Rediscovered
Talent Page 2
Pat Benatar
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Crimes of Passion was also noted for the video for "You Better Run," which
helped cement Benatar's sexy tough-girl image on MTV. Once again, the image was somewhat
accidental, stemming from Benatar's visible irritation with the video's director. Guys
found it sexy, and, as depicted later in the movie "Fast Times at Ridgemont
High," girls ran in droves to the salon to copy Benatar's haircut and make-up. A
video icon was born. Crimes of Passion also featured "Hit Me With Your Best
Shot," Benatar's first Top 10 single, which brought Benatar into rock's forefront,
and "Treat Me Right."
July 1981 brought Precious Time, which hit #1 on the Billboard album chart and yielded
several singles, including "Fire and Ice" and one of Benatar's own favorites,
"Promises in the Dark," which contained a searing guitar solo by Neil Giraldo. A
successful tour followed. By now Benatar--long divorced from her husband--and Giraldo were
life partners as well as writing partners. They were married on a beach on Maui in 1982.
In November of that year she released Get Nervous, which hit #4 on Billboard's album chart
and featured "Love is A Battlefield," "Shadows of the Night," and
"Little Too Late." A live album,"Live From Earth," followed in October
1983 and hit #13 on the Billboard album chart, a feat considered by industry insiders to
be impressive for a live album. |
1984
brought forth a musical and personal renaissance of sorts beginning when Benatar became
pregnant with the couple's first child. Tropico, released in November 1984 featured the
Lowen and Navarro-penned "We Belong." The album marked a musical transition;
Benatar's recordings since that time have been less rock and roll in sound and lyrically
more personal. Seven the Hard Way followed in December 1985 and reached #26 on the
Billboard album chart, followed by Wide Awake In Dreamland in 1988, which reached #28 on
the Billboard album chart.
In the 1980's, Pat Benatar was nominated for Grammy awards in eight years of that decade,
winning four of them.
In a bold creative move, Benatar released a blues album, True Love, in April 1991. Showing
her vocal chops were as strong in blues as in rock and opera, the album shines with the
title track, as well as the B.B. King classic,"Payin' the Cost to Be the Boss."
"Bloodshot Eyes" is another stand-out track. The album hit #37 on the Billboard
album charts and is considered by many fans to be one of Benatar's must-have albums. Next
Rediscovered Talent
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