Pat Benatar

Patricia Mae Giraldo (née Andrzejewski; professionally Benatar /ˈbɛnətɑːr/; 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).

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 (Andrzej) 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.

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.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.