Meatloaf was born Marvin Lee Aday on September 27, 1947 in Dallas, Texas. He moved to California in 1967 and quickly formed his first band, Meat Loaf Soul. However, he only gained notoriety with his role in the LA production of the musical Hair. He teamed up with his co-star Stoney Murphy and released an album in the summer of 1971 called What You See Is What You Get. Though the album was a success, he went back to the stage, for now.
Before his return to the stage, he began working with pianist/composer Jim Steinman. With Steinman, Meat Loaf developed an album of rock epics - most famously 1972's Bat out of Hell that cleverly combined pop, metal, and opera, while at the same time sounding incredibly fresh and cutting-edge for its time. Out in the showcase clubs of America, Meat Loaf assembled a band to bring the album to life. However, it would not be long before the show became a bigger-than-life stage presentation; Meat Loaf would soon be a massive superstar.
After the success of Bat Out Of Hell, Meat Loaf and Steinman worked together on 1981's Dead Ringer before problems between them and their business managers led to Meat Loaf's declaring bankruptcy and trying to put out albums without Steinman's help. Eventually, after a series of ups and downs, the two paired together for Bat Out Of Hell II: Back Into Hell, which was Meat's biggest success since the original. Meat Loaf has also been seen on several TV appearances and in a number of films. Every couple of weeks, VH1 Classics shows a self-produced bio-pic. In it, they go into his troubled youth, impassioned love of celebrity, his remarkable voice—and his triumph over what seemed to be every possible adversity.