Neil Giraldo

Neil Thomas Giraldo (born December 29, 1955) is an American musician, record producer, arranger, and songwriter best known as the musical partner of Pat Benatar since 1979 – and husband since 1982. He has also performed, written and produced for artists including Rick Derringer, John Waite, Rick Springfield, Kenny Loggins, Steve Forbert, The Del-Lords, Scott Kempner, and Beth Hart. Giraldo's diverse work has sold over 45 million records and his contributions have produced five Grammy Awards and an additional four Grammy nominations. In 2022, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame alongside Benatar.

Giraldo was born on December 29, 1955, in Cleveland, Ohio, graduating from Parma Senior High School in Parma, Ohio, to Sicilian parents, Anthony and Angela Giraldo. At the age of six, Giraldo received his first guitar as a gift from his parents. Giraldo notes his first live performances as playing Italian songs after church for family and friends, alongside his sister Priscilla, who played the accordion. He later started playing in local bands at the age of 14, venturing into nightclubs with his uncle, who sang while Giraldo played the guitar. He learned to play the piano at the age of 12, and afterwards learned the drums. Throughout his childhood, Giraldo credits being influenced by revolutionary bands of the 1960s and 1970s such as The Yardbirds, The Kinks, and The Who. Jazz artists such as bandleader Count Basie, jazz pianist Jay McShann, and blues shouter Big Joe Turner provided inspiration and deepened Giraldo's respect and admiration for the genre.

Giraldo began his professional music career in 1978 as a member of the Rick Derringer band after competing alongside 200 fellow guitarists for the position. Giraldo provided his guitar, as well as piano skills for Derringer's 1979 recording of Guitars and Women. In the spring of 1979, Mike Chapman introduced Giraldo to Pat Benatar who had recently signed a recording contract with Chrysalis Records. Chapman felt Giraldo's affinity for arranging and musical direction would facilitate the creation of a sound both identifiable and powerful. Over the years Giraldo has produced some of Benatar's biggest hits including "Love Is a Battlefield" and "We Belong". Giraldo has performed on every Benatar album and produced all but two.

Benatar's debut album In the Heat of the Night was released in August 1979 and reached No. 12 in the US in early 1980. The album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America in December 1980. The album featured the Giraldo penned hit "We Live for Love".

The release of Crimes of Passion, in August 1980, featured the single "Hit Me with Your Best Shot," which reached No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 and sold over a million copies in the United States, achieving a platinum certification by the RIAA. Also on the album was the controversial song "Hell Is for Children," co-written by Giraldo, which was inspired by a New York Times article about child abuse in America The album peaked for five consecutive weeks at No. 2 in the US and was featured in the 1981 adult animated musical drama film American Pop.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.