Ellen Foley: Last News

Chris Willman Music WriterIn 2016, I went into a conference room in Beverly Hills to spend a couple hours talking with Meat Loaf, who had just finished recording what would be his final studio album, “Braver Than We Are.” The project found him dipping into nearly 50 years’ worth of Jim Steinman songs that he’d never gotten to or that had been newly revised, and he also brought in Ellen Foley and Karla DeVito for cameos to really make the project feel like old home week, as much he was adamantly opposed to trying to recreate the sound of his 1977 breakout, “Bat Out of Hell.”The purpose of our get-together was to create some press notes for “Braver Than We Are,” but the conversation often detoured toward “Bat,” his history with Steinman, the rejection they experienced before becoming stars, and the working methods he used in firmly believing that he was an actor above all, and a singer secondarily. Almost none of that 2016 chat ever saw the light of day, but with Meat Loaf having died on Thursday, it seems like an appropriate occasion for Variety to bring some of our lively conversation out from the vault, as we say a last adieu to Marvin Lee Aday.

"Stop Right There!" Three words of warning — and three words that Ellen Foley credits with launching her career in music. It was Foley who belted out the words to Meat Loaf about halfway through their eight-and-a-half minute duet "Paradise By the Dashboard Light," the epic seduction song on his mega-selling 1977 "Bat Out of Hell" album. Foley is now looking back on the singular experience of making the memorable song as she recalls Meat Loaf and a "beautiful, feisty, joyful friendship" that began in her early 20s.

Chris Willman Music WriterIn the wake of Meat Loaf’s death Thursday, singer Ellen Foley described her working relationship with Meat Loaf in the 1970s as “a beautiful, feisty, joyful friendship. Meat and Jim (Steinman) brought me into the consciousness of the rock ‘n’ roll world.

Facebook page released a statement. Meat Loaf was 74. A post shared by Pearl (@pearlcaliforniacountry)«Our hearts are broken to announce that the incomparable Meat Loaf passed away tonight surrounded by his wife Deborah, daughters Pearl and Amanda and close friends,» the statement read.

Meat Loaf.The legendary rock star, whose real name was Marvin Lee Aday, died Thursday at the age of 74. Foley, who was one of Meat Loaf's longtime collaborators and worked with him on the hit single «Paradise by the Dashboard Light,» reflects on their friendship and looks back at his legacy.«I finally got a text at 2:40 this morning, and all these things just flood back.

Meat Loaf, the hardworking singer and actor whose Bat Out of Hell is one of the best-selling albums ever and who played Eddie in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, has died. He was 74.