Meat Loaf tour: American Idol winner Caleb Johnson to sing amid concerns over Meat Loaf’s voice

Fans of Meat Loaf will be pleased to hear the aging rocker is planning a comeback tour — though they may be disappointed to know he won’t actually be singing.

After congratulating lookalike Caleb Johnson for winning season 13 of American Idol, the 70-year-old has decided the reality television show winner will perform some of his biggest hits during his Back Out Of Hell tour.

Meat Loaf, who is concerned about losing his voice while performing his classics and does not want to face accusations of miming, has passed the baton on to Caleb, while the star will take to the stage to tell stories about Jim Steinman.

It seems that Meat Loaf would do anything for love, but will not sing during his new world tour

Meat Loaf

Renowned for his song I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That), Marvin Lee Aday, now known as Michael or by his stage name Meat Loaf, is an American musician and singer, noted for his powerful operatic voice.

His trilogy of albums, Bat Out of Hell, has sold more than 50 million copies across the world and to this day, sells around 200,000 copies a year and has remained on the charts for over nine years, making it one of the most successful albums in history.

As well as winning a Grammy for his iconic song, he has also received a BRIT Award for best-selling album and single, appeared in the film Spice World and went on to appear in over 50 movies and television shows.

His most notable appearances include Eddie in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Robert ‘Bob’ Paulson in Fight Club and The Lizard in The 51st State.

Meat Loaf tour 2018

Meat Loaf is rumoured to be returning to the stage with a huge world tour, but because of his struggles with his voice over the past few years, he will not be singing.

Instead, he has requested the talents of American Idol winner and Meat Loaf lookalike Caleb Johnson to sing some of his hits for him in a show called Back Out of Hell.

Rolling Stone reported that Meat Loaf is quite sensitive about his voice, stating: ‘He tends to get upset when anyone dares to say that his voice isn’t what it once was, if they cite, for example, the 2016 show in Canada during which he passed out, back pain shooting through him “like a sword,” with him dropping the mic to the ground, after which his voice seemed to warble along on its own, disembodied, suggesting that he’d been lip-syncing.’

As well as talking about his voice issues, he went on to discuss his nervous breakdown with the magazine, his relationship with Jim Steinman and when he found out that Jim was working with Roy Bittan on a Bat follow up, which he said ‘pissed him off’. 

‘Roy Bittan. When I found out, I thought I was going to kill myself, and I think I had already tried, but I don’t remember it. What happened next is, I basically had a nervous breakdown.’

The Rolling Stone article continued: ‘It took daily visits to a shrink for six months for him to get his voice back. After that, he released solo records that went nowhere, got into various big-money lawsuits with Steinman, finally patched things up with him, and together they staged one of the most startling comebacks in rock history with 1993’s Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell and the single I’d Do Anything for Love.’

Meatloaf, real name Marvin Lee Aday, screams into the microphone like a bat out of hell

Meatloaf, real name Marvin Lee Aday, screams into the microphone like a bat out of hell

A source revealed to The Sun that Meat Loaf would be embarking on a world tour despite admitting his voice isn’t up to some of the bigger numbers.

‘He’s been relying on pre-recorded vocal tracks for a while but doesn’t want to face accusations of miming on a huge tour, so is passing the baton on to Caleb, who he’s a big fan of.

‘Instead his involvement will be telling stories of how he met Jim Steinman, who he’s worked with since the Seventies, and other anecdotes. But the singing will be left to Caleb.’

Meat Loaf tour dates will be revealed in July 2018 and if the show is a success, the rocker is hopeful that he could secure a Las Vegas residency.

Who is Caleb Johnson?  

Caleb Johnson is a singer best-known as the winner of the thirteenth season of American Idol.

He was born on April 23, 1991 in Asheville, North Carolina. 

He took up an interest in music in high school and became the lead singer of the bands Rock Bottom and Elijah Hooker shortly after graduating. 

He also auditioned for American Idol three times starting in 2011 but wasn’t accepted into the Top 20 until 2014 during Season 13 of the show. Johnson received positive feedback from the judges consistently and proved to be very popular among viewers, being the only finalist to never be in the bottom three before reaching the season finale, eventually being crowned the winner. 

Johnson later released his debut album Testify on August 12, 2014, which peaked at number 24 on the Billboard 200 in the United States.

Following his American Idol win, Meat Loaf congratulated Caleb on Facebook after joking that fans were mistaking HIM as being Caleb Johnson. He posted: ‘Let me take a second to really congratulate Caleb Johnson. It’s great to see him tearing it up and putting some real rock ‘n’ roll back on prime time TV! Congratulations Caleb, GOOD LUCK and don’t you ever stop rockin’!’

 Caleb sang a number of Meat Loaf’s biggest hits on the reality show, impressing both the judges and audience at home. 

What is Caleb Johnson’s net worth? 

Per Celebrity Net Worth, Caleb Johnson’s net worth is thought to be roughly $1 million (£761,600). 



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