Pat Benatar - Biography
Pat Benatar may very well be the most popular and influential female rock singer of the late 1970s and ‘80s. Her string of hit albums spanning that period of time were unmatched and her strong, sexy image was a positive influence on a whole generation of aspiring female rockers. Though the apex of her career was during the early to mid-‘80s, Benatar continues to tour, record, and perform with her second husband, guitarist Neil Giraldo.
Pat Benatar was born Patricia Mae Andrzejewski on January 10, 1953 in Greenpoint, Brooklyn to parents of Polish and Irish descent. Patti, as she was then called, grew up in Lindenhurst on New York’s Long Island. From a very early age, young Patti was interested in singing and performing, no doubt influenced by her mother, who was also a singer and had been in the chorus of the New York City Opera. Patti sang in school productions as a child and started taking classical voice lessons early on. She trained as a coloratura soprano and was eventually accepted into the prestigious Julliard School of Music to continue her studies. Patti shocked her family and friends when, after graduating high school, she stopped her classical vocal studies and attended the State University of New York at Stony Brook to pursue a career in health education. A year later, she dropped out of school to marry her high school sweetheart Dennis Benatar. Dennis had been drafted by the Army and spent time in Vietnam, but by the time he and Patti were married the Army had stationed him in Richmond, Virginia. The couple settled in Richmond for three years and Patti worked as a bank teller. Reportedly after seeing a performance by Liza Minnelli in 1973, Patti Benatar decided she needed to concentrate on singing again, quit her job at the bank, and soon found work as a singing waitress. That gig led her to a stint singing in a ‘20s-style lounge band called Coxon’s Army, with whom she recorded a single that was available only in the Richmond area. On a whim, Patti decided to go up to New York and sing at an amateur night at the city’s renowned comedy club Catch a Rising Star. Once on stage, she belted out a fiery version of Judy Garland’s “Rock-a-Bye Your Baby With a Dixie Melody,” and the crowd went wild for her. The club’s owner, Rick Newman, was so impressed that he insisted she come back and perform, and later became her manager.
Once Dennis was discharged from the Army, the couple moved back to New York and Patti found work for the next few years singing a cabaret-style set at local night clubs as well as performing in various musicals including The Zinger — a rock musical written by Harry Chapin that premiered in 1976. Patti began changing her musical act, relying more on a tougher, rock-oriented set. She also realized, by way of accidentally playing one of her sets in a sexy Halloween costume, that she could adopt a more aggressively sexy stage persona. After she and her band played a run at the famous Tramps nightclub in 1978, she was courted by several record companies and signed a contract with Chrysalis Records. Now called Pat Benatar (even though she and Dennis had since divorced), she and her core crack band — which included guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Neil Giraldo, bassist Roger Capps, and drummer Myron Grombacher — entered the studio with producer Mike Chapman and recorded what would be her debut album, 1979’s In the Heat of the Night (Chrysalis). The album’s first single, “Heartbreaker,” was an immediate hit and it set the groundwork for the success of the rest of the album, which eventually climbed as high as number 12 on the Billboard 200 and established her around the world. In the Heat of the Night was a timely fusion of both hard rock and new wave, and set the stage for her career during the next few years.
Benatar released her second album, Crimes of Passion (Chysalis), in August of 1980 and it became an even bigger hit than her debut, climbing to the number two spot on the Billboard 200. The album includes some of her best known songs, including her signature single “Hit Me With Your Best Shot,” “Hell Is For Children,” “Treat Me Right,” and “You Better Run.” The video for “You Better Run” had the distinction of being the second video that MTV played on its premiere broadcast and Benatar would continue to be a favorite of the network for the next few years. Benatar won a Grammy in 1980 for Best Female Rock Performance and Crimes of Passion spent an astonishing 93 weeks on the US album charts. Her next album, Precious Time (Chrysalis), was released in 1981. Precious Time, which includes the singles “Fire and Ice” and “Precious Time,” became her first (and so far, only) number one album in the charts, even though it was derided by some critics who accused her of coasting too much on the style of her first two albums. Precious Time was not only a success in America, but also charted in the UK and Australia. In 1981, she won another Grammy for Best Female Rock Performance.
After the crunching guitars and harder tone of Crimes of Passion and Precious Time, Benatar wanted to return to a more melodic sound reminiscent of her first album. Benatar’s 1982 album, Get Nervous (Chrysalis), is more of a nod in the direction of new wave and classic pop influences than her previous albums. She scored hits with the singles “Shadows of the Night” and “Little Too Late,” and took home another Grammy that year for her performances on the album. She and her guitarist Neil Giraldo were also married in 1982. Get Nervous climbed as high as number four on the Billboard 200, and she and her band followed up with a worldwide tour to promote the album. Some performances from the tour were recorded and released as the live album Live From Earth (1983 Chrysalis). The album also contains two new studio-recorded tracks, one of which, “Love Is a Battlefield,” became a worldwide smash hit. “Love Is a Battlefield” was indicative of Benatar’s newer, more melodic approach to her music, and she appeared in a much-played video that included choreography and effects heavily influenced by Michael Jackson’s videos.
After touring and promotional duties were completed for Get Nervous and Live From Earth, Benatar and her band took a break before returning in late 1984 with the album Tropico (Chrysalis). Tropico marks a further step away from the hard rock she had made her name with, and includes many more styles such as the world-beat and African influences evident on the biggest hit from the album, “We Belong.” Though Tropico gained generally positive reviews, it didn’t sell as well as Benatar’s previous albums and began a trend of lower charting albums. Regardless, Benatar and her band toured again and released another album in 1985, Seven the Hard Way (Chrysalis). Much as was the case on Tropico, Benatar leans more on her melodic skills as well as relying on many more outside songwriters for Tropico. The album includes the hits “Sex As a Weapon” and “Invincible.” After the album was released, Benatar and Giraldo had their first child together, a daughter whom they named Haley. The couple would have another daughter, Hana, in 1994. Benatar took her time raising Haley before she returned to the recording scene in 1988 with her album Wide Awake in Dreamland (Chrysalis). By this time, Benatar’s popularity in the US was definitely on the wane, though she did score a minor hit with the single “All Fired Up.” A greatest hits compilation, Best Shots (Chrysalis), was released in the US in 1989, though it had been issued two years earlier in the UK to take advantage of her growing popularity in that country. It was also released in Australia, which became the area outside of North America where Benatar was the most popular.
Benatar slowed her output during the 1990s, only releasing three albums during the decade. The first was 1991’s True Love (Chrysalis), which is a major departure for Benatar in that it is a collection of jump blues numbers performed by herself, Giraldo, drummer Myron Grombacher, and blues band Roomful of Blues. Though the album got little airplay or promotion, it sold modestly and showed fans that Benatar was capable of handling a wide variety of material. Her next album, Gravity’s Rainbow (Chrysalis), was released in 1993 and is a return to the melodic, almost middle-of-the-road sound she had been favoring on her albums of the late ‘80s. Though a couple of singles off of the album made small dents in the charts, she was pregnant with her second daughter and was not able to do much promotion. At around the same time, her label Chrysalis was sold to EMI. Benatar took an extended break from her musical career to concentrate on her family life and didn’t return to recording until 1997, when she released the album Innamorata on the CMC International label, a label that specializes in modern works and reissues by artists of the ‘70s and ‘80s. Innamorata is a mostly acoustic-based set of songs. Though it was fairly well-reviewed by critics, it didn’t sell particularly well. Benatar, Giraldo, and their band went on tour that year with CMC labelmates Styx and were later asked to play some dates on the inaugural Lilith Fair Tour, showing that even though her records didn’t sell in the numbers that they used to, she was not forgotten as a female role model. By the end of the ‘90s, EMI asked Benatar and Giraldo to go through their back catalog and compile a retrospective of their time at Chrysalis. The result is the three-disc set Synchronistic Wanderings (1999 Chrysalis), which includes many of Benatar’s hits as well as eight unreleased songs.
Since the turn of the decade, Benatar has only issued one studio album, 2003’s Go (Vanguard), a return to her mix of ballads, rockers, and acoustic numbers. She and Giraldo toured extensively in support of the album, and have also appeared on tour in the intervening years with such acts as REO Speedwagon, the Steve Miller Band, and Fleetwood Mac, to name a few. In 2005, Benatar and Giraldo issued a live album, Summer Vacation Live (Lemon), documenting one of their tours. Benatar has also done some acting, appearing on various television sitcoms and even appearing in an ABC Afterschool Special.
