Meat Loaf, the larger-than-life symbol of theatrical rock n roll, has died overnight at the age of 74.
His family posted the news on his Facebook page just before 2 a.m. Central time this morning. The statement read that his wife, Deborah, daughters Pearl and Amanda and close friends "have been with him throughout the last 24 hours." No cause of death has been released by his family as of yet.
Born Marvin Lee Aday in Dallas September 27th, 1947, Meat Loaf first found success in the L.A. company of ‘Hair’. That eventually led to an offer from a Motown subsidiary to record with co-star Shaun "Stoney" Murphy. Stoney and Meat Loaf's "What You See Is What You Get" received extensive airplay, but fell short of the Top 40. It did land the duo the chance to open for Rare Earth, Bob Seger and Alice Cooper.
Meat Loaf later found chart success in the 70’s with “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad” and “Paradise By The Dashboard Light.” Meat Loaf made a huge chart comeback in 1994 with the album ‘Bat Out of Hell Two” with the chart smash “I’d Do Anything For Love.”
Touring and recording only occasionally, Meat Loaf was best known for his dramatic on-stage performances -- and periodic collapses due to exhaustion or ill health. Meat Loaf recorded a dozen albums -- His final release was ‘Braver Than We Are’ in 2016, the last year he toured.
Meat Loaf once commented on where he got his nickname:
"Because I grew up in Texas and everybody has names like Bubba... And I have a cousin named Pudge, and I have no idea why he's called Pudgy, 'cause he's about six foot two and weighs 112 pounds. And, so I was called Meat, and I had Bubba and BJ and Red and all these, ya know, nicknames from when you're in Texas. And it never came up. And then in the '70s, when I was doing theater in New York, it never came up. And it took me a while to figure that out. And I figured that out it's because we'd just come out of the '60s and everybody hadn't come down off acid yet."
We’ll keep you posted as more details are released on the cause of death.
[Source: Classic Hits Today]