Meat Loaf, the singer and actor famous forBat Out of Hell, hasdiedat age 74.
Despite the ever-changing origin story of his name, Meat Loaf appears to have begun using the nickname years before his music and acting career began.
Meat Loaf claimed he got the first half of his name from his father shortly after he was born. The musician said onOprah Winfrey’sWhere Are They Nowseries in 2016 that he was “born bright red,” explaining that his father told the hospital to put a “Meat” tag in front of his crib because he “looked like nine-and-a-half pounds of ground chuck” as a newborn.
Meat Loaf told Winfrey he received the “Loaf” half of his nickname in eighth grade, when he “stepped on a coach’s foot and he screamed, ‘Get off my foot, you hunk of meatloaf!’ "
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“[Meat Loaf] adopted his stage name and closely guarded his real one — Marvin Lee Aday — to save his devout Church of Christ kin from embarrassment,” PEOPLE reported at the time. “The nom de guerre itself originated with seventh-grade classmates in commemoration of his initials and size — 5 foot, 2 inches, 240 lbs.”
TheRocky Horror Picture Showstar shared yet another story while appearing onPiers Morgan Livein 2011, during which he claimed his nickname was partially born out of a Levi’s commercial that said, “Poor fat Marvin can’t wear Levi’s.”
Meat Loaf in 1977.Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
The musician said he changed his first name from Marvin to Michael because of the Levi’s ad. Meat Loaf explained the connection between the commercial and his nickname, telling Morgan, “When I was a kid I was so big, I mean I was really big, I literally could not wear blue jeans.”
When the commercial came out, Meat Loaf was around 6 years old. He told Morgan at the time, “I was called Meat, but people would call me Marvin, and after that, nobody called me Marvin.”
Meat Loaf spun another tale about his name’s origins, according toThe New York Times, which reports that the artist also claimed an incident with a Volkswagen was responsible for his nickname.
“Meat Loaf … told numerous stories about how he got his stage name, including one about a high school stunt in which he let a Volkswagen run over his head,” theTimesreports. “Afterward, a child shouted, ‘You’re as dumb as a hunk of meat loaf.'”
Meat Loaf, who was known for his albums and appearances in films likeFight Club,Focus,Rocky Horror Picture ShowandWayne’s World, died Thursday, his agent Michael Green said in a statement shared with PEOPLE.
source: people.com
