''Dead Ringer'' is the second studio album by

Meat Loaf Michael Lee Aday (born Marvin Lee Aday; September 27, 1947 – January 20, 2022), known professionally as Meat Loaf, was an American rock singer and actor. He was noted for his powerful, wide-ranging voice and theatrical live shows. He is on t ...

, released on September 4, 1981. It is the second of four albums written entirely by

Jim Steinman James Richard Steinman (November 1, 1947 – April 19, 2021) was an American composer, lyricist and record producer. He also worked as an arranger, pianist, and singer. His work included songs in the adult contemporary, rock, dance, pop, mus ...

. The album cover was designed by comic book artist and horror illustrator

Bernie Wrightson Bernard Albert Wrightson (October 27, 1948 – March 18, 2017), sometimes credited as Bernie Wrightson, was an American artist, known for co-creating the Swamp Thing, his adaptation of the novel ''Frankenstein'' illustration work, and for his o ...

Album background

Steinman started to work on ''

Bad for Good ''Bad for Good'' is the only studio album by American songwriter Jim Steinman. Steinman wrote all of the songs and performed on most, although Rory Dodd contributed lead vocals on some tracks. The songs were originally intended to be recorded ...

'', the album that was supposed to be the follow-up to 1977's ''

Bat Out of Hell ''Bat Out of Hell'' is the 1977 debut album by American rock singer Meat Loaf and composer Jim Steinman. It is one of the best-selling albums in history. The album was developed from a musical, ''Neverland'', a futuristic rock version of ''P ...

'', in 1978. During that time, a combination of touring, drugs and exhaustion had caused Meat Loaf to lose his voice. Without a singer, and pressured by the record company, Steinman decided that he should sing on ''Bad for Good'' himself, and write a new album for Meat Loaf. This album was ''Dead Ringer'', which was later released in 1981, after the release of ''Bad for Good''. After playing the role of Travis Redfish in the movie ''

Roadie The road crew (or roadies) are the technicians or support personnel who travel with a band on tour, usually in sleeper buses, and handle every part of the concert productions except actually performing the music with the musicians. This catc ...

'', Meat Loaf got his voice back, got off drugs, played softball, and started to work on his new album in 1980. Steinman had written five new songs which, in addition to a new, re-recorded version of "More Than You Deserve" (which Meat Loaf had sung in the musical with the same name) and a reworked monologue, formed the album ''Dead Ringer''. The album was produced by Meat Loaf and

Stephan Galfas Stephan Galfas is an American record producer, currently CEO of International Talent Organization, Inc. and Miss Molly Records. Biography Galfas is a producer, composer, manager, musician, mixer and recording engineer who has worked with many a ...

, with backing tracks produced by

Jimmy Iovine James Iovine ( ; ; born March 11, 1953) is an American entrepreneur, record executive, and media proprietor best known as the co-founder of Interscope Records. In 2006, Iovine and rapper-producer Dr. Dre founded Beats Electronics, which produces ...

and Steinman. In 1976, Meat Loaf appeared on the track "Keeper Keep Us" from the Intergalactic Touring Band's self-titled album, which was produced by Galfas. Four singles were released from ''Dead Ringer'': "

Dead Ringer for Love "Dead Ringer for Love" is a song performed by American rock singer Meat Loaf and American singer-actress Cher from Meat Loaf's second studio album, '' Dead Ringer''. The song was written by Jim Steinman and one of only two tracks on the album produ ...

" (featuring

Cher Cher (; born Cherilyn Sarkisian; May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Often referred to by the media as the Honorific nicknames in popular music, "Goddess of Pop", she has been described as embodying female ...

), " I'm Gonna Love Her for Both of Us", "

Read 'Em and Weep "Read 'Em and Weep" is a rock music song composed by Jim Steinman. It was originally written for Meat Loaf and recorded for his 1981 album, '' Dead Ringer'', the second of only two tracks on the album produced by Steinman and Jimmy Iovine. Bar ...

" and "Peel Out". The album reached number 1 in the UK. The tour for this album also marked the beginning of his long-running collaboration with pianist Paul Jacobs, as both sideman and songwriter.

Reception

''Dead Ringer'' was considered both a commercial and critical disappointment after the worldwide success of Meat Loaf's debut album ''Bat Out of Hell''. Parke Puterbaugh of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' called the album a "cast-iron drag" and chastised Meat Loaf for his "alarmingly awful" vocals.

Track listing

Personnel

Arrangements

Roy Bittan Roy J. Bittan (born July 2, 1949) is an American musician best known as a long-time member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band. Nicknamed "The Professor", Bittan joined the E Street Band in 1974. He plays the piano, organ, accordion and synthe ...

– co-arranger * Tom Malone – horn arrangements (7) *Alden Shuman, Roy Straigis – string arrangements (3, 8)

Band

–

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

Davey Johnstone David William Logan Johnstone (born 6 May 1951) is a British rock guitarist and vocalist, best known for his long-time collaboration with Elton John as a member of the Elton John Band. Career Johnstone's first work was with Noel Murphy in 1 ...

–

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

s *

Mick Ronson Michael Ronson (26 May 1946 – 29 April 1993) was an English musician, songwriter, arranger, and producer. He achieved critical and commercial success working with David Bowie as the guitarist of the Spiders from Mars. He was a session music ...

– guitars (3) *Joe DeAngelis –

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

s (1) *Steve Buslowe –

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

–

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

(1, 2, 8) *

Nicky Hopkins Nicholas Christian "Nicky" Hopkins (24 February 1944 – 6 September 1994) was an English pianist and organist. Hopkins performed on many popular and enduring British and American rock music recordings from the 1960s to the 1990s, most notably ...

– piano (3) *

Larry Fast Lawrence Roger Fast (born December 10, 1951) is an American synthesizer player and composer. He is best known for his 1975–1987 series of synthesizer music albums (''Synergy'') and for his contributions to a number of popular music acts, inclu ...

–

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

s (1, 6) *Lou Del Gatto, Tom Malone,

Lou Marini Louis William Marini Jr. (born May 13, 1945), known as "Blue Lou" Marini, is an American saxophonist, arranger, and composer. He is best known for his work in jazz, rock, blues, and soul music, as well as his association with The Blues Brothers ...

, Alan Rubin –

horns Horns or The Horns may refer to: * Plural of Horn (instrument), a group of musical instruments all with a horn-shaped bells * The Horns (Colorado), a summit on Cheyenne Mountain * ''Horns'' (novel), a dark fantasy novel written in 2010 by Joe Hill ...

(7) *

Max Weinberg Max Weinberg (born April 13, 1951) is an American drummer and television personality, most widely known as the longtime drummer for Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band and as the bandleader for Conan O'Brien on ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' a ...

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

Liberty DeVitto Liberatori "Liberty" DeVitto (born August 8, 1950) is an American rock drummer. He is best known for his work as a drummer for New York singer-songwriter Billy Joel's recording and touring band. He has also been a session drummer on recordings of ...

– drums (5, 7) *

Jimmy Maelen Jimmy may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Jimmy'' (2008 film), a 2008 Hindi thriller directed by Raj N. Sippy * ''Jimmy'' (1979 film), a 1979 Indian Malayalam film directed by Melattoor Ravi Varma * ''Jimmy'' (2013 f ...

–

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

, African logs (7) *Leslie Aday – female voice (1) *

–

spoken word Spoken word refers to an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a late 20th century continuation of an ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetics of ...

(6) *

– guest vocals (7) *

Rhonda Coullet Rhonda Lee Oglesby Coullet (born September 23, 1945) is an American actress, comedian, singer-songwriter, theatre composer and playwright. Life and career Oglesby was born in 1945 in Magnolia, Arkansas, the daughter of Horace and Cecil Oglesby. ...

(7),

Rory Dodd Rory Dodd (born Port Dover, Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian rock vocalist who has performed many songs written by Jim Steinman. He is probably best known for singing as the duet voice (the "Turn around, bright eyes" lyrics) on Bonnie Tyler's versi ...

Ted Neeley Teddie Joe "Ted" Neeley (born September 20, 1943) is an American singer, actor, musician, composer, and record producer. He is known for portraying the title role in '' Jesus Christ Superstar'' (1973), a role for which he was nominated for two G ...

Allan F. Nicholls Allan F. Nicholls (born April 8, 1945) is a Canadian actor, film director, film producer, screenwriter, composer and musician. He was nominated for both a BAFTA and WGA award for his writing on the 1978 film '' A Wedding''. He is often credite ...

Eric Troyer Eric Lee Troyer (born 10 April 1949) is an American keyboardist, singer, songwriter, and occasional guitarist, best known as a member of ELO Part II and its successor The Orchestra. Troyer was a founding member of ELO Part II, having been rec ...

Album background

Reception

Track listing

Personnel

Arrangements

Band

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Certifications and sales

References