Pat Benatar

Pat Benatar (born  Patricia Mae Andrzejewski; January 10, 1953) is an American singer and four-time Grammy winner. She is a  mezzo-soprano. She has had considerable commercial success, particularly in the United States. During the 1980s, Benatar had two RIAA-certified Multi-Platinum albums, five RIAA-certified Platinum albums, three RIAA-certified Gold albums and 14 Top 40 singles, including the Top 10 hits, " Hit Me with Your Best Shot", " Love Is a Battlefield", " We Belong" and " Invincible". [1]  Benatar was one of the most heavily played artists in the early days of  MTV. ==Life and career == Patricia Mae Andrzejewski was born in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, New York City. Her Polish father, Andrew, was a sheet-metal worker, and her Irish mother, Mildred, a beautician.[3]  Her family later moved to North Hamilton Avenue inLindenhurst, New York, a village within the Long Island town of Babylon.[4]

Patti (as she was known)<sup class="Template-Fact" style="line-height:1em;white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed]  became interested in theater and began voice lessons, singing her first solo at age eight, at Daniel Street Elementary School, a song called "It Must Be Spring".<sup class="Template-Fact" style="line-height:1em;white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed]  At Lindenhurst Senior High School (1967–71),<sup class="Template-Fact" style="line-height:1em;white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed]  Benatar participated in musical theater, playing Queen Guinevere in the school production of Camelot, marching in the homecoming parade, singing at the annual Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony, and performing a solo of "The Christmas Song" on a holiday recording of the Lindenhurst High School Choir her senior year.<sup class="Template-Fact" style="line-height:1em;white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed]

Pat Benatar performing live in Sydney. 22 Oct 2010.<p style="line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Benatar was cut off from the rock scene in nearby Manhattan. Her musical training was strictly classical and theatrical.<sup class="Template-Fact" style="line-height:1em;white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Training as a coloratura with plans to attend the Juilliard School, Benatar surprised family, friends and teachers by deciding a classical career was not for her and pursued health education at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. At 19, after one year at Stony Brook, she dropped out to marry her high school sweetheart Dennis Benatar, an army draftee who trained at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, and then served with the Army Security Agency at Fort Devens, Massachusetts, before being stationed at Fort Lee, Virginia. Specialist (E-4) Dennis Benatar was stationed there for three years, and Pat worked as a bank teller outside Richmond, Virginia.<sup class="Template-Fact" style="line-height:1em;white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">In 1973, 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. She got a job as a singing waitress at a flapper-esque nightclub named The Roaring Twenties and got a gig singing in lounge band Coxon's Army, a regular at Sam Miller's basement club. The band garnered enough attention to be the subject of a never-aired PBS special, and the band's bassist Roger Capps also would go on to be the original bass player for the Pat Benatar Band. The period also yielded Benatar's first and only single until her eventual 1979 debut on Chrysalis Records: "Day Gig" (1974), Trace Records, written and produced by Coxon's Army band leader Phil Coxon and locally released in Richmond. Her big break came in 1975 at an amateur night at the comedy club Catch a Rising Star in New York. Her rousing rendition of Judy Garland's "Rock-a-Bye Your Baby With a Dixie Melody" earned her a call back by club owner Rick Newman, who would become her manager.<sup class="Template-Fact" style="line-height:1em;white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">The couple headed back to New York following Dennis' discharge from the army, and Benatar went on to be a regular member at Catch A Rising Star for close to three years, until signing a record contract. She would eventually divorce Dennis Benatar in 1979. Catch A Rising Star was not the only break Benatar got in 1975. She landed the part of Zephyr in Harry Chapin's futuristic rock musical, The Zinger.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-5" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[5]  The production, which debuted on March 19, 1976, at the Performing Arts Foundation's (PAF) Playhouse in Huntington Station, Long Island, ran for a month and also featured Beverly D'Angelo and Christine Lahti. Benatar noted: "I was 22 by the time I started to sing rock, so at first I was very conscious of technique and I was overly technical. That proved to be inhibiting so it was a disadvantage until I began to sing intuitively. That’s the only way to sing rock – from your gut level feelings. It's the instinct that the best singers have."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-6" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[6]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Halloween 1977 proved a pivotal night in Benatar's early, spandexed stage persona. Rather than change out of the costume she wore to a Halloween contest at the Cafe Figaro in Greenwich Village that evening, she went onstage at Catch a Rising Star in costume. Benatar said: "I was dressed as a character from this ridiculous B movie called Cat-Women of the Moon."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-7" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[7]  Despite performing only her usual songs, she received a standing ovation.<sup class="Template-Fact" style="line-height:1em;white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Between appearances at Catch a Rising Star and recording commercial jingles for Pepsi Cola and a number of regional concerns, she headlined New York City’s Tramps nightclub from March 29 - April 1, 1978, where her performance impressed representatives from several record companies. She was signed to Chrysalis Records by co-founder Terry Ellis the following week.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-hiponline_8-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[8]  Benatar recorded her first album, In the Heat of the Night, in June and July 1979.<sup class="Template-Fact" style="line-height:1em;white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">She won an unprecedented four consecutive Grammy Awards for Best Female Rock Performance for her LP Crimes of Passion (1981) and the songs "Fire and Ice" (1982), "Shadows of the Night" (1983), and "Love Is a Battlefield" (1984).<sup class="Template-Fact" style="line-height:1em;white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed]  Of the ten Grammy seasons of the 1980s, Benatar was nominated for Best Female Rock Performance eight times, including "Invincible" in 1986, "Sex as a Weapon" in 1987, "All Fired Up" in 1989 and "Let's Stay Together" in 1990.<sup class="Template-Fact" style="line-height:1em;white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">She married guitarist and producer Neil Giraldo on 20 February 1982<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-9" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[9]  at Hana, Hawaii. The couple first met in 1979 when he arrived at her rehearsal building to audition, prompting Pat to think to herself Girl you have just seen the father of your children<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Geller_10-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[10]  Benatar was separated from her first husband at the time, and once the divorce was finalized later in 1979 the relationship with Giraldo began in earnest.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Geller_10-1" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[10]  They have two daughters.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-11" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[11]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Benatar also earned Grammy Award nominations in 1984 for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female with "We Belong" and in 1986 for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Duo or Group as a member of Artists United Against Apartheid for their single, "Sun City". Benatar is also the winner of three American Music Awards: Favorite Female Pop/Rock Vocalist of 1981 and 1983, and Favorite Female Pop/Rock Video Artist of 1985.<sup class="Template-Fact" style="line-height:1em;white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Pat Benatar was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame at the Second Induction Award Ceremony and Fundraising Gala held October 30, 2008.<sup class="Template-Fact" style="line-height:1em;white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">In 2010 Pat Benatar published her autobiography, Between a Heart and a Rock Place, discussing her early life and success in the music business.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Geller_10-2" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[10] ==Discography<span class="mw-editsection mw-editsection-expanded" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;direction:ltr;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left:-0.25em;margin-right:0.25em;color:rgb(85,85,85);"> == Main article: Pat Benatar discography===In the Heat of the Night<span class="mw-editsection mw-editsection-expanded" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;direction:ltr;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left:-0.25em;margin-right:0.25em;color:rgb(85,85,85);"> === <p style="line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">"I Need a Lover" was the first single to be released on August 27, 1979. However, both it and the next single, "If You Think You Know How to Love Me" (October 1979), were unsuccessful. Benatar's third single "Heartbreaker" was released in early December 1979 and became an immediate hit, climbing to #23 in the US. A fourth single "We Live for Love," which was written by her future husband Neil Giraldo, was released in February 1980, and reached US #27.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-12" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[12]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Benatar's debut album In the Heat of the Night was released in October 1979, and reached #12 in the US. It established Benatar as a new force in rock. Producer Mike Chapman, who had worked with Blondie and The Knack, broke his vow not to take on any new artists when he heard Benatar's demo tape. Chapman personally produced three tracks on the album, while his long-time engineer and now independent producer, Peter Coleman (who also supervised Nick Gilder) oversaw the rest. In addition, Chapman and his song-writing 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, as well as 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 Benatar as well as "I Need a Lover" written by John Mellencamp (then billed as John Cougar) and "Don't Let It Show" written by Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson. The album would be Benatar's first RIAA certified platinum album.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-riaa.com_13-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[13]  In Canada it was certified 4x platinum where it peaked at number 3 on the RPM albums chart <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-14" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[14] ===Crimes of Passion<span class="mw-editsection mw-editsection-expanded" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;direction:ltr;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left:-0.25em;margin-right:0.25em;color:rgb(85,85,85);"> === <p style="line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">In August 1980, Benatar released her LP, Crimes of Passion, featuring her signature song "Hit Me with Your Best Shot" along with the controversial song "Hell is for Children", which 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 #9) was her first single to break the US Top 10 and eventually sold more than one million copies (at that time, gold status) in the United States alone. The album peaked for five consecutive weeks at #2 in the U.S. in January 1981 (behind Yoko Ono's and John Lennon's Double Fantasy) and eventually sold over five million copies, and a month later, Benatar won her first Grammy Award for "Best Female Rock Vocal Performance" of 1980 for the album.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-15" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[15]  Other singles released from Crimes of Passion were "Treat Me Right" (US #18) and the Rascals' cover, "You Better Run" (US #42), which gained some later fame when it was the second music video ever played on MTV, after the Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-hiponline_8-1" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[8] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-You_Better_Run_music_video_16-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[16] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-trouserpress_17-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[17]  The album also featured a changed-tempo cover of Kate Bush's "Wuthering Heights". Nominally 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, eventually becoming her second consecutive platinum certification by the RIAA. In October 1980, Benatar (along with future husband Neil Giraldo) graced the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. The album was certified 5x platinum in Canada, her best selling album in that country where it peaked at number 2 on the album charts.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-18" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[18] ===Precious Time<span class="mw-editsection mw-editsection-expanded" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;direction:ltr;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left:-0.25em;margin-right:0.25em;color:rgb(85,85,85);"> === <p style="line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">In July 1981, her third LP, Precious Time was released. A month later the album hit #1 on the Billboard US Top 200 LP chart. It was also her first to chart in the UK, reaching #30. The album's lead single, "Fire and Ice", (co-written by band member, Scott Sheets) was another big hit (US #17, AUS #30) and would win Benatar her second Grammy Award, this time for "Best Female Rock Vocal Performance" of 1981 and her third consecutive RIAA certified platinum album. In Canada it was certified double platinum and peaked at number 2 on the albums chart.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-19" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[19]  "Promises in the Dark" (US #38) was also released.

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">In August 1981, Benatar's video for "You Better Run" was the second video aired by MTV, making Pat Benatar the 1st solo female artist played on MTV and Scott Sheets and Neil Giraldo the 1st guitarists, as the previous band, Buggleshad no guitarist at all in the video, Video Killed The Radio Star (the 1st video ever played on MTV). The video was specifically chosen by MTV to follow Video Killed the Radio Star as a warning to radio that things were going to change.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-You_Better_Run_music_video_16-1" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[16] ===Get Nervous<span class="mw-editsection mw-editsection-expanded" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;direction:ltr;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left:-0.25em;margin-right:0.25em;color:rgb(85,85,85);"> === <p style="line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">A hit single, "Shadows of the Night", (US #13, AUS #19) heralded a new LP, Get Nervous, released in late 1982. The album was another smash, reaching US #4, her fourth consecutive RIAA and CRIA platinum certification, and the single would garner Benatar her third Grammy, again for "Best Female Rock Vocal Performance" of 1982. The follow-up singles, "Little Too Late" and "Looking for a Stranger", were also successful, hitting US #20 and #39 respectively. The WWII-themed music video for "Shadows of the Night" featured then-unknown actors Judge Reinhold and Bill Paxton as an American fighter copilot and a German radio operator, respectively. The album was certified platinum in Canada where it peaked at 16 on the album charts.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-collectionscanada1_20-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[20] ===Live from Earth<span class="mw-editsection mw-editsection-expanded" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;direction:ltr;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left:-0.25em;margin-right:0.25em;color:rgb(85,85,85);"> === <p style="line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">By 1983, Benatar had established a reputation for singing about "tough" subject matters, best exemplified by one of the biggest hits of her career, "Love Is a Battlefield" (penned by noted hit songwriter Holly Knight with Mike Chapman), released in December 1983. By then, her sound had mellowed from hard rock to more atmospheric pop/new-wave and the story-based video clip for "Love Is a Battlefield" was aimed squarely at MTV, even featuring Benatar in a Michael Jackson-inspired group dance number. This new pop/rock direction was a huge commercial success, with the million- selling Gold single peaking at #5 in the United States, and #1 in Australia for seven consecutive weeks. The song gained interest in the UK where it peaked at #49. The song would also net Benatar her fourth consecutive Grammy Award for "Best Female Rock Vocal Performance" of 1983. A live album, Live from Earth, which was recorded during Benatar's sold-out 'Get Nervous' world tour of America and Europe in 1982 and 1983, contained two studio tracks, "Love Is a Battlefield" and "Lipstick Lies." The album peaked at US #13 and became her fifth consecutive RIAA and CRIA platinum winner.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-riaa.com_13-1" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[13]  The album peaked at 25 on the Canadian albums chart.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-collectionscanada1_20-1" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[20] ===Tropico<span class="mw-editsection mw-editsection-expanded" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;direction:ltr;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left:-0.25em;margin-right:0.25em;color:rgb(85,85,85);"> === <p style="line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">In November 1984, Benatar released her fifth studio album, Tropico (US #14, AUS #9, UK #31). The single "We Belong," released in October 1984, a month prior to the album release, became another top 10 hit in the US peaking at #5 and #7 in Australia. It was also Benatar's first ever UK top 40 hit, where it peaked at #22. A second single release, "Ooh Ooh Song," reached US #36. It is also said by Benatar and Giraldo that this album is the first where they moved away from Benatar's famed "hard rock" sound and start experimenting with new, sometimes "gentler," styles and sounds. Despite not quite making the US Top 10, it immediately earned her a sixth consecutive RIAA and CRIA platinum-certified album. In Canada the album peaked at 21 on the album charts.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-collectionscanada1_20-2" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[20]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">After the chart success of "We Belong" in the UK, "Love is a Battlefield" was re-released in early 1985 and became her highest chart hit there, reaching #17.

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">"We Belong" was also nominated for Best Female Pop Vocal Perfomance in 1986. Benatar's first nomination in that category. ===Seven the Hard Way<span class="mw-editsection mw-editsection-expanded" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;direction:ltr;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left:-0.25em;margin-right:0.25em;color:rgb(85,85,85);"> === <p style="line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">In November 1985, she released her sixth studio album, Seven the Hard Way. Benatar would hit the US Top 10 with the grammy nominated single, "Invincible" (the theme from the movie, The Legend of Billie Jean) which was written byHolly Knight (Love Is A Battlefield) & Simon Climie in 1985, three full months before the album was released. Her other grammy nominated single, "Sex As a Weapon" would climb as high as #28 in January 1986, and "Le Bel Age" (#54) in February. The album Seven the Hard Way peaked at #26, earning an RIAA Gold certification (import cd). In Canada it was her seventh consecutive platinum certified album and it peaked at 36 on the albums sales chart.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-21" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[21] ===Wide Awake in Dreamland<span class="mw-editsection mw-editsection-expanded" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;direction:ltr;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left:-0.25em;margin-right:0.25em;color:rgb(85,85,85);"> === <p style="line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">In July 1988, Benatar released her eighth studio album, Wide Awake in Dreamland (US #28, UK #11). The grammy nominated and lead single, "All Fired Up" (written by Kerryn Tolhurst, ex-The Dingoes) reached #19 in both the US and the UK, and was a #2 smash in Australia, becoming one of the biggest hits of 1988 in that country. Other singles released from the LP are "Don't Walk Away" (UK #42), the grammy nominated "Let's Stay Together", and "One Love" (UK #59). The album also earned an RIAA gold certification and was her eighth consecutive platinum certified album in Canada, where it peaked at 11 on the albums chart.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-22" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[22] ===True Love<span class="mw-editsection mw-editsection-expanded" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;direction:ltr;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left:-0.25em;margin-right:0.25em;color:rgb(85,85,85);"> === <p style="line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">True Love was a jump blues record, released in late April 1991, and featured the blues band Roomful of Blues, backing up Pat Benatar, Neil Giraldo and Myron Grombacher. The album sold over 339,000<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-billboard_23-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[23]  copies without significant radio airplay and limited exposure on VH-1. "Payin' the Cost to Be the Boss," "So Long," and the title cut were released as singles. The album reached #40 in the UK and #37 in the US. It was certified gold in Canada for sales of 50,000 units, her first to not achieve platinum status and her last certified album for that country where it peaked at 22 on the albums sales chart.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-24" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[24] ===Gravity's Rainbow<span class="mw-editsection mw-editsection-expanded" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;direction:ltr;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left:-0.25em;margin-right:0.25em;color:rgb(85,85,85);"> === <p style="line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Gravity's Rainbow (US #85) was released in 1993 and was a return to the AOR genre. "Everybody Lay Down" was picked up by Album Rock radio and went all the way to #3. The single was never released to Top 40/Contemporary Hit Radio and a music video was never produced. "Somebody's Baby" was instead released as the single to Top 40 radio and a music video produced. In Canada the album peaked at 44 on the albums sale charts.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-25" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[25]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">A third track was scheduled and a video shot for "Everytime I Fall Back", but the single was never released and the music video was lost when Chrysalis was sold to EMI records. Benatar had become pregnant again and this may have had an effect on her label's support of the album. This was Benatar's last album recorded for Chrysalis records. With very little promotion from Chrysalis, Gravity's Rainbow failed to have the same commercial success as Benatar's previous works. According to SoundScan, the album sold approximately 160,000 copies in the United States. It is currently available in a 2 for 1 release with "True Love" (import). ===Innamorata<span class="mw-editsection mw-editsection-expanded" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;direction:ltr;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left:-0.25em;margin-right:0.25em;color:rgb(85,85,85);"> === <p style="line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Innamorata (US #171) was released in 1997 on the CMC International record label. A single video was produced for "Strawberry Wine (Life is Sweet)". According to SoundScan, the album has now sold close to 65,000 copies in the 14 years since its release. ===Go<span class="mw-editsection mw-editsection-expanded" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;direction:ltr;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left:-0.25em;margin-right:0.25em;color:rgb(85,85,85);"> === <p style="line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Benatar has released only one album of new material since 1997's Innamorata, which is 2003's Go (US #187). The album included the 9/11 charity single, "Christmas in America" as a bonus track. A video was produced for the single "Have It All", but was never released until it was leaked on YouTube in 2012; the only video from this album is for the bonus track. They reunited with Holly Knight with Neil and Holly cowriting the tune "Girl". The hard rock title track "Go!" became a popular performance song for Benatar's future concerts. According to SoundScan, the album has now sold nearly 34,000 copies. ===Greatest hits collections<span class="mw-editsection mw-editsection-expanded" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;direction:ltr;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left:-0.25em;margin-right:0.25em;color:rgb(85,85,85);"> === <p style="line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Best Shots (US #67) was first released in the UK in 1987, where it became Benatar's biggest selling album in the UK, it reached #6 and achieved Gold sales status.<sup class="Template-Fact" style="line-height:1em;white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed]  The album was also a top 20 hit in Australia.<sup class="Template-Fact" style="line-height:1em;white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed]  In the US, it was released in November 1989. The US version consisted of 15 tracks on a single CD, including a live version of "Hell is for Children" with Suffer the Little Children intro, "Painted Desert" (fromTropico) and a remixed version of "Outlaw Blues" (also from Tropico). It would be another certified RIAA gold (later platinum) album.<sup class="Template-Fact" style="line-height:1em;white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed]  Best Shots was the only official greatest hits compilation until 1994<sup class="Template-Fact" style="line-height:1em;white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed]  whenAll Fired Up: The Very Best of Pat Benatar was released (2 CD). The box set Synchronistic Wanderings (3 CD) was released in 1999.<sup class="Template-Fact" style="line-height:1em;white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Classic Masters was released in October 2002, and Pat Benatar Greatest Hits was released in June 2005 and peaked in the U.S. at #47. The most recent collection, Ultimate Collection (2 CD set) was released in June 2008 under theCapitol Records label with forty 24 bit-digitally remastered tracks. Ultimate Collection included the version of "Everytime I Fall Back" from her appearance on The Young and the Restless. In May 2011, the best of collection entitled "10 Great Songs" peaked at #123 on the album chart. ==Tours<span class="mw-editsection mw-editsection-expanded" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;direction:ltr;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left:-0.25em;margin-right:0.25em;color:rgb(85,85,85);"> == ===Memoir<span class="mw-editsection mw-editsection-expanded" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;direction:ltr;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left:-0.25em;margin-right:0.25em;color:rgb(85,85,85);"> === <p style="line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">In June 2010, Benatar's memoir, Between a Heart and a Rock Place was released. The book was published by HarperCollins and was acquired by Lisa Sharkey. Benatar's memoir touches on her battles with her record company Chrysalis, the difficulties her career caused in her personal life, and feminism. In the memoir, she is quoted as saying, "For every day since I was old enough to think, I've considered myself a feminist … It's empowering to watch and to know that, perhaps in some way, I made the hard path [women] have to walk just a little bit easier."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-28" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[28]  The book went on to become a New York Times Bestseller. Initially reluctant to undertake the project, she found the actual writing process so enjoyable that it inspired her with plans to write a novel.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-NewsdayMemoir_27-1" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[27]  In summer 2011, Benatar announced she was working on a Christmas album and a novel about the second coming of Christ.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-PatBenatarChristmas_29-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[29] ==Band<span class="mw-editsection mw-editsection-expanded" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;direction:ltr;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left:-0.25em;margin-right:0.25em;color:rgb(85,85,85);"> == Neil Giraldo, lead guitarist for Pat Benatar performing live in Sydney. 22 Oct 2010.<p style="line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">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.
 * 1979-1980: toured in support of In the Heat of the Night and Crimes of Passion
 * 1981: Precious Time Tour
 * 1982-1983: Get Nervous Tour, resulting in the Live from Earth album
 * 1985-1986: Seven the Hard Way Tour
 * 1988: Wide Awake in Dreamland Tour
 * 1991: True Love Tour with Hall and Oats
 * 1993: Gravity's Rainbow Tour with 7 dates only (cut short because of second pregnancy)
 * 1995: Can't Stop Rockin Tour with Fleetwood Mac and REO Speedwagon
 * 1996: Hits Tour, which previewed some Innamorata material
 * 1997: toured with The Steve Miller Band, adding full-length solo shows in bars and clubs on Miller's nights off; appeared at Lilith Fair for two performances
 * 1998: Innamorata Tour
 * 1999: Synchronistic Wanderings 20th Anniversary Tour
 * 2000: PB2000 Tour
 * 2001-2002: Summer Vacation Tour
 * 2003: I Won't Go Tour
 * 2004: Let's Go Tour
 * 2005: Almost II Tour
 * 2006: Polyamnesia Off the Rock Tour
 * 2007: Summerized Tour
 * 2008: Fired Up! Tour
 * 2009: Call Me Invincible Tour with Blondie and also featured The Donnas<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-26" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[26]  on some full-length solo shows.
 * 2010: Love On the Run Tour with REO Speedwagon,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-NewsdayMemoir_27-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[27]  which included her original drummer, Myron Grombacher. Subsequently, in October 2010, she toured Australia and played various dates with the 1980s girl pop group, The Bangles.<sup class="Template-Fact" style="line-height:1em;white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed]
 * 2011: The Elements of Five Tour
 * 2012: toured with Loverboy and Journey
 * 2013: New Zealand tour with Bachman & Turner and America; North American tour with Cheap Trick and selected solo dates.

==Other achievements<span class="mw-editsection mw-editsection-expanded" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;direction:ltr;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left:-0.25em;margin-right:0.25em;color:rgb(85,85,85);"> == Pat Benatar performing with her husband and lead guitarist, Neil Giraldo. Live in Sydney, 22 Oct 2010.===Stage and screen soundtracks<span class="mw-editsection mw-editsection-expanded" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;direction:ltr;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left:-0.25em;margin-right:0.25em;color:rgb(85,85,85);"> === ===Advertising<span class="mw-editsection mw-editsection-expanded" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;direction:ltr;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left:-0.25em;margin-right:0.25em;color:rgb(85,85,85);"> === <p style="line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">In 2006, the song "We Belong" was part of a $20 million ad campaign for Sheraton hotels,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-30" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[30]  although the version used in the commercial was not Benatar's. Her version of the song is featured in the 2006 comedy Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, starring Will Ferrell and directed by Adam McKay.
 * Neil "Spyder" Giraldo (incorrectly spelled as "Geraldo" in early liner notes/credits) is the lead guitarist of the band and has performed on all of Benatar's albums. Born in Cleveland on December 29, 1955, Giraldo began playing the guitar at the age of six and learned to play the piano at age 12. Giraldo performed in Rick Derringer's touring band before working with Benatar, appearing in a possible bootleg entitled Derringer Live At The Paradise Theater Boston, Massachusetts, July 7, 1978 (UPC 672627400428). Giraldo's appearance on the video for Benatar's "You Better Run" distinguished him and Scott Sheets as the first guitarists on MTV. The video, the second ever aired on MTV, followed The Buggles, who had no guitar player. In addition to playing lead guitar, Giraldo is credited with composing and producing much of Benatar's work. Giraldo's first outside production credit was on John Waite's debut album Ignition. He has also given a helping musical hand to artists such as The Del-Lords, Rick Springfield, The Cruzados, and Kenny Loggins. In addition, Giraldo was the musical composer for the 2005 movie Smile starring Beau Bridges, Linda Hamilton, Sean Astin and directed by Jeffrey Kramer. The soundtrack features an original song by Giraldo and Scott Kempner of The Del-Lords, appearing as The Paradise Brothers, titled "Beautiful Something." Proceeds from the movie go to Operation Smile. The Paradise Brothers also contributed a cover of "Light Of Day" for aBruce Springsteen Tribute album.
 * Myron Grombacher, who played with Neil in Rick Derringer's touring band, is drummer on nine of Benatar's original 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 80s-style ties. In 2007, he replaced the late Danny Federici in the E Street Band.
 * Mick Mahan is the band's bassist and has performed with Benatar since 1995. The original bassist, Roger Capps, was replaced by Donnie Nossov on Tropico, and then later by Frank Linx.
 * Chris Ralles is the band's current drummer.
 * Scott St. Clair Sheets (Scott Sheets) who was originally the lead guitarist of the infamous Seventies NYC band, The Brats, was an original member of the Pat Benatar Band. Sheets is credited as guitarist on the first 3 albums and first 3 world tours. He wrote the song "Prisoner of Love" for the Crimes of Passion album and co-wrote the hit "Fire and Ice" for the Precious Time album. Sheets left The Benatar Band and started the band, Perfect Stranger, with Werner Fritzing (Cactus), Ric Zivic (3D) and Glen Alexander Hamilton (original Benatar drummer). Sheets went on to produce and/or play guitar on albums by Lenny White (Tower of Power), Planet P, Michael Wynn, Minako and the Wildcats. Sheets also became a prolific songwriter, penning songs for Vanilla Fudge, King Kobra, Minako and the Wildcats (#1 hit in Japan) and in 2010 his song "Fly Me Away" was a top 10 contender for the American Idol Songwriters Contest. In 1997 Sheets released his solo album "st. Clair" that includes a remake of the hit "Fire and Ice". Sheets currently lives in Nashville.
 * Glen Alexander Hamilton played drums on the first album.
 * In 1980, "You Better Run" was featured on the soundtrack to the Meat Loaf film, 'Roadie'.
 * In 1981, "Hell Is For Children" appeared on the soundtrack of the Ralph Bakshi animated film American Pop.
 * In 1982, "Treat Me Right" was included in the soundtrack for "An Officer and a Gentleman" starring Richard Gere.
 * The soundtrack to Giorgio Moroder's 1984 restoration of Fritz Lang's 1927 classic Metropolis features Benatar performing two versions of the movie's love song "Here's My Heart"
 * In 1985, "Invincible" was featured as the theme song for the film "The Legend of Billy Jean" (Which was also Christian Slater's first mainstream film appearance)
 * Benatar played the character Zephyr in Harry Chapin's futuristic rock musical The Zinger. Benatar performed the solo "Shooting Star" in honor of Chapin for the Harry Chapin Tribute, Carnegie Hall, December 7, 1987.
 * "Run Between the Raindrops" was featured on the soundtrack for The Stepfather (1987 film)
 * "Sometimes the Good Guys Finish First" was on the Soundtrack for The Secret of My Success in 1987. (cowritten with Holly Knight)
 * Benatar appears on "Yakety Yak - Take It Back", a Public Service Announcement produced by the Take It Back Foundation in 1991. It was later shown occasionally on Sesame Street during the 1990s, though it does not feature any Sesame Street characters.
 * "Love Is a Battlefield" was featured twice on South Park
 * In 2003, "Love Is a Battlefield" was featured in the movie 13 Going on 30.
 * In 2003, Konami released a singing video game called "Karaoke Revolution" that featured the cover version of Benatar's song "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" as a part of the song list line-ups.
 * Benatar has made numerous TV appearances, mostly as herself. She appeared with her husband in the Charmed episode "Lucky Charmed" on which "Heartbreaker" was used and in an episode of Dharma & Greg as herself singing "We've Only Just Begun" at an impromptu wedding in an airport. In 2001, she also appeared as fictional rock star Anna Raines in the CBS TV drama Family Law with Dixie Carter and Christopher McDonald.
 * In 2006, "We Belong" was featured in the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories.
 * In 2006, Benatar and her music were featured on "CMT Crossroads."
 * In 2007-2008 Benatar's single "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" was put into the songlist for Guitar Hero 3 in the first tier of songs, also in Guitar Hero On Tour, and is available as a downloadable song in the video game Rock Band. Her song "Heartbreaker" is a playable song in the 2008 video game followup Guitar Hero: World Tour as well as also being downloadable content on Rock Band. In 2011, "Fire and Ice", "Love is a Battlefield," "Shadows of the Night," "We Belong," "Invincible," and "Promises in the Dark" were added as downloadable content for the music game, Rock Band 3.
 * In 2010 the song "We Belong" appeared in the Sundance Film Festival hit film "Blue Valentine" which starred Michelle Williams in her Oscar nominated role and Ryan Gosling.

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Though she had earlier expressed dismay for rock stars endorsing products (including onetime cohort Debbie Harry, who had developed her modeling career simultaneously to her rock career), Benatar herself became a commercialspokeswoman for the Energizer company, and has been featured in an ad for Candies Vintage shoes for Kohl's department store.<sup class="Template-Fact" style="line-height:1em;white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed]  In 2007, her song "Passion" could be downloaded free from the official Jell-O web site.