This Unknown Broadway Singer Appeared on a Ted Nugent Album Before His Own Career Took Off

Just one year before Meat Loaf‘s Bat Out of Hell success, the singer contributed vocals to a Ted Nugent album. The singer had seen some success on Broadway, as well as an opening act in the group Floating Circus. Floating Circus opened for acts such as the Who, the Stooges, the Grateful Dead and Alice Cooper. Following the disbandment of Floating Circus, Meat Loaf formed the duo Meat Loaf & Stoney and signed to Motown Records. In 1971, the duo earned a minor hit with “What You See Is What You Get”, which peaked at No. 36 on the Best-Selling Soul Singles chart.

Meat Loaf soon left Motown Records and returned to theater performances. In 1973, he was cast in the original LA Roxy cast of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Meat Loaf played both Eddie and Dr. Scott. When the musical was adapted to film, Meat Loaf only played Eddie. He claimed the musical was much better than the film, mostly because he didn’t play both Eddie and Dr. Scott. Meat Loaf then performed in the Broadway musical Rockabye Hamlet in 1976.

Meat Loaf Was Offered $1000 To Sing on Ted Nugent’s Next Album

In 1972, Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman began work on his debut solo album. The project was shelved until late 1974, when the two resumed work on Bat Out of Hell. Around the same time, Meat Loaf was brought into a separate studio by producer Tom Werman. Ted Nugent‘s singer, Derek St. Holmes, had just left the group due to creative conflicts. St. Holmes had sung on Nugent’s previous album, including the 1975 hit “Stranglehold.”

Meat Loaf was offered $1000 to sing on Ted Nugent’s next album, Free-For-All. He was sent a lyric sheet with only the words, no musical arrangement. Meat Loaf created the vocal arrangements without ever hearing the music. He then went into the studio for two days, where he recorded lead vocals on five out of the nine tracks. The album’s title track, “Free-For-All,” was sung by Ted Nugent himself. The rest of the album was split between Meat Loaf and Derek St. Holmes.

One year later, in 1977, Meat Loaf’s Bat Out of Hell was released. The album featured pianist Roy Bittan and drummer Max Weinberg of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, Todd Rundgren, Edgar Winter, and many other top rock musicians of the time. The album peaked at No. 14 on the Billboard 200. Bat Out of Hell spawned 5 hit singles and became one of the best-selling albums of all time.

Meat Loaf penned a No. 1 hit in 1993 with “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That)” from Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell.