On January 20, 2022, at 11:47 pm, the greatest rock legend of all time, Meat Loaf, passed away. Meat Loaf, Marvin Lee Aday (born Micheal Lee Aday), was with his wife and two daughters when he passed.

Meat Loaf was born on September 27, 1947 in Dallas, Texas. He was an only child born to Wilma Artie and Orvis Wesley Aday. Meat graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in 1965. When he was there, he was in production of Where’s Charley? and The Music Man. Meat also played football as a defensive tackle player. He gained the name M.L. from this. It wasn’t until his weight increased, that he was called “Meatloaf” instead of M.L.

When Meat Loaf was 19 years old, his mother died from cancer. His father allegedly tried to kill him with a knife after the funeral. He used the money he got from his mom’s inheritance to buy an apartment to isolate himself for around 3 months until a friend found him. He later caught a flight to Los Angeles.  

Meatloaf formed his first band, Meatloaf Soul, after he went to Los Angeles. The band kept changing their name after their lead guitarist kept changing. Some of the names include Popcorn Blizzard and Floating Circus. Meat Loaf later joined the Los Angeles production of Hair. Later he signed a deal with Motown to become a duet group with Shaun “Stoney” Murphey. They became Stoney and Meatloaf.

In December, 1972, Meat Loaf met with his future collaborator and soon to be lifelong friend, Jim Steinman, while auditioning for his musical More Than You Deserve. He later joined the L.A. production of The Rocky Horror Show. He played the parts of Eddie and Dr. Everett Scott. He was later put in the film production The Rocky Horror Picture Show. While doing all of that, Jim Steinman and Meat Loaf were in the works on their first album.

October 11, 1977, Bat Out of Hell released! Meat Loaf was able to get Epic Records to make music videos to 4 of his songs, “Bat Out of Hell,” “Paradise by the Dashboard Light,” “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad,” and “You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth.” Bat Out of Hell is one of the best albums of all time as of 2021.

The 1980’s were not so great for Meat Loaf. One of the only successful albums was Dead Ringer. Dead Ringer featured the title song from the musical Meat acted in with Steinman “More Than You Deserve” and the title album song “Dead Ringer for Love” sung with Cher!

Even if the albums didn’t do too well for Meat, his touring was amazing. So good that Steinman and Meat started production of a sequel to Bat Out of Hell! Music insiders were unenthusiastic about this, some calling it a “joke.”

Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell released September 14, 1993. The album was an immediate success! He had 2 singles, “Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through” and Grammy Award winning “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That).” “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That)” reached number one in 28 countries.

He later released Welcome to the Neighborhood and The Very Best of Meat Loaf. They weren’t as successful, but the song, “I’d Lie for You (And That’s the Truth),” also got platinum in the U.S.

Meat Loaf started the 2000’s with Couldn’t have said it better in 2003. He later started work on the third Bat Out of Hell! In 2006, Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster is Loose released on Halloween. This is the first Bat Out of Hell album that didn’t have every song made by Jim Steinman, since he had a heart attack early that year. The album was produced by Desmond Child. This album had a legal dispute over the fact that Jim Steinman trademarked the title. The lawsuit was settled out of court. Even though there was a legal war going on, Meat and Steinman still remained friends. The album featured the song “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now,” the only song with a music video from the album. Bat III didn’t sell well in America.

The later half of the 2000’s and early 2010’s had Meat Loaf release Hang Cool Teddy Bear and Hell in a Handbasket. These albums didn’t perform too well in America, only finding their footing in Europe.

2016 featured Meat Loaf’s final studio album, Braver Than We Are. This album ended off with a bang, having Jim Steinman write every song on the album. The majority of the album was accidentally leaked on Apple Music. It later got taken down and released on the day of release.

Meat Loaf had plans to make another album until the death of his longtime friend Jim Stienman, due to kidney failure in 2021. But even though he was faced with this set back and grief, he still went on to try to make this album set to feature the song “What Part of My Body Hurts the Most.” Meat Loaf planned to start recording in January of 2022.

On January 20, Meat Loaf was in the hospital when his two daughters and wife came to his side. He was sick with COVID-19, and his health rapidly declined, losing 77 pounds quickly. Meat Loaf was surrounded by his family when the rock legend took his final breath and passed away that night. Meat Loaf was 74.