Dallas native Marvin Lee Aday, better known to the world by his stage name, Meat Loaf, died Thursday at the age of 74, according to multiple reports. A cause of death was not immediately provided.
Per a post on the Grammy-winning singer and actor’s Facebook page, he was “surrounded by his wife Deborah, daughters Pearl and Amanda and close friends.”
“We know how much he meant to so many of you and we truly appreciate all of the love and support as we move through this time of grief in losing such an inspiring artist and beautiful man,” the statement reads.
Born in Dallas in 1947 and a graduate of Thomas Jefferson High School, Meat Loaf’s musical career kicked into high gear right out of the gate with his 1977 debut album, Bat Out of Hell, co-written with composer Jim Steinman, who preceded Meat Loaf in death last April at the age of 73.
Forty-five years after its release, Bat Out of Hell, with its indelible singles “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad” and “Paradise by the Dashboard Light,” remains one of the top 10 selling albums of all time, with an estimated 43 million copies sold worldwide.
It was a smashing success with a long tail — Meat Loaf and Steinman returned to the concept twice more, releasing Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell in 1993 (which featured the hit and Grammy-winning single “I Would Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That)”) and Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster is Loose in 2006. Meat Loaf’s 12th and final studio album, Braver Than We Are, was released in 2016. His last local performance was a year prior — Oct. 28, 2015 — at what was then known as Verizon Theatre in Grand Prairie.
Meat Loaf also found considerable fame as an actor, appearing in more than 65 movies and with memorable roles in works such as “Rocky Horror Picture Show,” “Wayne’s World” and “Fight Club.”
Although memorable and filled with tremendous achievements, Meat Loaf’s was not a career that followed a conventional trajectory. To hear him tell it, that was by design.
“I live in the moment,” Meat Loaf told the Dallas Morning News in 2015, as he was returning home to be recognized as a distinguished alumni of Thomas Jefferson High School. “I don’t try to think too far ahead and go, ‘Look what I’ve done.’ You’re only as good as what you’re doing now. That’s the truth.”
