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Pat Benatar

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Pat Benatar <tr style="text-align: center;"><td colspan="3">Pat Benatar on the cover of her 1997 album Innamorata
Pat Benatar on the cover of her 1997 album Innamorata
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Background information

<tr><td>Birth name</td><td colspan="2">Patricia Mae Andrzejewski</td></tr><tr><td>Born</td><td colspan="2">January 10, 1953</td></tr><tr><td>Origin</td><td colspan="2">New York City</td></tr><tr><td>Genre(s)</td><td colspan="2">Rock, Arena rock, Hard rock</td></tr><tr><td>Occupation(s)</td><td colspan="2">Singer</td></tr><tr><td>Years active</td><td colspan="2">1978 - present</td></tr><tr><td style="padding-right: 1em;">Label(s)</td><td colspan="2">Chrysalis Records</td></tr><tr><td>Website</td><td colspan="2">http://benatar.com/</td></tr>

Pat Benatar (born Patricia Mae Andrzejewski on January 10, 1953) is a Grammy Award winning American rock singer.

Contents

[edit] Biography

She was born in Brooklyn to a Polish-Irish family and grew up in Lindenhurst, New York. She initially studied voice and opera, following in the footsteps of her mother. [1] She graduated from Lindenhurst High School in 1971, and in 1972 she married her high school sweetheart, Dennis T. Benatar, providing her the surname with which she became famous. She immediately moved to Richmond, Virginia with her husband, where she worked as a bank clerk and sang gigs at night.[2]. She and her husband moved to New York in 1975 where they were soon divorced.

Benatar then began to pursue her singing career in earnest. She was discovered at an amateur-night contest in the New York City comedy club Catch a Rising Star in 1977. After performing successfully several times at the club, Benatar finally found her onstage persona in the form of a wild Halloween costume which she had worn as a joke. In several interviews, Benatar recounted her realization for the new audience reaction: "The crowd was always polite, but this time they went out of their minds," Benatar would later report. "It was the same songs, sung the same way, and I thought, 'Oh my god...it's these clothes and this dog!'" Because of that performance, she was signed to Chrysalis Records by its founder Terry Ellis.[3]

Benatar married her lead guitarist Neil Giraldo in 1982, and they have two daughters, Haley and Hana.

She amassed a sizeable run of hit albums and singles in the 1980s, including "Heartbreaker", "Hit Me With Your Best Shot", "You Better Run", "Hell is For Children", and a cover of John Mellencamp's "I Need A Lover". Benatar had a reputation for writing about 'tough' subject matter, having recorded a significant amount of songs with a "battle" metaphor (such as "Invincible", "Hit Me With Your Best Shot", "Sex as a Weapon", "Fight it Out", and "Love is a Battlefield") and harsh subjects such as child abuse ("Hell is for Children", "Suffer the Little Children"). As her career progressed, her sound mellowed a bit from hard rock to more atmospheric pop songs ("Love is a Battlefield" and "We Belong".)

She won four consecutive Grammy Awards for "Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female" from 1980 to 1983, and was nominated four additional times in 1985, 1986, 1988, and 1989.

She will be inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame in 2007.

[edit] The band

Although billed as a solo artist, Benatar recorded and toured with a consistent set of band members over most of her career, who contributed greatly to the writing and producing of songs and are recognizable characters on album photos and in many of her music videos.

  • Neil "Spyder" Giraldo (incorrectly spelled as "Geraldo" in early liner notes/credits) is the distinctive lead guitar of the band and has performed on all of Benatar's albums. Neil also plays keyboards and harmonica, and has many writing and producing credits on the Benatar albums.
  • Myron Grombacher performed drums on nine of Benatar's albums and has numerous writing credits. Myron is easily recognizable in the music videos, particularly as the mad dentist in "Get Nervous."
  • Charlie Giordano performed keyboard duties on five albums, and is identifiable by his glasses and distinctive array of berets, blazers and 80's-style ties.
  • Scott Sheets is also credited on guitar on the first three albums, originally as lead.

[edit] Other achievements

Benatar still writes and tours with her husband.

In the summer of 2005, the couple's older daughter, Haley Giraldo, starred in E!'s reality TV series, Filthy Rich: Cattle Drive.

[edit] Stage and screen

In 1975, Benatar performed as the character "Zephyr" in Harry Chapin's off-Broadway sci-fi rock musical "Zinger." A rendition of Zephyr's solo piece "Shooting Star" is on the Synchronistic Wanderings collection.

In 1980, she portrayed the character "Jeanette Florescu" in Marcus Reichert's film noir Union City.

Benatar has made numerous TV appearances, mostly as herself.

Appeared with her husband in the Charmed episode "Lucky Charmed".

Also appeared in an episode of Dharma & Greg as herself (singing "We've Only Just Begun" at an impromptu wedding in an airport).

[edit] Advertising

In 2006, her song "We Belong" was part of a $20 million dollar ad campaign for Sheraton hotels.[4] The same song is featured in the 2006 comedy Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, starring Will Ferrell and directed by Adam McKay.

Benatar herself has become a commercial spokeswoman for the Energizer company, and is currently being featured in an ad for Candies Vintage shoes for Kohl's department store.

[edit] Trivia

  • Then-unknown actors Judge Reinhold and Bill Paxton appeared in Benatar's WWII-themed music video for "Shadows of the Night" (as an American fighter copilot and a German radio operator, respectively).

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

Year Album US UK Additional information
1979 In the Heat of the Night 12 — debut album
1980 Crimes of Passion 2 — —
1981 Precious Time 1 30 —
1982 Get Nervous 4 73 —
1983 Live From Earth 13 70 live album with additional studio tracks
1984 Tropico 14 31 —
1985 Seven the Hard Way 26 79 —
1987 Best Shots 67 6 hits compilation album
1988 Wide Awake in Dreamland 28 11 —
1991 True Love 37 40 —
1993 Gravity's Rainbow 85 — —
1997 Innamorata 171 — —
1999 Synchronistic Wanderings — — Hits compilation box set
2003 Go 187 — —

[edit] Singles

Year Song US Hot 100 US Mainstream Rock UK singles Album
1979 "Heartbreaker" 23 — — In the Heat of the Night
1980 "We Live For Love" 27 — — In the Heat of the Night
1980 "You Better Run" 42 — — Crimes of Passion
1980 "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" 9 — — Crimes Of Passion
1981 "Treat Me Right" 18 31 — Crimes Of Passion
1981 "Fire and Ice" 17 2 — Precious Time
1981 "Promises In the Dark" 38 16 — Precious Time
1982 "Shadows Of the Night" 13 3 50 Get Nervous
1983 "Little Too Late" 20 38 — Get Nervous
1983 "Looking For a Stranger" 39 4 — Get Nervous
1983 "Love Is a Battlefield" 5 1 17 Live From Earth
1984 "We Belong" 5 3 22 Tropico
1985 "Ooh Ooh Song" 36 — — Tropico
1985 "Invincible" 10 — 53 Seven The Hard Way
1985 "Sex As a Weapon" 28 5 67 Seven The Hard Way
1986 "Le Bel Age" 54 — — Seven The Hard Way
1988 "All Fired Up" 19 2 19 Wide Awake In Dreamland

[edit] External links

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