Meat Loaf

American singer and actor Michael Lee Aday (born Marvin Lee Aday), better known as Meat Loaf, was born in Texas on this day in 1947. It appears his early years were not great, bullied as a child because of his weight and his father too was not adverse to bullying and violent behaviour. His mother sadly died of cancer in 1966 when he was still a teenager. Soon after he moved to Los Angeles in 1967 to play in local bands and in 1970 to New York to appear in Broadway musicals. He is noted for his powerful, singing voice and theatrical live shows. His Bat Out of Hell trilogy has sold more than 65 million albums worldwide and he won a Grammy Award for Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance for the song “I’d Do Anything for Love”. He is popular in the UK, receiving the 1994 Brit Award for best-selling album and single.

Meat Loaf married his first wife Leslie in 1979, divorced in 2001, he has two daughters with his former partner. Since 2007 he has been married to Canadian Deborah Gillespie.

Meat Loaf has also appeared in over 50 films and television shows, sometimes as himself or as characters resembling his stage persona. His most notable film roles include Eddie in The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), and Robert “Bob” Paulson in Fight Club (1999). His early stage work included dual roles in the original cast of The Rocky Horror Show and he was also in the musical Hair, both on- and off-Broadway.

See his famous Bat out of Hell video below: