Pat Benatar

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Pat Benatar bigraphy, stories - American rock singer

Pat Benatar : biography

January 10, 1953 –

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". Benatar was one of the most heavily played artists in the early days of MTV.[ Pat Benatar Allmusic bio]

Tours

  • 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 on some full-length solo shows.
  • 2010: Love On the Run Tour with REO Speedwagon, 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.
  • 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.

Memoir

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." 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. June 16, 2010, Newsday In summer 2011, Benatar announced she was working on a Christmas album and a novel about the second coming of Christ.

Other achievements

Stage and screen soundtracks

  • 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 1926 classic Metropolis features Benatar performing two versions of the movie’s love song "Here’s My Heart"
  • In 1985, ‘Invincible" was featured as the main theme song for the film "The legend of Billy Jean" (Which was also Christian Slater’s 1st 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.