AndyK
22 Jun 2010, 12:12
Found here (http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/jun/21/meat-loaf-singer)
Portrait of an artist: Meat Loaf, singer.
When did you discover you had a great voice?
I still haven't. There are explorers out there now trying to find it.
What one song would work as the soundtrack to your life?
My life's far too complicated to be summed up in one song. It would take 20 just to represent one single day.
Who or what have you sacrificed for your art?
Some of my kids' childhood. In the early 1980s, I got into a war with my management – they just kept on sueing me and I lost everything. So I had to go out on tour to make sure the electricity stayed on.
Do you suffer for your art?
Oh, absolutely. I've gone on stage with a broken leg, in a wheelchair, sick, on crutches. The only thing I haven't done is cut off my ear
What has been your biggest challenge?
My name. It works because people remember it, but it doesn't work because people don't take me seriously – it's like a Barnum and Bailey clown name. I've wanted to change it since 1972.
What's the greatest threat to music today?
People getting lazy. You hear musicians saying: "Oh God, I don't want to make an album, it takes so long." My mouth just hangs open. When I was starting out, that's all anybody with any credibility wanted to do.
Have you ever had an embarrassing moment on stage?
[COLOR=black]Every night. My gigs are built on improvisation: I go out there and I'm like the Energizer bunny. Every night, I come off and go into the band's room and say: "Please don't ever let me do that again."
Complete this sentence: At heart I'm just a frustrated . . .
Comedian
What's the best advice anyone ever gave you?
When we were doing the musical Hair, on Broadway in 1970, [actor and singer] Ted Neeley said to me: "You have something that other people don't have, but you're not taken seriously. You need to commit." So I did.
What's the worst thing anyone has ever said about you?
A critic with the IQ of a squirrel once wrote of me: "He's exposed for the rock charlatan that he really is." If someone doesn't like my record, fine – but this was like I'd run over his grandmother with a truck. I'm going to find that guy and I'm going to rock his world.
In short
Born: Dallas, 1947.
Career: 11 studio albums, including Bat Out of Hell I, II and III; film appearances in The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Fight Club. Hang Cool Teddy Bear is out now on Virgin.
High point: "I've had so many highs – and lows. You can be on top of the world, and the next [thing] you're trapped in a wellwith a lid on top of it."
Portrait of an artist: Meat Loaf, singer.
When did you discover you had a great voice?
I still haven't. There are explorers out there now trying to find it.
What one song would work as the soundtrack to your life?
My life's far too complicated to be summed up in one song. It would take 20 just to represent one single day.
Who or what have you sacrificed for your art?
Some of my kids' childhood. In the early 1980s, I got into a war with my management – they just kept on sueing me and I lost everything. So I had to go out on tour to make sure the electricity stayed on.
Do you suffer for your art?
Oh, absolutely. I've gone on stage with a broken leg, in a wheelchair, sick, on crutches. The only thing I haven't done is cut off my ear
What has been your biggest challenge?
My name. It works because people remember it, but it doesn't work because people don't take me seriously – it's like a Barnum and Bailey clown name. I've wanted to change it since 1972.
What's the greatest threat to music today?
People getting lazy. You hear musicians saying: "Oh God, I don't want to make an album, it takes so long." My mouth just hangs open. When I was starting out, that's all anybody with any credibility wanted to do.
Have you ever had an embarrassing moment on stage?
[COLOR=black]Every night. My gigs are built on improvisation: I go out there and I'm like the Energizer bunny. Every night, I come off and go into the band's room and say: "Please don't ever let me do that again."
Complete this sentence: At heart I'm just a frustrated . . .
Comedian
What's the best advice anyone ever gave you?
When we were doing the musical Hair, on Broadway in 1970, [actor and singer] Ted Neeley said to me: "You have something that other people don't have, but you're not taken seriously. You need to commit." So I did.
What's the worst thing anyone has ever said about you?
A critic with the IQ of a squirrel once wrote of me: "He's exposed for the rock charlatan that he really is." If someone doesn't like my record, fine – but this was like I'd run over his grandmother with a truck. I'm going to find that guy and I'm going to rock his world.
In short
Born: Dallas, 1947.
Career: 11 studio albums, including Bat Out of Hell I, II and III; film appearances in The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Fight Club. Hang Cool Teddy Bear is out now on Virgin.
High point: "I've had so many highs – and lows. You can be on top of the world, and the next [thing] you're trapped in a wellwith a lid on top of it."