Outandabout March 2022 Issue195

58 | OUT AND ABOUT COSTA BLANCA CELEBRITY PROFILE
Meat Loaf, the singer behind
the 1977 Bat Out of Hell
rock opera album, died January
20, at the age of 74. It was stated
complications from COVID-19.
Born Marvin Lee Oday, Meat
Loaf released numerous hit
songs, including “Paradise by
the Dashboard Light,” “Two Out
of Three Ain’t Bad,” and “I’d Do
Anything for Love (But I Won’t
Do That).” He famously played
the role of Eddie opposite Tim
Curry and Susan Sarandon in
the 1975 rock musical comedy
The Rocky Horror Picture
Show.
Meat Loaf married his
current wife Deborah
Gillespie in 2007 and the
couple spent their time
between L.A and Austin,
Texas.
Meatloaf had two daughters
with his wife. Pearl Aday and
Amanda Aday.
Meat Loaf flew onto the
music scene like a bat out of
hell during the 1970s. Equal
parts beast and beauty, he
performed with a feral elegance
and passionate theatricality
that came to define his decadeslong
career. Whether entering
paradise by the dashboard light
or declaring he’d do anything
for love (but he won’t do
“that”), Meat Loaf showed that
music isn’t just something that
you hear; it’s something you
feel. And he certainly struck an
emotional chord with listeners.
1977’s Bat Out of Hell, the first
instalment in the “Bat Out of
Hell” trilogy, became the fifth
best-selling album of all time.
MEAT LOAF
Also passionate about acting,
Meat appeared in dozens
of films since the 1970s. But
behind the scenes his life was a
screenwriter’s fever dream. At
times the details are grimmer
than fairy tale, and some details
contain more tale than truth.
Meat Loaf’s Father allegedly
tried to murder him.
The
world
has
plenty
of method actors, but Meat
Loaf was a method singer. He
insisted, “I can’t sing at all! It
sounds terrible until I put the
scene together.” Meat said,
“On any record I’ve ever done,
you’ve never heard Meat Loaf
sing a song. They’ve all been
characters.” From the sound of
things, the singer spent most
of his life pretending to be
someone else.
Meat did a lot of pretending
in interviews, too. The singer
claimed to be born in 1947 and
1951. When pressed about the
discrepancy, Meat explained,
“I just wanted to maintain a
constant lie.” Meat Loaf is
either the world’s greatest
fantasy football player or a lying
liar.
The singer explained, “I’ve
fallen three stories” and
had so many “near misses”
and collisions that “I should
have died.” He suffered 18
concussions, survived eight car
crashes, and had close calls on
planes.
These accounts might read
more like tall tales and Meat has
admitted to lying habitually
during interviews. But he
does have a documented
history of onstage accidents
and health troubles. Per
Rolling Stone, in 2003, he
underwent heart surgery
after collapsing mid-concert.
He was reportedly diagnosed
with Wolff-Parkinson-White
Syndrome, which creates “an
extra electrical pathway in the
heart.” In 2016, he collapsed on
stage in Canada, and in 2019,
he broke his collarbone after
tripping and falling.
Meat Loaf the showman
claimed that after the JFK
assassination he and his friends
got pulled over by Secret Service
agents who commandeered
Meat’s car “to drive to the
hospital.” He said he and his
friends remained in the vehicle
until President Kennedy’s body
arrived two hours later.
In the book Like a Bat Out of
Hell, it was recalled Meat saying
something different about the
assassination. He and his friends
drove to the hospital on their
own, and someone with a badge