Amanda and Pearl Aday celebrated the first death anniversary of hitmaker Meat Loaf by releasing a 35-minute short film with the help of filmmaker Jack Bennett.
The Aday sisters announced the release of the short film, titled “Meat Loaf: A Celebration of Life,” in an emotional post on Instagram on Saturday.
“We are sending our deepest thanks and admiration out to Dad’s worldwide family of friends and fans for your continuous outpouring of love and support,” the pair began their lengthy post. “Today marks one year since we had to say goodbye to our dad for the final time. To honor Dad and you, his global community of friends and fans, we want to share with you a short film we put together with our great friend and brilliant filmmaker, Jack Bennett.”
“This is a celebration of Dad’s life and legacy, an acknowledgment of the man he was on and off the stage. Not just the performer but the boss, the mentor, the friend, the husband, the godfather, the grandpa ‘Papa Meat,’ and the father,” they continued.
In the short film, Michael Lee Aday, popularly known as Meat Loaf, explains the origin of his stage name.
“I’ve been called meat since I was nine months old. My dad started calling me that when I was in school; teachers call me meat. You get a high school football program; it says you get a meatloaf a day. Nobody would actually give themselves that stage name. somebody said, ‘well, what do people call you?’ that’s when I said Meatloaf and that’s what I got into the ’60s on Broadway,” he can be heard saying.
In their Instagram post, the Aday sisters also reminisced on the close bond they shared with their father.
“The dad who gave us love and generosity, who taught us and teased us. The dad who laughed and cried with us, who taught us how to catch a ball and ride a bicycle, who celebrated our victories and picked us up when we fell down. The man who was a big kid himself. The man who taught us tenacity and the value of respect. Our Dad. The man we miss every day,” they said.
The half-sisters also explained that the film included Meat Loaf’s career highlights and never-before-seen archive footage of their father.
The “Bat Out of Hell” singer died in 2021 at age 74 due to COVID-19.
AFP / Ben STANSALL
