at 16:54 on October 30, 2006, EST.
By VICTORIA AHEARN


Meat Loaf listens to audience applause during his appearance on the NBC "Today" television program in New York's Rockefeller Center, Friday. (CP PHOTO ARCHIVES/ AP/ Richard Drew)


TORONTO (CP) - Don't be surprised if Meat Loaf starts covering his mouth or shunning handshakes during upcoming autograph sessions and promotional events.

The rock pioneer, whose new album, "Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster is Loose," hits stores Tuesday, is "totally paranoid" about catching germs or a virus ahead of his world tour next spring.

"Being sick is my one fear. I'm getting to be like Howard Hughes. I want to wear gloves and a mask ... like Michael Jackson," Meat Loaf, whose real name is Michael Aday, confessed recently over the phone from New York.

"I want to be like what's his name on 'Deal or No Deal,' Howie Mandel - he doesn't shake hands. He won't touch people's hands."

Joking or not, it's perhaps understandable why Meat Loaf would want to take such precautions.

At 59, the Dallas-born singer said while he feels mentally young, his knees don't and he has to be careful if he wants to make it through his current promotional schedule.

"If you get sick on tour and you keep trying to tour, you never recover. You just don't," said Meat Loaf, who is known for putting so much energy into his shows that he collapses due to physical exhaustion.

Meat Loaf, a veteran of musical theatre who's appeared in about 50 films, also continues to suffer from a crippling fear of performing live on television.

The phobia brought him to the point of tears last May after he performed on the "American Idol" finale, he said.

"Oh, I hated it," the performer said of his duet with runner-up contestant Katharine McPhee.

"I'm always stricken by my stage fright when it comes to TV."

The problem, he said, is that he can't belt out his traditionally long tunes in the short amount of time that TV permits.

"It's like, you can't read 'War and Peace' in 2 1/2 minutes," he said. Plus, his ear monitor didn't come on and he didn't "have music for the first 12 bars."

"Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster is Loose" is the third album in the successful "Bat" rock opera franchise, which started in 1977 with "Bat Out of Hell" and was followed by the Grammy-winning "Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell" in 1993.

Several rock musicians guest star on the new disc, which was produced by hit songwriter Desmond Child and includes a cover of Celine Dion's "It's All Coming Back to Me Now."

That track, written by Meat Loaf's longtime collaborator Jim Steinman, was originally intended for the second "Bat" album, said Meat Loaf, but there wasn't room and it was given to Dion.

Steinman, who wrote the original "Bat Out of Hell" song and wrote and produced the second "Bat" album, has a smaller role in this project with writing credits on eight songs.

That's because of Steinman's poor health and a now-resolved legal dispute over who owned the rights to the "Bat Out of Hell" phrase.

The two sides reached an out-of-court settlement in August and Steinman is still "one of my best friends and always will be," said Meat Loaf, who had sued Steinman and his manager for $50 million.

His other best friend?

Deborah Gillespie, his fiancee, who hails from Edmonton.

"She's a fine Canadian lady. She was a personal assistant to hockey players for the (Edmonton) Oilers," said Meat Loaf.

Currently, Meat Loaf is performing in "Bat Out of Hell III: The Bases Are Loaded," a three-act show featuring songs from all three "Bat" CDs. It has already hit London and will show in New York on Thursday before it travels to Toronto's Elgin Theatre on Saturday.

The world tour kicks off March 1 and includes 112 shows with several three-week breaks so he can avoid succumbing to those dreaded viruses.

"You have to really protect yourself," said the singer, who now lives in Los Angeles.

"They always say, 'The youth is wasted on the youth. They don't understand what they've got when they've got it."'


©The Canadian Press, 2006

For a second I thought you were talkinng about his actual eyes because I looked at the photo and was like, yeah, what are with his eyes? I like him, though, and will pick up the new album...Now if I only knew which of the downloads I would like better....the one from Circuit City or the one from Best Buy?

Is he Canadain, too? BTW, he was on Howard Stern and talked about not liking his duet with McPhee because she pulled the Diana Ross thing, looking into the audience and not at her singing partner during a love duet!
[Edited 10/31/06 7:06am]