Fellow musicians and celebrities reminisce about singer Meat Loaf on social media. The American rocker, who was also a deserving actor, died Thursday at the age of 74 in front of his wife, daughters and close friends.
“Our hearts are broken – the unparalleled Meat Loaf has died,” writes the singer‘s family in a statement. “From his heart to your soul: never stop rocking!”. The family doesn’t mention a cause of death.
Singer Cher says on Twitter “that she had so much fun with Meat Loaf” when she recorded the duet Dead Ringer for Love with him. That single was released in 1981, “Love and prayers for his family and close friends,” writes British singer Boy George. “He once turned me upside down in a Chinese restaurant.”
“Meat Loaf, what a legend. Rest softly,” 80s icon Rick Astley writes in a photo with his fellow singer.
Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, who with composer and songwriter Jim Steinman made the song A Kiss is a Terrible Thing to Waste for Meat Loaf, predicts that “rock music will sound in the vaults of heaven”.
British writer Stephen Fry refers to the singer‘s biggest hit, Paradise By The Dashboard Light. “I hope paradise is just like you remember from the dashboard light.” Fry notes that the singer could be terrifying and boring at the same time. “That’s rare and particularly beautiful.”
Former President Donald Trump is also responding to the death of the rock icon. He met Meat Loaf during recordings of his television show Celebrity Apprentice, which the singer participated in in 2011. “He was a great guy. He was smart, talented, open and warm. He will be greatly missed!”.
Like Trump, Republican politician and former presidential candidate Mitt Romney had a connection with Meat Loaf. The singer performed during Romney‘s presidential campaign in 2012 and made a striking moment of that:
“A gentle man, a generous soul and an extraordinary talent. The unique quality of his music will live on. I’m going to miss his friendship,” says Romney.
Meat Loaf called his own political preferences “schizophrenic”. In an interview with Esquire magazine in 2012, he said, “I‘m not right and not left, I don’t even know if I‘m in the middle. I don’t know what that makes of me. It makes me weird.”