September 27, 1947 - January 20, 2022
Meat Loaf's real name is Marvin Aday. He often made up stories about how he got the moniker. The likely answer is that it was given to him by his high school football coach, although he's also claimed that it came from his father, who said he looked like meat when he was an infant.
Oddly enough, Meat Loaf was a vegetarian. He changed his diet for health reasons in the '80s.
His adopted daughter, Pearl Aday, was a "Crüe Slut" for a short time, meaning she was a backup singer and dancer on Mötley Crüe's 1999-2000 tour. In 2011, she married Anthrax singer Scott Ian.
A study at Sussex University in England found that his music is an excellent stimulant for plant growth.
He has appeared in several movies, including
The Rocky Horror Picture Show and
Fight Club. He also played Jack Black's father in
Tenacious D In The Pick Of Destiny. .
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Suggestion credit:
Dalton - Hoquiam, WA
Meat Loaf was lead vocalist on Ted Nugent's 1976 album Free For All.
He comes from a rather large family. While he weighed over 200 pounds in seventh grade, his dad weighed 350 and his uncle (standing six feet seven inches) weighed nearly 700 pounds.
Meat Loaf met pianist and songwriter Jim Steinman when Loaf auditioned for his play More Than You Deserve. They collaborated to make the hugely successful album Bat Out of Hell and its sequel, Bat Out Of Hell II.
An early band was called Meat Loaf Soul, and was sometimes billed as Popcorn Blizzard. They opened for many notables, including Ted Nugent, the Who, and the Stooges.
He was in the original production of
Hair, but declined to be in the nude scene. Said Loaf: "You got an extra $12.50 to be in the nude scene and I didn't need an extra $12.50."
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Suggestion credit:
Dan - West Hartford, CT
He had a number of problems with his vocal cords and sinuses that required painful surgeries. When he toured Australia in 2011, a vocal cord was hemorrhaging so badly that he was often spitting blood on stage.
Meat Loaf told Mojo his most treasured possession is his collection of rubber ducks. He explained: "I have around 100 of them. I've got some really cool ones - I have a (baseball player, Derek) Jeter one, a Frank-N-Furter one. They sit on top of my road case every show."
At one time, Meat Loaf went to church Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday night. He told Q magazine that he maintained a faith:
"My grandfather was a minister and I was born into a very religious family. There's a Bible in my hotel room, I picked it up and read some of the other night. It's still a big part of my life. People don't expect it because I get on stage and I swear - I'm a rocker. But that's not me, that's a character. If I'm cast in a film I always refuse for my character to say, 'GD,' I tell them I'm not going to say it. I'll say 'damn,' but not the other thing. That's where I draw the line, everything else is open."
There was a sentimental side to Meat Loaf. He told Q Magazine: "I cry at the drop of a hat. It could have been watching a TV show and a dog died. Or a little girl who's been kidnapped on Criminal Minds getting back with her mother. I cry at everything."
He built his legend with florid stories that don't always stand up to fact checking but are quite compelling. One he often told is about getting hit in the head with a 12-pound shot put when he was in high school. He claimed it nearly killed him, but also helped him discover his voice: he tried out for the choir and discovered he had a vocal range spanning three-and-a-half octaves.