Photo courtesy of artist
BEST SHOT. Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo play Emerald Queen Casino on July 17 and 18.
Thirty-year pop music veterans Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo are making their way to the Emerald Queen Casino for two nights of classic Benatar hits.
Benatar is a certified rock and roll superstar, a four-time Grammy Award winner with six platinum and four gold albums to her credit.
Hit singles “Heartbreaker,” “Hit Me With Your Best Shot,” “Shadows of the Night” and “Love Is A Battlefield” have taken the singer to the top and have kept her there over time.
After capturing industry ears with her showcases at New York’s Catch A Rising Star, Benatar signed to Chrysalis Records and released the million-selling “In The Heat of the Night” in 1979, followed by the multi-platinum “Crimes of Passion” a year later. From 1980-83, she captured an unprecedented four straight Grammys in the best female rock vocal performance for the Top Five album “Crimes of Passion” (1980) and the hit singles “Fire and Ice” (1981), “Shadows of the Night” (1982) and “Love Is A Battlefield” (1983). With the latter, she emerged as one of the leading stars of the emerging music video scene with a Bob Giraidi-directed clip, which proved to be an MTV mainstay.
One of the top rock performers of all time, Benatar became eligible for induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005.
Benatar and guitarist Giraldo have been a working couple since he penned the song, “We Live For Love” from her debut album “In The Heat of the Night.” He has continued to work with Benatar wearing many hats, including producer, guitarist and songwriter.
“Musically, we are still in touch with each other,” Benatar said. “We like to play together, it is who is cooking dinner tonight that is the problem.”
In 1985, Benatar and Giraldo became the proud parents of a baby girl, Haley, but Benatar continued to record and tour right up until 1993, when she was forced to come off the road after the release of “Gravity’s Rainbow” to give birth to her second daughter, Hana. Benatar began to concentrate on her writing, which led to more than two dozen new songs. Around the same time, she decided to leave the only label she had ever recorded for, Chrysalis, finding herself free of any ties fueled her creative instincts. “It is like starting over,” she admits. “It is pretty liberating, though, like getting another chance, a new lease on life.”
Benatar has always been best in a live situation and two upcoming concerts with Giraldo will please long-time fans, and also give a whole new generation of fans a chance to see one of the greatest all-time rock singers.
“It is great,” Benatar said. “Whatever form it takes from generation to generation, people are still feeling it.”
Benatar and Giraldo will be performing at the Emerald Queen Casino two nights in a row at 8:30 p.m. July 17 and 18. Tickets range in price from $35 to $65 and can be purchased at the box office or over the phone at (888) 831-7655.
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