Meat Loaf: Lorraine Crosby pays tribute to 'great man'

The singer who duetted with Meat Loaf on one of his biggest hits has paid tribute to him as "a great man" who was "larger than life".

Lorraine Crosby, who sang on the 1993 track I'd Do Anything for Love, said his death was a "sad day".

Meat Loaf, who sold 100 million albums worldwide and acted in dozens of films, has died at the age of 74.

Ms Crosby said she and the Bat Out Of Hell star were "good friends", adding he was "like a father figure to me".

Lorraine Crosby said she was thrilled to work with him

Ms Crosby, from Walker in Newcastle, was managed by Meat Loaf's long-time collaborator Jim Steinman in the 90s and just happened to be in the studio when they were recording I'd Do Anything for Love, which she said was a case of "right place, right time".

"I do believe fate always works out, and the rest is history, the song went to number one in 28 countries and sold 15 million copies, and it was Meat Loaf's only number one [in the US], and I'm so thrilled I got to do it with him," she said.

Although Ms Crosby lent her vocals to the worldwide smash, she did not feature in the accompanying video.

• Obituary: Meat Loaf

The song was the UK's best-selling single of 1993 and earned him a Grammy Award.

The Dallas-born singer was born Marvin Lee Aday but also known as Michael, and got his stage name when his dad said he looked as red as meat at birth, before a high school football coach added the "loaf".

Meat Loaf sang in Newcastle as part of his farewell tour in 2013

The unlikely Hartlepool fan

Meat Loaf was invited on to the Sky Sports show Soccer AM in 2003 but, despite not really knowing much about football, was asked to pick a favourite club.

"I thought, I don't want to go on and say I'm a Liverpool fan or a Manchester United fan. So I started looking, I go down to the third division, and I go there's a cool name - Hartlepool," he said.

"And I found out that a monkey washed ashore and they hung him thinking he was a Frenchman, and I loved that story.

"I started researching all the players. I knew who the coach was. I got on the phone to the Hartlepool coach and told him 'hang in there, you'll move up, I guarantee'.

"Since then I've signed up and I get Hartlepool updates."

Hartlepool United's mascot is H'Angus The Monkey

A club spokesman paid tribute to the star, who they described as "probably our most famous fan",

"Everyone at the club is saddened to hear of the passing of international superstar Meat Loaf," a statement read.

"Meat Loaf's story of how he became a Hartlepool supporter when he appeared on Soccer AM was heart-warming and we are glad to have been the team to which he dedicated his passion for football.

"We send all our love and thoughts to his family and friends at this sad time."

Ms Crosby said Meat Loaf "had a temper", but added: "He didn't fall out with you for long. He'd say his bit, and then everything would be fine the next day."

"He let me go and stay in his house in Connecticut, he sent a driver for me and he always said to me I was his little princess. He was a wonderful man. Wonderful," she said.

Speaking about a concert in Whitley Bay Ice Rink in December 1993, she said it was "the most terrifying gig of my life" and Meat Loaf was so imposing on stage.

Meat Loaf pretended he was saving pancakes to improve his shot-stopping abilities

It was not his only time performing in the North East.

During a 2007 concert in Newcastle, the star walked off stage after little over an hour claiming he was retiring.

He later blamed his exit on excess medication, but was determined to give something back, so he arranged a charity penalty shoot-out at Newcastle United's St James' Park ground.

He matched the £5,000 raised by the auction, and the money went to two cancer charities, Maggie's Cancer Care Centre and the Toma Fund.