In the Rock Hall Nominations, Pat Benatar Is a Duo
- ️Paul Grein
- ️Tue Oct 22 2019
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame entry for Pat Benatar lists both Benatar and her husband and musical collaborator Neil Giraldo, almost as if Pat Benatar is a duo.
Neil Giraldo and Pat Benatar perform onstage at the IEBA Honors & Awards Ceremony during the IEBA 2015 Conference - Day 3 on Oct. 13, 2015 in Nashville, Tenn. Rick Diamond/Getty Images for IEBA
Pat Benatar received their first nomination for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last week and the members couldn’t be more delighted.
“Their”? “The members”? Let me explain. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame entry for Pat Benatar lists both Benatar and her husband and musical collaborator Neil Giraldo, almost as if Pat Benatar is a duo.
Benatar, 66, and Giraldo, 63, have been a team, both personally and professionally, for decades. Giraldo has played on every Benatar album since her 1979 debut In the Heat of the Night. He has produced or co-produced every Benatar album since her third release, 1981’s Precious Time (which was her only album to reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200). He wrote or co-wrote three of Benatar’s 15 top 40 hits on the Hot 100: “We Live for Love,” “Promises in the Dark” and “Ooh Ooh Song.”
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Benatar and Giraldo married in 1982, when Benatar was at the pinnacle of her success. For the last several years, when they have toured it has been billed as Pat Benatar and Neil Geraldo. They also have a joint website, BenatarGiraldo.com.
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But to the public, Benatar has long been thought of as a female solo artist, one of the most successful of the 1980s. All nine of Benatar’s Grammy nominations were just for her — four consecutive wins for best rock vocal performance, female (1980-1983), four additional nominations in that category, and one nom for best pop vocal performance, female. Giraldo has yet to receive a Grammy nom.
In a 2017 interview with Billboard, Giraldo expressed skepticism about being included in a nomination for Benatar. “I don’t put a lot of faith in that for me, ’cause obviously nobody really knew what I did in this particular partnership. So I don’t really see that happening.” But he was adamant that his wife should get into the Rock Hall at some point. “Eventually it’s gotta happen. With everything she’s done, she’s got to be in there.”
Over the years, female artists have been inducted either solo or as part of groups. Joan Jett was inducted in 2015 alongside the other members of Joan Jett & The Blackhearts: Kenny Laguna, Gary Ryan, Lee Crystal and Ricky Byrd.
Debbie Harry was inducted in 2006 as a member of Blondie, along with Clem Burke, Jimmy Destri, Nigel Harrison, Frank Infante, Chris Stein and Gary Valentine.
But Janis Joplin and Patti Smith were inducted as solo artists—rather than with Big Brother & The Holding Company and Patti Smith Group, respectively. Two of Joplin’s four studio albums were credited to Big Brother; three of Smith’s 11 studio albums to date have been credited to the Patti Smith Group. Smith could also have done what Benatar is doing and sought induction as a joint entry with guitarist and long-time musical collaborator Lenny Kaye.