MEAT LOAF DEAD AT 74 FROM COVID, RIP

 

Meat Loaf -- the singer with monstrous hits -- has died at the age of 74.

The singer's manager, Michael Greene, confirmed Meat Loaf died Thursday night. Sources with knowledge tell TMZ ... he was supposed to attend a business dinner earlier this week for a show he's working on -- "I'd Do Anything for Love" -- but the dinner was canceled because he became seriously ill with COVID. Sources tell us that his condition quickly became critical.

Our sources say Meat Loaf has been outspoken about COVID, railing with folks in Australia recently about vaccine mandates. We do not know if he was vaccinated.

Greene added that Meat Loaf's wife and 2 daughters were by his side when he passed away.

Meat Loaf was one of the greatest rock singers of all time. His 1977 "Bat Out of Hell" album sold an astounding 65 million copies. That album produced several hits, including "Two Out of Three Ain't Bad," which charted at #11 on Billboard.

Meat Loaf Once Claimed He Tried to Push Prince Andrew in a Moat

"I don't give a shit who you are, you're goin' in the moat," the late rock legend said he told the disgraced royal on the set of a 1987 TV show.

The sad death of Meat Loaf on Thursday night at the age of 74 has seen tributes flood in from all corners of the globe, with many fans recalling seeing the “Bat Out of Hell” performer and their own interactions with the rock legend.

Amid the mourning and remembrance from the entertainment world and beyond, one of the more colorful stories from a very colorful career has resurfaced: the time Meat Loaf got into a scrap with Prince Andrew.

The incident reportedly happened in 1987 on the set of It’s a Royal Knockout, a one-off charity TV event in which members of the royal family (with the exception of the Queen, who disapproved of the event) competed in a game show alongside various celebrities of the day, including Meat Loaf.

Recalling the experience in a 2003 interview with The Guardian that has resurfaced in wake of Meat Loaf’s death, the rocker claimed that Andrew — long before sexual assault allegations would result in a spectacular fall from grace — had become rather envious of his then-wife Sarah Ferguson’s interest in the long-haired singer.

“Fergie wasn’t exactly flirting with me, but she was paying attention to me, and I think Andrew got a little — I could be wrong, I’m just reading into this — I think he got a little jealous. Anyway, he tried to push me in the water. He tried to push me in the moat,” he explained.

“So I turned around and I grabbed him and he goes, ‘You can’t touch me. I’m royal.’ I said, ‘Well you try to push me in the moat, Jack, I don’t give a shit who you are, you’re goin’ in the moat.'”

It’s unconfirmed whether Andrew — who this month was stripped of his honorary military roles and forced to stop using his HRH style as he faces a civil sexual assault trial — ended up in the moat. But in the interview Meat Loaf joked that, due to the incident, he had fallen out of favor with the royal family.

“Oh, the Queen hates me,” he said.

Die-hard sports fan Meat Loaf once brought Yogi Berra to a recording studio.

It ain’t over ’til it’s over.”

Meat Loaf was such a die-hard sports fan that he once brought legendary Yankees player Yogi Berra to a recording studio with him.

Tony Bongiovi, the famed producer behind NYC’s Power Station studio, is one of the many music power players mourning the rock legend, who died at age 74 on Thursday.

“One of my proudest moments as a son came courtesy of Meat Loaf during a session at Power Station,” Bongiovi, 74, recalled to Page Six. “Most people don’t know that Meat was an avid baseball player and Yankee fan. One night, his pal Yogi Berra showed up to hang out in the studio.

“Well, my dad, Tony Bongiovi Sr., was also a huge Yanks fan, and when I mentioned it to Meat and Yogi, they said, ‘Get him on the phone!’ Yogi was so kind to my dad, who was thrilled with the surprise call. And Meat — who had met my dad — was delighted knowing he had made it happen.”

Bongiovi has produced records by Aerosmith, the Ramones and Talking Heads, among other top acts, and is a second cousin to rocker Jon Bon Jovi. He launched Power Station in a former Manhattan ConEd plant in 1977, and it became home to seminal recordings by Bruce Springsteen, the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Madonna, Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars and more.

Meat Loaf’s “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That)” and other hits were recorded there as well, so the late singer was a regular at the studio.

“It was a privilege hosting Meat Loaf, his producer Jim Steinman and his band at our studio,” Bongiovi said. “He was a wonderful talent and an extremely thoughtful guy.”

Meat Loaf had thanked Berra, as well as another Yankees great, Don Mattingly, in the liner notes of his albums.

In a 2005 interview with the New York Times, the sports fanatic said he’d been a member of 60 fantasy leagues at a time.

“I like all the fantasy sports,” Meat Loaf said. “I started doing baseball in the mid-’80s. I do baseball, basketball, football, NASCAR, everything. It’s my escape. I get so many phone calls. There are so many decisions I have to make. It gets me thinking about something else other than what’s going on in my life.”

He also said of his off-stage obsession: “When I’m not working, I have NFL Sunday Ticket and I watch all the games. At the same time, I have my computer on, so I can monitor everything in real-time scoring. On Monday, I don’t do anything. Tuesday is the day you normally pick up free agents, and I spend several hours working on that. I listen to NFL radio on Sirius. Sometimes I even do call-ins on NFL radio with their fantasy football guru. Unless there is a Thursday game, by Friday, I have to set my lineups. Then you have to watch the injury reports on Saturday.”

Stars who’ve publicly expressed their condolences after Meat Loaf’s death include Cher, Boy George, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Rick Astley.

Meat Loaf’s family announced his death via Facebook in a message that read: “Our hearts are broken to announce that the incomparable Meat Loaf passed away tonight with his wife Deborah by his side… Daught