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The Weekly (Toledo) 7/1/99--concert preview
Star Ledger 8/10/99--concert review WHOOT!--concert preview Press of AC 8/13/99--concert preview CNN Transcript 8/25/99 SYNCHRONISTIC WANDERINGS, PAGE 2: electric city 8/5-11/99--Exclusive interview Boxset Ad--US mag, 10/99 ICE, April '99Boxset Preview Post Gazette, 8/99--concert preview SYNCHRONISTIC WANDERINGS, PAGE 3: "The View" comments, 11/10/99 Pat Benatar's daughter starting band Pat Benatar's Daughter Goes Pop HX Magazine |
The Giraldos' Synchronistic Wanderings 20th Anniversary Tour
took place June 11-August 14!
Benatar Fan Club photos posted here!
the weekly (Toledo, OH)
July 1-7 1999, Issue 18
Role model
Toledo-bound Pat Benatar blazed a trail for female rock stars
Benatar's career gets a second wind
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Songs such as "Love Is A Battlefield," "Hit Me With Your Best Shot," "We Live for Love" and "Heartbreaker" becames anthems for a new attitude. At the dawn of MTV, Benatar was the image of the female rocker for an entire generation of young women--and the young men who loved them. That generation has grown up with her; generations since have walked down the path she helped pave.
Now celebrating the 20th anniversary of the release of her debut album, married for the last 17 of those years to guitarist, songwriter, producer, collaborator and bandmate Neil Giraldo, and the mother of two daughters, Benatar looks to her future, which includes a summer tour and a new album for Sony Music by early next year.
Friday, she brings her show to Toledo, headlining at CitiFest's Rally by the River series and ushering in the Fourth of July holiday weekend. She's scheduled to take the stage at Promenade Park at 7 p.m.
"We'll be playing a lot of old things fans haven't heard in a while," Benatar said from Denver, the seventh stop on her 56-show summer tour. "I'm excited to be playing 'I Need A Lover,' which I haven't played in concert in 17 years."
Benatar, whose husband is from Cleveland, said she's been to Toledo many times over the years, and is looking forward to her return this week with Giraldo and their two daughters.
She also looks back to her past with the three-CD collection "Synchronistic Wanderings: Recorded Anthology 1979-1999," to be released this summer. The definitive collection, spanning her entire career and compiled with her cooperation, "Synchronistic Wanderings" includes the album versions of all 19 of her Top 40 singles, songs from soundtracks ("Speed" and other films), contributions to tribute/benefit projects, previously unreleased live recordings and outtakes, B-sides and rarities never before available on CD, and even the demo to "Love Is A Battlefield," perhaps Benatar's signature song.
Benatar was a leading female rock vocalist of the '80s. Of the nine original albums she headlined from 1979 to 1989, six were certified platinum and three gold. Of the decade's 10 Grammy years, she was nominated for Best Rock Performance in eight of them, winning an unprecedented four consecutive years.
She's proud of that image she projected in the '80s and the songs that made her so popular.
"I usually play some venues every summer," she said. "I always mix up a lot of the old with the new."
Born Pat Andrzejewski in Brooklyn, NY, she always wanted to be a singer. Raised in Lindenhurst, Long Island, she studied voice since she was in elementary school, singing both in school and in Catholic church choirs. At 19, she married her high school sweetheart, becoming Pat Benatar, and moved to Richmond, VA, where she worked as a bank clerk and moonlighted as a singing waitress in a Roaring '20s-theme restaurant, as well as a singer in motel lounges.
In 1975, the couple moved back to New York, soon to be divorced. Determined to follow her dream, Benatar took to performing cabaret on Long Island before being cast in "The Zinger," a short-lived off-Broadway sci-fi musical composed by Harry Chapin. She ten hit the Manhattan cabaret circuit, incorporating more rock and pop into her repertoire of standards and Broadway show tunes. As with many young performers, she'd also show up at open mic nights at Catch A Rising Star, a showcase club featuring singers and comedians. Her 3 a.m. rendition of Judy Garland's "Rock-A-Bye Your Baby With A Dixie Melody" earned her a steady slot there.
Then, in 1977, came the turning point. For Halloween, she wore a streetwise vampire costume (black tights, short black top, black eyeliner) to a party at a Greenwich Village cafe. Instead of changing clothes for her gig that night at Catch A Rising Star, she went onstage wearing her costume. She sang the same songs she usually did. Only this time, instead of the good response she ordinarily received, the audience stood and cheered. Suddenly her powerful singing (later to reach a four-octave range) was matched by an equally powerful image.
The following year, Benatar signed to Chrysalis Records. Multi-instrumentalist Giraldo, a respected session player who had worked with several Midwest-based groups, as well as being a member of Rick Derringer's band, was brought in as musician and arranger. The two sparked an immediate rapport on stage and off, put together a band and relocated to Southern California.
Benatar debuted with the platinum "In The Heat Of The Night" (1979). Both "Heartbreaker" and "We Live For Love" charted in the Top 40. Her next album, "Crimes of Passion" (1980), rocketed to No. 2, reached quadruple platinum, and included her first Top 10 hit, the gold-ceritified "Hit Me With Your Best Shot." The album also spawned the video for "You Better Run," the second ever aired on MTV, which debuted that year. In addition, "Crimes of Passion" copped the first of her Grammy Awards.
| Discography In The Heat Of The Night (1979) Crimes Of Passion (1980) Precious Time (1981) Get Nervous (1982) Live From Earth (1983) Tropico (1984) Seven The Hard Way (1985) Wide Awake In Dreamland (1988) True Love (1991) Gravity's Rainbow (1993) Innamorata (1997) 8-15-80 (1998) |
Following the gold "Seven The Hard Way" (1984), whose Top 10 Grammy-nominated "Invincible" was the theme for the film "The Legend Of Billie Jean," Benatar took time off to become a mother. She and Giraldo married in 1982 and, in 1985, became the proud parents of a baby girl, Haley.
The following year, "Sex As A Weapon," also from "Seven The Hard Way," brought another Grammy nomination--and Benatar returned to the studio. The gold "Wide Awake In Dreamland" (1988) spun off the Top 20 hit "All Fired Up" and two more Grammy nominations, for the latter song and, in 1989, for "Let's Stay Together." In 1989, th greatest hits compilation "Best Shots" also was certified gold.
In 1991 Benatar wrought the ahead-of-its-time retro-swing effort, "True Love" (1991) backed by the Roomful of Blues rhythm section. Pat successfully modernized her sound for the critically acclaimed "Gravity's Rainbow" (1993) while continuing to tour with Fleetwood Mac, the Steve Miller Band and others.
In 1997, her first original album in four years, "Innamorata" (CMC International) was released. She was also invited to perform that year at Lilith Fair, where so many female artists enjoyed the fruits of their success thanks in part to the seeds planted by the pioneering Benatar.
Twenty years later, having found a balance between raising a family and continuing to do what she loves, Pat Benatar is still rocking.
"There are a lot more tours and a lot more music in my future," she said.
July 16--GOLDMINE MAGAZINE releases its first ever PAT and NEIL!!! Cover Story!
VH-1's 100 Greatest Women of Rock debuts!
Pat was voted #39 and offers commentary on other artists such as Joan Jett,
Big Mama Thornton, Sara McLachlan, Linda Ronstadt, and Laura Nyro
NEIL!!! is seen commenting on the wife's voice!
THE STAR-LEDGER
Tuesday, August 10, 1999
GRITTY DITTIES
Mellower Benatar gives fans some of the "vintage stuff"
Pat Benatar
Where and when: 9:30 pm Friday at the Trump Marina Grand Cayman Ballroom in Atlantic city; 8 pm Saturday at Waterloo Village in Byram Township, with opening band Screamin' Cheetah Wheelies
How much: Tickets for Atlantic City are $28-$39.20, (800) 736-1420. Tickets for Waterloo are $20-$45, (201) 507-8900
by Lisa Rose
STAR LEDGER STAFF
While the women of Lilith Fair played the PNC Bank Arts Center on Sunday night, the Count Basie Theater in Red Bank hosted its own fem-fest featuring Pat Benatar, the original riot grrrl, and Lauren Hart, a folky South Jersey songbird.
Benatar hit the road this summer to celebrate 20 years in the music biz, and the Jersey show comes a couple of weeks after she charted No. 39 on VH1's "100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll" special.
With an upcoming retrospective boxset to plug, Benatar announced that the concert would focus on "the vintage stuff, the songs you've been requesting for years.." During the two-hour set, the singer emphasized the gritty '80s rock that made her famous but also gave the audience a taste of her current earth-mother sound.
Backed by her husband, guitarist and songwriting partner--Neil Giraldo--and a three piece band, Benatar tore through nearly all the chart-toppers, including "Heartbreaker," "Promises in the Dark," "Love is a Battlefield" and "Hit Me With Your Best Shot."
On a bare-bones stage adorned with a single incense stick ashing into a
ceramic bowl, the hard rockin' diva charged out with the 1980 hit "Treat
me Right." Decked all in black and teetering on platform sneakers, the
newly blond Benatar beamed an Osmond smile, shadowboxed and flexed her
pecs through the number.
Even though the Jersey date was one of the last on a six-week nationwide jaunt, Benatar's voice was strong and limber for most of the set. But her range isn't what it used to be. On "Treat Me Right," as well as several other tunes, the singer had to settle for a lower key or support from keyboardist Susie Davis.
"You Better Run" was amped up by Giraldo's spearing riffs and Benatar's gruff, menacing vocals. Less successful was "My Clone Sleeps Alone," a science fiction-tinged tune that sounded time-worn.
As the set progressed, Giraldo loosened up and turned frisky. The
slow, seductive "Precious Time" served as a launching pad for a twangy
blues tangent, during which the axman dove into the crowd and serenaded
audience members.
Newer numbers, like the Peggy Lee-ish "True Love," lacked the bite of Benatar's older, angrier material. Still, the song boasted an explosive solo and nimble Eddie Van Halen-esque noodling by Giraldo.
Before "Wuthering Heights," Benatar announced that she hasn't touched the tune in nearly two decades and was finally giving in to years of nagging from fans. Even though Benatar sang the Kate Bush cover an octave lower than she used to, the lush, sweeping epic brought on the goosebumps. When Benatar's voice began to thin out during the fiery "Heartbreaker," Giraldo's heavy guitar work picked up the slack.
While the sound was decent through most of the show, encore songs such as "Promises in the Dark" were muddy and barely recognizable. But it didn't dampen the crowd's enthusiasm. They bopped about and cheered wildly when Benatar promised to return next year for her 21st anniversary.
Opener Lauren Hart, a guitar-slinging story-teller, perched on a stool and cradled an acoustic during her short set. Even though the audience came to rock out, Hart's quiet, wistful sound and inspirational words got a warm reception.
Pat Benatar will hit fans with her best shot of sizzling rock August 13
Before Courtney Love, Melissa Etheridge and Alanis Morrisette, Pat Benatar was rock's reigning queen, ruling the top of the charts, arenas and the air waves. Benatar returns to the Grand Cayman at Trump Marina for one night, on August 13. Show time is 9:30pm, on Friday, August 13. Tickets are $25 and $35 and can be obtained by calling TicketMaster at 1-800-736-1420 or on-line at HTTP://www. Ticketmaster.com. For more information call the Trump Marina box office at 1-800-7778477.
Pat Benatar is a certified rock `n roll superstar, a four-time Grammy winner with six platinum and four gold albums. Her hit singles include: "I Need A Lover," "Heartbreaker," "Fire And Ice," "Treat Me Right," "Hit Me With Your Best Shot," "Hell Is For Children," "Shadows Of The Night," "Love Is A Battlefield," "We Belong," "Promises In The Dark," "You Better Run" and "All Fired Up."
After capturing industry ears with her showcases at New York's Catch A Rising Star, Benatar signed with Chrysalis Records and released the million-selling album, In The Heat Of The Night, in 1979. From 1980 to 1983 she won an unprecedented four straight Grammys as "The Best Female Rock Vocal Performance."
Benatar and Neil Giraldo have been a working couple since Neil penned the song, "We Live For Love," from her debut album. He continues to wear different hats, including husband, producer, guitarist, songwriter and soul mate. "Musically, we're still in touch with each other. We like to play together," says Pat. "It's who's cooking dinner tonight that's the problem."
Benatar has been an active participant in numerous charity and fundraising events, including Artists United Against Apartheid in 1985, and recording "Please Come Home For Christmas" for the troops who served in the Middle East during Desert Storm in 1990.
SYDNEY: Brendan Fraser can do no long in "Dudley Do-Right." And with some of the most recognizable songs of the '80s, Pat Benatar is still a heartbreaker.
(MUSIC)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SYDNEY: Coming up, Pat Benatar proves she's invincible.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TUSH: I can't imagine listening to a whole CD of Ethel Merman.
SYDNEY: What about Pat Benatar?
TUSH: Oh, absolutely.
SYDNEY: And she happens to be coming up next because she is celebrating the release of her new album as well: a three-CD box set of her greatest hits.
TUSH: What a coincidence it should be here, including -- and who can -- let's try this again.
SYDNEY: Go ahead.
TUSH: Including -- don't forget these -- "My Clone Sleeps Alone" and the "Ooh Ooh song" (ph).
SYDNEY: See, you can't dis Ethel Merman and get away with it.
TUSH: Ethel, you're doing it to me.
SYDNEY: Plus, better-known tracks like "Love is a Battlefield."
Jim Moret talked with her recently about the CD at a rehearsal studio in Burbank.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM MORET, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're in an L.A. rehearsal hall with Pat Benatar, and alongside her is her producer, collaborator, songwriter, guitarist and husband, Neil Geraldo. That's a lot of titles there.
NEIL GERALDO, MUSICIAN: Too many titles.
MORET: You just have entertainer.
PAT BENATAR, ENTERTAINER: Because I'm smart.
(LAUGHTER)
BENATAR: I got one job. It's good. I like it. It's one.
MORET: You're rehearsing for a summer tour.
BENATAR: Yes.
MORET: And you really took a lot of time off because - -- you've been married, what, 17 years?
BENATAR: Yes.
MORET: You have two children?
BENATAR: Yes.
MORET: And that is your primary focus?
BENATAR: Yes.
MORET: That's brave, frankly, for an entertainer.
BENATAR: Brave or nuts, I'm not sure which. But, yes. Well, you kind of have to do that, you know. You got kids, you must raise them. It's an important thing, so...
MORET: But it's also important for your fans that they hear your music, and you've got a new box set. Let me just hold this up. This has a number of songs that folks know and some songs that were never released before.
BENATAR: Right, there's different mixes of some of the songs that they do know, that they've never heard before; there are songs that we left off of records for one reason or another that are on this record; there's some songs that had never any intention of being on any records that are now on these records.
MORET: And this is a good chemistry?
GERALDO: This here? This is what you call chemistry class. You're looking right at it.
MORET; OK.
BENATAR: It's worked so far.
MORET: We're going to hear a little bit of that chemistry now, as we promised. We're at this rehearsal hall and we're going to hear the song "I Need a Lover" by Pat Benatar. Don't go away.
We'll leave you, as promised, with Pat Benatar performing from her new box set, "I Always Do What I Say."
So long, and enjoy.
(MUSIC)
October 5--Tentative Release date for Synchronistic Wanderings boxset.
More information available at the Pat Benatar Fan Club News Page!
SYNCHRONISTIC WANDERINGS, PAGE 2:
SYNCHRONISTIC WANDERINGS, PAGE 3:
To see 20 Years in Videos and TV Appearances, check out I WANT MY N-TV!
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