Hair, where he met an enigmatic actor named "Stoney." Together the pair recorded a 1971 LP for Detroit's Rare Earth Records simply entitled Stoney and Meat Loaf. The record completely flopped, and Meat Loaf continued performing in musicals, landing parts in Rainbow, More Than You Deserve, and the movieThe Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Meat Loaf got his big break in 1976 when his old acquaintance Ted Nugent asked him to sing on his new album, Free-For-All. His musical reputation, now somewhat established, Meat Loaf and a theatre friend, Broadway producer/lyricist Jim Steinman, collaborated on a grand concept album, 1977's Bat Out Of Hell (Epic). Produced by Todd Rundgren, the album was an instant hit, selling millions of copies and spawning three Top 40 singles, including the immortal "Paradise by the Dashboard Light."Unfortunately for Meat Loaf, he and Steinman parted ways shortly thereafter, amid rumorsthat the 300-pound vocalist had become impossible to work with due to drug and emotionalproblems. Without the lyrics and concepts of his producer, Meat Loaf's attempted follow-ups to Bat Out of Hell -- 1981's Dead Ringer, 1983's Midnight at the Lostand Found, 1984's Bad Attitude, and 1986's Blind Before I Stop -- suffered from poor production, bad writing, and general lack of quality. Though they sold fairly well in Britain and Europe, by his third or fourth record Meat Loaf's albums ceasedto be distributed in the U.S. Steinman filed suit against Epic and Meat Loaf, eventually bankrupting the singer, who retired from music in 1986 to undergo physical and psychological treatment.

Surprisingly, Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman reunited in the early '90s, producing the firstcommercially successful Meat Loaf album in years, 1993's Bat Out Of Hell II: BackInto Hell. Though the album sold over 10 million copies and spawned the hit single"I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)," Steinman and Meat Loaf soon partedways again; not surprisingly, 1995's Welcome to the Neighborhood was anotherMeat Loaf flop.