Meatloaf (Marvin Lee Aday)

In 1967, Meat Loaf moved from Texas to Los Angeles where he started working as a bouncer at a nightclubs. It was in Los Angeles that Meat Loaf formed his first band, Meat Loaf Soul. It was during the recording of their first song that Meat Loaf hit a note so high that he managed to blow a fuse on the recording monitor which immediately led to an offer of three separate recording contracts- which he turned down all of.

His band changed lead guitarist several times, each time changing to a new band name, including Floating Circus and Popcorn Blizard.

After Floating Circus splitup, Meat Loaf took on several other jobs, one of which lead to his breakthrough in the media. While working as a parking lot attendant he had a chance meeting with a man who asked what Meat Loaf did when he wasn't on the lot. After mentioning that he was a singer in his spare time, the man suggested he should audition for the stage musical, Hair. The audition was a success and led to Meat Loaf starring in a six month gig in Detroit.

Meat Loaf's role in Hair was the jump start he needed. The publicity led to an invite from Motown to record a duet album with Stoney Murphy. The album "Stoney and Meatloaf " was completed mid-1971 and released in September that same year. Along with the release, they began touring with Jake Wade and the Soul Searchers but Meat Loaf soon left after the pair's vocals were cut from the single 'Who is the Leader Of People?' and replaced with Edwin Starr's voice.

When the tour was over Meat Loaf rejoined the Hair cast, this time on Broadway. Hiring an agent for the first time, Meat Loaf auditioned for a theatre production of More Than You Deserve where he met Jim Steinman for the first time.

At the end of 1973, Meat Loaf received a call asking him to be in The Rocky Horror Show playing the parts of Eddie and Dr Scott. The success of the play led to a film version of the production being made in which Meat Loaf took the part of Eddie. At the same time, he began working with Jim Steinman on the "Bat Out Of Hell" album.

After spending a long period of time seeking a record deal, Bat Out Of Hell was finally released in 1977. The breakthrough came with the album's British release in January 1978, when BBC2's 'Old Grey Whistle Test' showed a promo clip of the title track. From then on, there was no turning back. 'Bat Out Of Hell' hit #14 in the U.S. (and stayed on the album chart for 88 weeks) and #9 in the U.K. It was a slow success, but it became one of the biggest selling rock albums of all time. The LP also propelled Meat Loaf into the rock star stratosphere and he embraced this with his usual gigantic enthusiasm. In September '78, the 8 minute epic 'Paradise By The Dashboard Light' became the longest ever single to hit the U.S. top 40. In Britain, the album became a virtual industry by itself. It was listed on the UK album chart for every week of every year from 1979 until 1984 inclusive; it stood only second to 'The Sound Of Music' soundtrack in terms of all time chart longevity. Needless to say the album was a huge success and Meat Loaf's popularity was growing immensely.

With the increase in popularity, a rift had started between Meat Loaf and Steinman. Steinman felt that due to the group's name, his work as creator and influence was being sidelined and he wasn't getting the attention or credit as a partner that he felt he deserved.

During a show in Toronto, Meat Loaf fell off stage and broke his leg, causing the rest of the tour to be cancelled. Due to the fact he was unable to work; Meat Loaf turned to the dark world of cocaine and suffered a nervous breakdown. Things took a turn for the better in 1978 though when he went to Woodstock to work with Steinman again and met Leslie Edmonds at a recording studio, who he fell in love with and married within a month.

Meatloaf was able to beat his drug addiction, and started working on his second album, Dead Ringer in 1980. The album was released the following year but its success was limited due the fact that the tour planned to support the album was cancelled because the group ran out of money advanced to them by the recording label.

The following albums releases, Bad Attitude (1984) and Blind Before I Stop (1986) were both low key none selling albums, so Meat Loaf began to tour smaller venues to try and revive his career.

Slowly he had established a faithful following and Meat Loaf's gigs grew to sell-out status by the late 1980s. Steinman noting Meatloaf's touring success began working with Meatloaf again on a new album. "Bat out of Hell ll" was released 16 years after its original in 1993. This album was again a huge hit and was considered the ultimate comeback for Meatloaf in the music world. "Bat Out Of Hell II" sold over 15 million copies and the single "I'd Do Anything For Love" reached the number one spot in 28 countries.

In 1995 Meat Loaf released Welcome To The Neighbourhood which followed the success level of Bat Out of Hell II and went platinum in both the US and UK.

Meat Loaf continued to record albums throughout the 90s and most recently released Bat Out Of Hell III in 2006. A small cloud on the horizon resulted from the rocky relationship with song writing partner Jim Steinman again.

Steinman sued Meat Loaf and his manager for using the phrase 'Bat Out Of Hell' for the third album's title, stating that he'd registered the name in 1995 at the time of the follow-up release. Despite Steinman attempting to block the release of Bat Out of Hell III, an agreement was finally reached and according to Virgin records, the quarrel was settled amicably out of court.