, Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman started work on
Bat out of Hell
. Meat Loaf convinced
Epic Records to shoot
videos for four songs, "
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." He then convinced
Lou Adler, the producer of
Rocky Horror,
to run the "Paradise" video as a trailer to the movie. Meat Loaf's final show in New York was
Gower Champion's
Rock-a-bye Hamlet,
a
Hamlet musical. It closed two weeks into its initial run. Meat would later return occasionally to perform
Hot Patootie
for a special Rocky Horror reunion or convention, and rarely at his own live shows (one performance of which was released in the 1996
Live Around the World
CD set).
During his recording of the soundtrack for Rocky Horror, Meat Loaf recorded two more songs: "
Stand By Me" (a
Ben E. King cover), and "Clap Your Hands." They remained unreleased until 1984, when they appeared as B-sides to the "
Nowhere Fast" single.
In 1976, Meat Loaf recorded lead vocals for
Ted Nugent's
Free-for-All
album when regular Nugent lead vocalist Derek St. Holmes quit the band. Meat Loaf sang lead on five of the album's nine tracks.
Bat out of Hell
Meat Loaf and friend/songwriter
Jim Steinman started
Bat out of Hell
in 1972, but did not get serious about it until the end of 1974. The two-year gap in the production was due to controversy surrounding his son born in
Afton, Wyoming. Meat Loaf decided to leave
theatre, and concentrate exclusively on music. Then, the
National Lampoon Show
opened on Broadway, and it needed an understudy for
John Belushi, a close friend of Meat Loaf since 1972. It was at the Lampoon Show that Meat Loaf met
Ellen Foley, the co-star who sang "
Paradise by the Dashboard Light" with him on the album
Bat out of Hell
.
After the
Lampoon
show ended, Meat Loaf and Steinman spent time seeking a record deal. Their approaches were rejected by each record company, because their songs did not fit any specific recognized
music industry style. Finally, they performed the songs for
Todd Rundgren, who decided to produce the album, as well as play lead guitar on it (other members of Todd's band
Utopia also lent their musical talents).
[8] They then shopped the record around, but still had no takers until
Cleveland International Records decided to take a chance. On October 21, 1977,
Bat out of Hell
was released.
Meat Loaf and Steinman formed the band
The Neverland Express to tour in support of
Bat out of Hell
. Their first gig was opening for
Cheap Trick in
Chicago. He gained national exposure as musical guest on
Saturday Night Live
on March 25, 1978. Guest host
Christopher Lee introduced him by saying, "And now ladies and gentlemen I would like you to meet Loaf. (pauses, looks dumbfounded) I beg your pardon, what? (he listens to the director's aside) Oh! Why...why I'm sorry, yes, of course...ah... Ladies and gentlemen, Meat Loaf!" The huge success of the album caused a rift to open up between Meat Loaf and Steinman: the group, named after Meat Loaf for ease of labeling, seemed to Steinman to sideline his work as creator, and Steinman started to resent the attention that his partner was getting.
During a show in
Ottawa, Meat Loaf fell off the stage and broke his leg. He toured with the broken leg, performing from a wheel chair. During this time, Meat Loaf began heavy use of
cocaine, had a
nervous breakdown and threatened to commit suicide by jumping off the ledge of a building in New York. Then, in December 1978, he went to
Woodstock to work with Steinman. It was at the
Bearsville studio that Meat Loaf met his future wife, Leslie G. Edmonds; they were married within a month. Leslie had a daughter from a previous marriage,
Pearl, who has since followed in her stepfather's footsteps to become a singer. In the middle of recording his second album,
Bad for Good
, Meat Loaf lost the ability to sing; it is unclear as to the exact cause - the tour was a punishing one, and the vocals and energy intense. However, his doctors said that physically he was fine and that his problem was psychological. Nevertheless, Steinman decided to keep recording
Bad for Good
without Meat Loaf.
Bat out of Hell has sold over 40 million copies worldwide
, making it one of the highest selling albums of all time. In the UK alone, its 2.1 million sales put it in 38th place. Despite peaking at #9 and spending only two weeks in the top ten in 1981, it has now clocked up 474 weeks on the UK album chart, a figure bettered by only by
Rumours
by Fleetwood Mac - 478 weeks. In
Australia, it knocked the
Bee Gees off the number #1 spot and went on to become the biggest-selling Australian album of all time.
Bat out of Hell
is also one of only two albums that has never exited the Top 200 in the UK charts; this makes it the longest stay in any music chart in the world, although the
published
chart contains just 75 positions.
Life after Bat out of Hell
In 1976, Meat Loaf appeared in the short-lived
Broadway production of the rock musical
Rockabye Hamlet
. In 1980, he started working on
Dead Ringer
. Steinman wrote all of the songs, but had little else to do with the album. At the time, his manager, David Sonnenberg, stepped out, and Al Dellentash stepped in to manage Meat Loaf's career. The tour they planned, to support the album, was cancelled after one show, because they ran out of the money that the studio advanced them. Sonnenberg and Dellentash also convinced
CBS to advance more money for the making of the movie
Dead Ringer
, which was shown at the
Toronto Film Festival and won some favorable reviews, but was poorly considered after Dellentash and Sonnenberg re-edited the movie.
In 1981, Leslie gave birth to
Amanda Aday, now a
television actress. That same year, Meat Loaf changed managers, after finding out that Dellentash and Sonnenberg were stealing his money. The two had all of Meat Loaf's assets frozen and sued him for breach of contract. They also started spreading rumors that Meat Loaf was violent and had threatened people with guns. Meat Loaf ended up declaring
bankruptcy. In 1983, he released the self written
Midnight at the Lost and Found
. Meat Loaf, a poor songwriter by his own admission, did not care for the songs he wrote for the album.
On December 5, 1981, Meat Loaf and the Neverland Express were the musical guests for Saturday Night Live where he was reunited with fellow Rocky Horror Picture Show alum Tim Curry. Tim Curry and Meat Loaf team up in a hilarious skit to open a One-Stop Rocky Horror Shop. Later, Tim Curry performed "The Zucchini Song" and Meat Loaf & The Neverland Express performed "Bat Out of Hell" and "Promised Land".
In 1984, Meat Loaf went to
England, to record the album
Bad Attitude
, which included a duet with
Roger Daltrey and two songs written by Jim Steinman; the recording of the album was rushed. During the tour to support the album, Leslie had a nervous breakdown and had to check into
Silver Hill rehab facility in
Connecticut. Things finally looked like they were going to turn around in 1986, when Meat Loaf found a new writer,
John Parr, and started recording a new album,
Blind Before I Stop
. Unfortunately, the producer put a dance beat underneath every song, which resulted in critical failure, and Meat Loaf going bankrupt, eventually losing everything. His relationships with lifelong friend Jim Steinman and Leslie also deteriorated.
To try to get his career back off the ground, Meat Loaf started touring small venues, such as pubs and clubs. Slowly, he developed a faithful following which grew to the point where they were unable to fit into the venues that Meat Loaf was playing, and then they too began to grow. This carried on until the late '80s, where he began to sell out arenas and stadiums again, including over 10,000 tickets at
The Ohio State University. Leslie studied to be a travel agent, so they could save on travel expenses, and they toured all over the
United States,
Germany,
England,
Scandinavia,
Ireland,
Italy,
Spain,
Greece,
Abu Dhabi,
Oman and
Bahrain. With the help of his New York collection of musicians — John Golden, Richard Raskin and Paul Jacobs — his European tours enjoyed immense popularity in the 1980s. Due to the success of the touring, Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman began to work on
Bat Out Of Hell II
which was finally released in 1993, sixteen years after
Bat Out Of Hell
. The album was a huge success and is considered one of the greatest comebacks in music history.
Meat Loaf and Leslie divorced in 2001. He is now married again to Deborah Gillespie Aday.
1980s
Dead Ringer
Songwriter Jim Steinman started to work on
Bad for Good
, the album that was supposed to be the follow-up to 1977's
Bat out of Hell
, in 1979. During that time, a combination of touring, drugs and exhaustion had caused Meat Loaf to lose his voice. Without a singer, and pressured by the record company, Steinman decided that he should sing on
Bad for Good
himself, and write a new album for Meat Loaf; the result was
Dead Ringer
, which was later released in 1981, after the release of Steinman's
Bad for Good
.
After playing the role of Travis Redfish in the movie
Roadie
, Meat Loaf's singing voice returned, and he started to work on his new album in 1980. Steinman had written five new songs which, in addition to the track "More Than You Deserve" (sung by Meat Loaf in the stage musical of the same name) and a reworked monologue, formed the album
Dead Ringer
, which was produced by Meat Loaf and Stephan Galfas, with backing tracks produced by
Todd Rundgren, Jimmy Iovine, and Jim Steinman. (In 1976, Meat Loaf appeared on the track "Keeper Keep Us", from the Intergalactic Touring Band's self-titled album, produced by Galfas.) The song "Dead Ringer for Love" was the pinnacle of the album, and launched Meat Loaf to even greater success after it reached #5 in the UK and stayed in the charts for a surprising 19 weeks.
Cher provided the lead female vocals in the song, which contributed to the success of the single.
The album reached #1 in the UK, and three singles were released from the album: "Dead Ringer for Love" (with
Cher), "I'm Gonna Love Her for Both of Us," and "Read 'Em and Weep".
Midnight at the Lost and Found
Following a dispute with his former songwriter Jim Steinman, Meat Loaf was contractually obliged to release a new album. Struggling for time, and with no resolution to his arguments with Steinman seemingly on the horizon (eventually, Steinman would sue Meat Loaf, who subsequently sued Steinman as well), he was forced to find songwriters wherever he could.
Meat Loaf is credited with being involved in the writing of numerous tracks on the album, including the title track, "Midnight at the Lost and Found". However, when the album was released in 1983, it was regarded by many as being poor. Fans were disappointed to see that the iconic pictures on the covers of
Bat out of Hell
and
Dead Ringer
were replaced by a black-and-white photograph of Meat Loaf (on some later re-releases, a colour image of a screaming Meat Loaf was used as the cover image).
The title track still regularly forms part of Meat Loaf concerts, and was one of very few 1980s songs to feature on the 1998 hit album
The Very Best of Meat Loaf
. This was the last album that Meat Loaf did with the record label
Epic until the 'best of' album.
Bad Attitude
Bad Attitude
, released 1984, features two songs by Jim Steinman, both previously recorded, and was mainly an attempt to keep Meat Loaf from going bankrupt during this period of lawsuits. It concentrated more on the hard rock side of Meat Loaf, was a minor success around the globe and released a few hit singles, the most successful being "
Modern Girl." It also holds some of Meat Loaf's favorite songs that include "Jumpin' the Gun" and "Piece of the Action". It was recorded in
England.
Blind Before I Stop
Blind Before I Stop
was released in 1986. It features production, mixing, and general influence by
Frank Farian. Meat Loaf gave songwriting another shot with this album and wrote three of the songs on the album. However, the only song released as a single (in the UK) was "Rock 'n' Roll Mercenaries," which was a duet with rock singer
John Parr. Meat Loaf would not be able to sing the song live with
John Parr for too long, because of an incident just after the release of the single. During a sold out show in
London, Meat Loaf was going to perform the song, and as Meat Loaf did not introduce John onto the stage, he stormed off supposedly after the song was performed. Meat Loaf never saw Parr again, even after leaving dozens of phone messages begging him for forgiveness. But, in Meat's own words, "I never introduce people in the middle of a show — it breaks the continuity. You don't stop in the middle of a play and say 'And now ladies and gentlemen, entering the stage is
Robert De Niro'". The song was included on
Live at Wembley
, which was released in 1987, with no sign of Parr as his vocal lead-off.
According to Meat Loaf's 1998 autobiography, the album sold poorly due to the production of the album. Meat Loaf would have preferred to cancel the project and wait to work with more Steinman material. The album, however, has gained a cult following over the years, citing the songs "Execution Day" and "Standing on the Outside" as standout tracks on the record. "Standing on the Outside" was also featured during the third season of the 1980s TV show
Miami Vice
; it was used several times during the episode titled "Forgive Us Our Debts" (first aired December 12, 1986). The track accompanied the
execution-style murder of a witness and the preparation of a convicted murder for
execution in the
electric chair. The video for "Getting Away with Murder" (along with "Modern Girl"), another single released from the album before its release, is one of the available videos to be viewed on Meat's artist's page on MTV.com.
Later career
Bat out of Hell II: Back into Hell
Due to the success of Meat Loaf's touring in the eighties, he and Steinman began work during the Christmas of 1990 on the sequel to
Bat out of Hell
. After two years,
Bat out of Hell II: Back into Hell
was finished and became a success. It sold over 15 million copies, and the single "
I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)" reached number one in 28 countries. Meat Loaf won the
Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Solo in
1994 for "I'd Do Anything for Love."
[9] This song stayed at #1 in the UK charts for seven consecutive weeks. The single features a female vocalist who was credited only as "Mrs. Loud." Mrs. Loud was later identified as
Lorraine Crosby, a performer from
North East England.
[10] Meat Loaf promoted the song with American vocalist
Patti Russo who performed lead female vocals on tour with him. In
Germany, Meat Loaf became notably popular following the release of
Bat out of Hell II
but has enjoyed most of his success among pop/rock fans.
Also in 1994, he was honored by singing "
The Star Spangled Banner" at the
Major League Baseball All-Star Game, something he says was one of the two biggest highlights of his career. Meat Loaf attempted to follow the success of "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)" by releasing "Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through" as a follow-up; this song reached #13 in the US.
After Bat out of Hell II
In 1995, Meat Loaf released his seventh studio album,
Welcome To The Neighborhood
. The album went platinum in the United States and the UK. It released three singles which all hit the top 40, including "
I'd Lie for You (And That's the Truth)" (which reached #13 in the US and #2 in the UK charts) and "
Not a Dry Eye in the House" (which reached #7 in the UK charts). "I'd Lie for You (And That's the Truth)" was a duet with
Patti Russo (who had been touring with Meat Loaf and singing on his albums since 1993).
The video, which had a bigger budget than any of his previous videos, helped the single in its success. Two of the twelve songs on the album were written by
Jim Steinman, whereas the big hits, namely "I'd Lie for You" and "Not a Dry Eye in the House", were written by
Diane Warren (who has since written for Meat Loaf on
Couldn't Have Said It Better
, and
Bat III
).
In 1998, Meat Loaf released
The Very Best of Meat Loaf
. Although not reaching the top ten in the UK, it recently went platinum, and was already platinum around the rest of the world just after its release. The album featured all of Meat Loaf's best-known songs, a few from his less popular albums from the 1980s, and three new songs. The music on the two Steinman songs was written and composed by
Andrew Lloyd Webber. The single from the album was "
Is Nothing Sacred", written by
Jim Steinman with lyrics by
Don Black. The single version of this song is a duet with
Patti Russo, whereas the album version is a solo song by Meat Loaf.
In 2003, Meat Loaf released his album
Couldn't Have Said It Better
. The album was a minor success worldwide and reached #4 in the UK charts, accompanied by a sellout world tour which was used to promote the album and some of Meat Loaf's biggest hits. One such performance on his world tour was at the Australian
NRL Grand Final in the same year. There were many writers for the album including Diane Warren and James Michael, who were both asked to contribute his 2006 album
Bat out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose
.
Hair of the Dog and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
On February 20 - February 22 , 2004, during Meat Loaf's Australian tour, Meat Loaf did his classics with the
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, titled
Bat out of Hell: Live with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
. He went as far as to bring in the Australian Boy's Choir to do back-up on a
Couldn't Have Said It Better
track, "Testify". The show went on to spawn a DVD and a CD "Meat Loaf and The Neverland Express featuring Patti Russo Live with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra". The CD had few songs from the concert placed on it and were edited.
Meat Loaf sold out over 160 concerts during his 2005 tour, "Hair of the Dog". On November 17, 2003, during a performance at
London's
Wembley Arena, on his
Couldn't Have Said It Better
tour, he collapsed of what was later diagnosed as
Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. The following week, he underwent a surgical procedure intended to correct the problem.
[11] As a result, Meat Loaf's insurance agency did not allow him to perform for any longer than one hour and 45 minutes.
As well as singing all the classics, he sang a cover version of the hit single "
Black Betty". During this tour Meat Loaf also sang "Only When I Feel", a song meant to appear on his then-upcoming album
Bat out of Hell III
. The song was subsequently left off the release. During this period Meat Loaf stated that this could be his last 'world' tour and that he would be doing less than a fifth of the concerts he did on his most recent tour.
Bat out of Hell III And Upcoming Album
Meat Loaf and Steinman had begun to work on the third installment of
Bat out of Hell
when Steinman suffered some health setbacks, including a heart attack. According to Meat Loaf, Steinman was too ill to work on such an intense project while Steinman's manager said health was not an issue.
[12] Steinman had registered the phrase "Bat Out Of Hell" as a trademark in 1995.
[13] In May 2006, Meat Loaf sued Steinman and his manager in federal District Court in
Los Angeles, seeking $50 million and an injunction against Steinman's use of the phrase.
[14] Steinman and his representatives attempted to block the album's release.
[15] An agreement was reached in July 2006. According to Virgin, "the two came to an amicable agreement that ensured that Jim Steinman's music would be a continuing part of the 'Bat Out Of Hell' legacy."
[16]
The album was released on October 31, 2006, and was produced by
Desmond Child. The first single from the album, "
It's All Coming Back to Me Now" (featuring
Marion Raven) was released on October 16, 2006. It entered the
UK singles chart at #6, giving Meat Loaf his highest UK chart position in nearly 11 years. The album debuted at #8 on the Billboard 200 and sold 81,000 copies in its opening week, but after that did not sell well in the U.S. and yielded no hit singles, although it was certified gold. The album also featured duets with Patti Russo and Jennifer Hudson.
In the weeks following the release of Bat III, Meat Loaf and the NLE (The
Neverland Express) did a brief tour of America and Europe, known as the Bases Loaded Tour. In 2007, a newer, bigger worldwide tour began, the
Seize the Night tour, with Marion Raven, serving as a supporting act, throughout the European and US tour. Portions of the tour in February 2007 were featured in the
Theatrical Documentary Meat Loaf: In Search of Paradise
, directed by
Bruce David Klein. The film was an official selection of the
Montreal World Film Festival in 2007. It opened in theaters in March 2008 and was released on DVD in May 2008.
|Singer Meat Loaf falls ill during concert}}
}}
During a performance at the
Metro Radio Arena in
Newcastle upon Tyne, UK on October 31, 2007, at the opening of "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" he suggested that the crowd of thousands should enjoy the performance as it was the last of his career. He attempted to sing the first line of the song, but instead said "Ladies and gentlemen, I love you, thank you for coming, but I can no longer continue." Removing the jacket he was wearing, he thanked the audience for 30 years, said "goodbye forever" and left the stage. His tour promoter, Andrew Miller, denied that this was the end for Meat Loaf and said he would continue touring after suitable rest.
[17] The next two gigs in the tour, at the
NEC and
Manchester Evening News Arena were cancelled due to "acute
laryngitis" and were rescheduled for late November.
[18] The concert scheduled for November 6, 2007 at London's
Wembley Arena was also cancelled. Meat Loaf cancelled his entire European tour for 2007 after being diagnosed with a cyst on his vocal cords. After releasing a statement he said "It really breaks my heart not to be able to perform these shows" adding "I will be back".
[19]
On June 27, 2008, Meat Loaf returned to the stage in
Plymouth, England for the first show of his
Casa de Carne Tour
alongside his longtime duet partner Patti Russo,
[20] who debuted one of her own original songs during his show.
[21] The tour continued through July and August with twenty dates throughout England, Ireland, Germany, Portugal, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark. Six U.S. showdates were also added for October and December 2008.
[22]
Meat Loaf is now working on a new album with Rob Cavallo which is scheduled to be released April 2010. It was reported in August 2009 that
Brian May of
Queen had joined Meat Loaf in the studio to record a guitar solo for a new song.
[23]
Other work
He portrayed Travis Redfish in
Roadie
, which featured cameos by
Debbie Harry,
Roy Orbison and
Hank Williams, Jr..
Meat Loaf appeared in the 1997 film
Spice World
with the
Spice Girls as their bus driver. In that same year, Meat Loaf appeared in the ShoTime series
The Dead Man's Gun - The Mail Order Bride
. He plays a blacksmith who marries a woman with a young son and rescues her from a vicious ex-lover.
In 1999 he appeared in the film
Crazy in Alabama
as sheriff John Doggett.
Meat Loaf had a supporting role as Robert Paulson in
the 1999 film adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk's 1996 book Fight Club.
In 2000, he appeared as the
viral meningitis addled Confederate Colonel Angus Devine in the sixth season episode
Gettysburg
of
The Outer Limits
who is accidentally transported forward in time 150 years in a failed attempt to prevent the assassination of the President in 2013.
He also appeared in the
South Park episode "
Chef Aid". In a flashback, Meat Loaf claims that he started out as an unsuccessful artist named
Cous-cous. After being booed off stage and almost deciding to quit, Chef tells him that his name might be the problem, and then hands him a plate of meatloaf to cheer him up.
In 2001, Meat Loaf played vicious drug lord, "The Lizard", in Ronny Yu's caper movie, "The 51st State", opposite
Samuel L. Jackson and
Robert Carlyle.
Meat Loaf appears (uncredited) as
Jack Black's father in the 2006 film
Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny
, providing vocals on the film's opening song
Kickapoo
. In the special features and commentary of the film's DVD release, it is noted that this is the first time Meat Loaf has sung for a movie soundtrack since
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
.
Meat Loaf made a cameo appearance on
Jimmy Kimmel Live
as one of the celebrity singing choir for the musical sketch, "I'm Fucking
Ben Affleck", which is a star-studded sketch where host
Jimmy Kimmel responds to
Sarah Silverman's sketch titled "I'm Fucking
Matt Damon".
Meat recently appeared in a
AT&T GoPhone commercial and parodied
"Let Me Sleep on It"
, part of the song "
Paradise by the Dashboard Light" with actor
Adam Cagley playing his son and '80s pop diva
Tiffany Darwish as his wife.
Meat Loaf currently has a show airing on DirecTV called
Rock and a Hard Place
. It takes bands that are fairly well-known and asks them trivia questions to raise money for charity.
[24]
On April 6, 2009, Meat Loaf appeared on
House
in the episode "
Simple Explanation" as Eddie, the sick husband of a patient.
Meat Loaf, along with his daughter
Pearl Aday and his longtime duet partner
Patti Russo, taped an episode of the FOX game show
Don't Forget the Lyrics!
which aired on May 22, 2009.
[25] [26]
In mid-2009, Meat Loaf appeared in TV commercials for
A1 Steak Sauce, in conjunction with the product's new slogan "A1 - Makes beef sing." In his commercial for the product, the slogan is "Makes Meat Loaf sing."
Personal life
Meat Loaf is said to have cheated death on numerous occasions, having crashed in a car which rolled over,
[27] been hit on the head with a
shot put,
[ and being struck by Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome.][ In October 2006, his private jet had to make an emergency landing at London's Stansted Airport after his plane's forward landing gear failed. [28]
]
He is also the father in law of Anthrax rhythm guitarist Scott Ian. Meat Loaf was a vegetarian for 11 years but has since resumed eating meat. [29]
In 2001, he changed his first name to Michael. [30] [31]
Meat Loaf is a supporter of the northern English football team Hartlepool United and, in 2003, the BBC reported he was seeking a residence in the nearby area. [32] Meat Loaf currently resides just outside of Calabasas, California, near Saddle Peak and Calabasas Peak.
Meat Loaf also performs a considerable amount of charity work, and in June 2008 took part in a football penalty shoot-out competition on behalf of two cancer charities in Newcastle in the U.K. He auctioned shots to the 100 highest bidders and then took his place between the goal posts. [33] He also participates in celebrity golf tournaments.
Tours
- Bat Out Of Hell Tour 1977-1979
- Dead Ringer Tour 1981
- Meat Loaf & The NLE Euro Tour '82
- Meat Loaf World Tour 1983
- Bad Attitude Tour 1984-1985
- 20/20 Tour 1987-1988
- Lost Boys & Golden Girls 1988-1989
- 1990 Tour
- *Also in 1990, Prince embarked on a greatest-hits tour called the Nude Tour, which prompted Jay Leno to crack, "I sure hope Meat Loaf's not going out on the road again!"
- 1991-1992 Tour
- Everything Louder Tour 1993-1995
- Born To Rock Tour 1996
- The Very Best Of Tour 1999
- Storytellers Tour 1999-2000
- Night Of The Proms Tour 2001
- Just Having Fun Tour 2002
- Couldn't Have Said It Better 2003-2004
- Hair Of The Dog Tour 2005
- The Bases Are Loaded Tour 2006
- Seize The Night Tour 2007
- Three Bats Tour 2007
- Casa de Carne Tour 2008
Discography
Notable film and TV appearances
- The Rocky Horror Picture Show
1975
- Eddie "A delivery boy."
- Americathon
1979
- Oklahoma Daredevil, Roy Budnitz
- Scavenger Hunt
1979
- Scum
- Roadie
1980
- Travis W Redfish
- Dead Ringer
1981
- Meat Loaf, Marvin
- Cheech & Chong's Nice Dreams
1981
- Strike Force
"MIA" episode
- The Equalizer
1985
"Bump and Run" episode
- Out of Bounds
1986
- Gil
- Motorama
1991
- Wayne's World
1992
- Tiny
- Leap of Faith
1992
- Hoover
- Tales from the Crypt
"What's Cookin'?" episode
- To Catch a Yeti
1993
- Big Jake Grizzly
- Angels In the Outfield
1993
- Angel
- The Dead Man's Gun
1997
"The Mail Order Bride" episode
- Bean
1997
- Nash Bridges
1997
"Wild Card" episode
- Spiceworld: The Movie
1997
- Dennis
- Black Dog
1998
- Red
- South Park
episode "Chef Aid"
1998
- Appears as himself buying candy from the boys while they try and raise money to pay for Chef's lawyer.
- The Mighty
1998
- Iggy Lee
- Crazy in Alabama
1999
- Sheriff John Doggett
- Fight Club
1999
- Robert 'Bob' Paulson
- The Outer Limits
2000
"Gettysburg" episode
- Blacktop
2000
- Jack
- The Ballad of Lucy Whipple
2001
- Amos "Rattlesnake Jake" Frogge
- Face to Face
2001
- Driver
- Rustin
2001
- Coach Trellingsby
- Focus
2001
- Fred
- The 51st State
/Formula 51
2001
- The Lizard
- A Hole in One
2004
- Billy
- BloodRayne
2005
- Leonid
- Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny
2006
- JB's father
- Masters of Horror
2006
- Jake Feldman
- History Rocks
2007
- Himself
- Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve
2007
- ABC
- Private Sessions
2007
- A&E
- Meat Loaf: In Search of Paradise
- US Theatrical Release in 2008
- Go-Phone Commercial
2007
- Singing Father.
- The F Word
2008
- UK Television Show as Himself
- Hannity
2009
- Jan. 12 - as himself, a member of Hannity's "Great American Panel"
- Tiger Force Forever: Unleashed
2009
- Masters of Horror
"Pelts" episode as Jake
- House, M.D.
2009
- Appears as a patient in the episode "Simple Explanation"
- Don't Forget the Lyrics
2009
- Appears with his daughter.
- Ghost Hunters
2009
- Monk
2009
References
- Label Blew Meat Loaf's biggest
- BBC
- 'Jim Steinman official site
- Meat Loaf
- The Biography Channel - Meat Loaf Biography
- Chamberlain, Adrian. Meat Loaf, reheated: Singer says energy and voice are back, thanks to exercise and vocal coach ''The Ottawa Citizen'', March 13, 2007.
- Meat Loaf and Me
- Roger Powell, keyboardist for Utopia http://trbazaar.com/rogerpowell.htm
- GRAMMY AWARDS: BEST ROCK VOCAL SOLO PERFORMANCE
- LORRAINE CROSBY in concert
- Meat Loaf recalls stage collapse
- Meat Loaf goes through 'Hell' again
- Meat Loaf Sues Over 'Bat Out Of Hell'
- MEAT LOAF BATTLES FOR BAT OUT OF HELL TRADEMARK
- Man out of hell
- Meatloaf Reaches Agreement Over ''Bat Out of Hell''
- 'Stressed' Meat Loaf abandons gig
- Meat Loaf calls off another show
- Ill Meat Loaf scraps Europe tour
- http://meatloaf.net/news/index.php?mode=fullstory&id=318
- STILL GOING LIKE A BAT OUT OF HELL
- [1]
- http://www.queenzone.com/news/brian-provides-solo-for-meat-loaf-and-maybe-adam-lambert.aspx
- http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/global/contentPage.jsp?assetId=P4470006
- [1]
- [1]
- Meat Loaf - Meat Loaf Cheated Death Three Times
- Meat Loaf halts gig to say: I quit
- Gordon Ramsay's F-Word, Season 4 Episode 6
- CANOE - JAM! Music - Artists - Meat Loaf: A new day for Meat Loaf
- Evalu8
- BBC NEWS | UK | England | Tees | Meat Loaf heads for Hartlepool
- Meat Loaf to match charity penalty shoot-out total - ChronicleLive