Patricia Mae Giraldo (née Andrzejewski; professionally Benatar ; born January 10, 1953) is an American singer and songwriter. In the US, she has two multi-platinum albums, five platinum albums, and 15 US Billboard top 40 singles, while in Canada she had eight straight platinum albums, and has sold over 36 million albums worldwide. She is a four-time Grammy Award winner. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2022.
Benatar's debut album, In the Heat of the Night (1979), was her breakthrough in North America, especially Canada, where it reached No. 3 on the album chart. Two hit singles from the album were: "Heartbreaker"; and "We Live for Love", the latter written by her lead guitarist and future husband, Neil Giraldo. Her second album, Crimes of Passion (1980), was her most successful work, peaking at No. 2 in North America and France, being certified 4× and 5× platinum in the US and Canada, respectively. The single "Hit Me with Your Best Shot" reached the top 10 in the US and Canada, and is her signature song. Her third album, Precious Time (1981) topped the US Album Chart, and became her first top 10 album in Australia. Its single "Fire and Ice" charted highly in the US and Canada. Benatar's fourth album, Get Nervous (1982), sold less well than her previous two albums, but included the North American hit "Shadows of the Night".
Benatar's sound moved towards more atmospheric pop. The single "Love Is a Battlefield" (1983) was her biggest hit in most countries, reaching No. 1 in the Netherlands, Australia, the US Rock Tracks chart, and No. 5 on the US Hot 100. The live album it came from, Live from Earth (1983), was her biggest seller in Australia, Germany, and the Netherlands. Her fifth album was Tropico (1984), and its lead single "We Belong" reached the top 10 in several countries, including No. 5 on the US Hot 100. Benatar's sixth album, Seven the Hard Way (1985), sold less well, but yielded two singles harking back to the rock vein: "Invincible", a top 10 hit in North America; and "Sex as a Weapon". Her follow-up seventh album, Wide Awake in Dreamland (1988), marked a resurgence in sales in Canada and Australia, and was her highest charting album in the UK. Its rocker, "All Fired Up", was a significant hit in Canada, Australia and the US. Benatar released four additional albums between 1991 and 2003: True Love (1991), Gravity's Rainbow (1993), Innamorata (1997), and Go (2003).
Early life Patricia Mae Andrzejewski was born on January 10, 1953, in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, New York City. Her mother, Mildred (née Knapp; 1928–2016), was a beautician, and her father, Andrew () Andrzejewski (1926–2009), was a sheet metal worker. Andrew was of Polish descent and Mildred was of German, English, and Irish ancestry. Her family moved to North Hamilton Avenue in Lindenhurst, New York, a village in the Long Island town of Babylon.James, Carolyn. ["Pat Benatar gets key to Babylon Town: Former resident honored for outstanding achievement"], The Beacon, August 22, 2002
Andrzejewski trained as a coloratura with plans to attend the Juilliard School, but decided instead to pursue health education at Stony Brook University. At 19, after one year at Stony Brook, she dropped out to marry her first husband, high school sweetheart Dennis Benatar, a U.S. Army draftee who trained at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, then served with the Army Security Agency at Fort Devens, Massachusetts, before being stationed at Fort Lee, Virginia, starting in 1973. Pat worked as a bank teller near Richmond, Virginia.
Career Career beginnings Benatar quit her job as a bank teller to pursue a singing career after being inspired by a Liza Minnelli concert she saw in Richmond, Virginia. Benatar had a gig at a Holiday Inn and was hired as a singing waitress at a nightclub named the Roaring Twenties. At the Roaring Twenties, she met and formed a duo with pianist Phil Coxon, which soon expanded to a ten-person lounge band called Coxon's Army, a regular at Sam Miller's basement club. The band gained in popularity and was the subject of a never-aired PBS special; its bassist Roger Capps was later the original bass player for the Pat Benatar Band. The period also yielded Benatar's first single: "Day Gig" (1974), written and produced by Coxon and given a limited local release. Her last significant gig in Richmond was a two-hour performance at Thomas Jefferson High School.
Dennis was discharged from the Army and the couple moved to New York in May 1975 so Benatar could pursue a singing career. She performed at an amateur night at the comedy club Catch a Rising Star in New York. Benatar's rendition of Judy Garland's "Rock-a-Bye Your Baby With a Dixie Melody" earned her a callback by club owner Rick Newman, who then became her manager; Benatar became a regular performer at Catch a Rising Star for the next three years. In late 1975, she landed the part of Zephyr in Harry Chapin's futuristic rock musical, The Zinger, which ran for a month in 1976 at the Performing Arts Foundation's (PAF) Playhouse in Huntington Station, Long Island.
Halloween 1977 proved a pivotal night in Benatar's early, spandexed stage persona. She entered a Halloween contest at the Cafe Figaro in Greenwich Village dressed as a character from the film Cat-Women of the Moon. Later that evening, Benatar went onstage at Catch a Rising Star still in costume. Between appearances at Catch a Rising Star, she recorded commercial jingles for Pepsi-Cola and a number of regional brands. Benatar headlined New York City's Tramps nightclub over four days in spring 1978, where her performance was heard by representatives from several record companies. Benatar was signed to Chrysalis Records by co-founder Terry Ellis the following week. She and Dennis divorced shortly after, although Benatar kept his surname.
1979–1981: In the Heat of the Night and Crimes of Passion Benatar's debut album, In the Heat of the Night, was released in August 1979, but only debuted on the US Billboard 200 album chart in October, eventually peaking at number 12 in the US in March 1980. Mike Chapman produced three tracks on the album, while engineer Peter Coleman oversaw the rest. In addition, Chapman and his songwriting partner, Nicky Chinn, wrote three songs that appear on the LP: "In the Heat of the Night" and "If You Think You Know How to Love Me" which were previously recorded by Smokie, and a rearranged version of a song they wrote for Sweet, "No You Don't". The album also featured two songs written by Roger Capps and her; "I Need a Lover", written by John Mellencamp; and "Don't Let It Show", written by Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson.
The album was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America in December 1980. Canada became the album's most successful market as it certified 4× Platinum there with chart peak of number 3 on the RPM albums chart. While it was a moderate success in Australia, reaching number 25, and very successful in New Zealand, reaching number 8, it barely made the Top 100 in the UK. Unusual for an English-language album, its most successful European market was France where it went to number 20.
"If You Think You Know How to Love Me" was the first single to be released on September 14, 1979. However, it was unsuccessful. Her second single "Heartbreaker" was released on October 26, 1979, and became a sleeper hit, eventually climbing to number 23 in the US, number 16 in Canada and number 14 in New Zealand. It was later listed at No. 72 on VH1's list of the Greatest Hard Rock songs of all time. A third single "We Live for Love", which was written by her future husband Neil Giraldo, was released in February 1980, and became her first Top 10 hit anywhere by reaching number 8 in Canada, while reaching number 27 in the US, number 26 in New Zealand, and number 28 in Australia, her first hit there.
In August 1980, she released her second LP, Crimes of Passion, featuring her signature song "Hit Me with Your Best Shot" along with the controversial song "Hell Is for Children." The lyrics of the song discuss things that child abusers tell their victims, such as, "Tell Grandma you fell off the swing." Benatar was inspired by reading a series of articles in The New York Times about child abuse in America. "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" (US number 9) was her first single to break the US Top 10 and sold more than one million copies (Gold status) in the United States. It was also a Top 10 hit in Canada and a moderate hit in Australia, where it reached number 33. The album peaked for five consecutive weeks at number 2 in the US in January 1981 (behind John Lennon's and Yoko Ono's Double Fantasy) and a month later, she won her first Grammy Award for "Best Female Rock Vocal Performance" of 1980 for the album.
Other singles released from Crimes of Passion were "Treat Me Right" (US number 18 and Canada number 12) and the Rascals' cover, "You Better Run" (US number 42 but did not chart in Canada), which was the second music video ever played on MTV, after the Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star". The album also featured a changed-tempo cover of Kate Bush's "Wuthering Heights". Produced by Keith Olsen, Crimes of Passion remained on the US album charts for 93 weeks and in the top 10 for more than six months, becoming her first Platinum certification by the RIAA, and was later certified as being 4× Platinum, Benatar's biggest selling album in the US. In October 1980, she (along with future husband Neil Giraldo) appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. The album was certified 5× Platinum in Canada, and was Benatar's best selling album in that country, where it peaked at number 2 on the album charts. It was also successful in New Zealand (number 6), France (number 2) and Australia (number 16) but did not chart in the UK.
1982–1983: Precious Time, Get Nervous, and Live from Earth In July 1981, Benatar released her third album, Precious Time, which became her first album to hit number one on the Billboard 200. In Canada, it was certified double Platinum and peaked at number 2 on the album chart. It was also Benatar's first to chart in the UK, reaching number 30, and became her biggest success in Australia and New Zealand, reaching number 8 and number 2, respectively, while once again being highly successful in France, peaking at number 3. The album's lead single, "Fire and Ice" (co-written by band member Scott Sheets), was another hit (US number 17 and number 2 on the new Rock Tracks chart, Canada number 4, Top 30 Australia and New Zealand) and won Benatar her second Grammy Award for "Best Female Rock Vocal Performance" and her third consecutive RIAA certified Platinum album, eventually being certified double Platinum. "Promises in the Dark" (US number 38 and Canada number 31) was also released as a single.
Get Nervous was released in 1982, led by a hit single and MTV video, "Shadows of the Night", which sold well: US Hot 100 number 13 and Rock Tracks chart number 3, Canada number 12, and AUS number 19. The album was another success, reaching number 4 in the US, although it sold less well in most other countries, generally only reaching the Top 20 (Canada number 16), and only reached number 73 in the UK. It was her fourth consecutive RIAA and CRIA Platinum certification, and "Shadows of the Night" garnered Benatar her third Grammy, again for "Best Female Rock Vocal Performance". The follow-up singles, "Little Too Late" and "Looking for a Stranger", were also successful in the US, hitting number 20 and number 39 (plus number 4 on the Rock Tracks chart) but did not chart outside the US, even in Canada. The WWII-themed music video for "Shadows of the Night" featured then-unknown actors Judge Reinhold as an American fighter copilot and Bill Paxton as a German radio operator.