A 67-year-old Meat Loaf (A.K.A. Marvin Lee Aday) impersonator found out he had stage four mouth cancer after seeing an unexpected alteration in his teeth.
A BBC interview helped him spot the change
Blackpool resident Peter Young only noticed the difference after watching a video of himself. He later learned during a dental examination that it was a sign of the illness.
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Devastated by the diagnosis…
Peter shared: “The guy who diagnosed me suggested I wouldn’t be able to sing again. That kind of broke me a bit, that.
“I’ve been doing it for 30 years, it was my living. I was about to retire, but I would never retire from singing.”
He says Meat Loaf’s death actually saved his life
Young said: “Had Meat Loaf not died, I don’t think I’d be here anymore. I wouldn’t have done the interview, and I wouldn’t have known. The likelihood is, I would have been dead.”
This is how he found out
The singer realized something was wrong after his interview with the BBC in January 2022 to talk about Meat Loaf’s death.
After observing a gap in his teeth seven months later, Peter made the decision that he needed implants to close the gap.
At that time, he didn’t know the real issue
“I decided to go to a dentist in Cyprus whilst I was working there, because it’s a lot cheaper than it is in this country,” he said.
“As it was, the girl who gave me the examination said I had an infection, so I had to go back to my dentist here in Blackpool.”
Then there came the shocking revelation…
Peter was told he had stage four cancer in his mouth after he got home. He had an exhausting 11-hour operation to remove the cancer, and the surgeons used skin from his wrist to patch up his mouth.
He struggled with recovery for a year
He said: “I had the operation and I was off for about 12 months, I had no teeth for seven or eight months, they had to fit implants, because they had to remove all the teeth in the mouth for the operation.”
That didn’t stop him from doing what he loved most
Peter Young released a new song named January 20th in January 2025 to mark Meat Loaf’s third death anniversary. He’s expected to perform in Blackpool in July, along with a 30-piece orchestra.
Saying: “I wasn’t forced to carry on. I’ll sing ’til I drop, whilst I can still do it I’m gonna still do it.
“Meat Loaf’s not the easiest to do, but it seems to be my niche.”
