Man Behind Meatloaf Dies

The man who took a chance on a guy named Meat Loaf passed away today.
From spinner.com: Steve Popovich, a longtime music executive who helped launch Meat Loaf's career, has died. According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the 68-year-old passed away Wednesday, June 8 in his Murfreesboro, Tenn., apartment of unknown causes.
A Pennsylvania native who moved to Cleveland in his teens, Popovich got his start in the music business by unloading trucks at a local Columbia Records warehouse during the '60s. By 1972, he had risen all the way to Vice President of promotions for CBS Records, a post given to him by Clive Davis. In the mid-'70s, Popovich and his A&R team at Epic signed such artists as Cheap Trick, Ted Nugent, Boston and, after they left Motown, the Jacksons.
In 1976, Popovich left CBS to form his own label, Cleveland International. It was there that he championed the career of Meat Loaf and his 'Bat Out of Hell' album, which had failed to attract interest from other labels. Popovich pushed the album relentlessly until it topped the charts. To date, it has gone platinum 14 times in the US. http://www.spinner.com/2011/06/09/steve-popovich-music-executive-dies/?icid=main%7Chp-desktop%7Cdl2%7Csec3_lnk1%7C215558

From Bat Out Of Hell, one of my favorite albums: