Pat Benatar
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Pat Benatar on the cover of her 1997 album Innamorata |
Pat Benatar (born
January 10,
1953) is an
American rock/
hard rock singer who had numerous hits during the
1980s such as "Heartbreaker", "I Need A Lover", and "You Better Run", the video for which was the second music video ever shown on
MTV after the
Buggles'
Video Killed the Radio Star [
1]
She was born
Patricia Mae Andrzejewski to a
Polish-
Irish family in
Brooklyn, but grew up in
Lindenhurst, New York, initially studying
opera like her mother. [
2] At 19, she married her high school sweetheart, Dennis T. Benatar in
1971, 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.[
3]. She and her husband moved to New York in 1975 where they were soon divorced. Pat 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. "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 makeup!'" Because of that performance, she was signed to
Chrysalis Records by its founder
Terry Ellis. [
4]
She later married the band's
guitarist,
Neil Giraldo (incorrectly spelled as "Geraldo" in early liner notes/credits). They have two daughters,
Haley and Hana.
Benatar is known for her 'tough' attitude, 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").
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.
Benatar still writes and tours with her husband, and has also become a
commercial spokeswoman for the
Energizer company.
In the summer of
2005 Benatar's older daughter,
Haley Giraldo, starred in
E!'s
reality TV series,
Filthy Rich: Cattle Drive.
In 2006 her song "We Belong" was part of a $20 million dollar ad campaign for
Sheraton hotels.[
5] The same song is featured in the 2006 comedy "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" starring Will Ferrell and directed by Adam McKay.
Albums
Singles
*
Official Site*
Rocks on the Net - Pat Benatar*
Her Page at Launch*
Fan Club
