Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo: Rock's Romeo & Juliet

[Music] it's sunday morning on cbs and here again is jane hawley grammy award winner pat benatar is best known for her rock anthems like hit me with your best shot and love is a battlefield jim axelrod talks with benatar and partner neil geraldo for the record we belong to the sound of the world it only takes a couple of bars [Music] to see and hear that pat benatar and her husband guitarist neil geraldo indeed belong together [Music] [Applause] married nearly 40 years they are among rock's most enduring couples if not at the very top of the list collaborating with somebody for four years is a lot 40 that's insane they're basically insane only if you define insane as selling 36 million albums winning four consecutive grammys and recording 15 top 40 hits from heartbreaker to treat me right to love is a battlefield is it possible to articulate what is at the root of this successful collaboration we're connected in so many ways and all of them combined together your parents your lovers your husband and wife your grandparents your your musicians your writers your i mean it's so much the best the daughter of blue collar long island she almost never had the chance to hit us with her best shot choosing young love over her gifted voice my boyfriend that i met when i was 16 years old got drafted and i thought he was going to go to vietnam and die and so like an idiot i got married and he didn't die and i became a bank teller and there the story might have ended had some friends not dragged her to a concert yes one of the greatest voices in rock history was born at a liza minnelli show my fabulous gay friends said let's go see liza minnelli at the richfield coliseum and it was packed stage lights came up she started singing i'm going i could do that i could do that the next day i quit my job and i started looking for gigs i'd never done anything like that in my whole life i quit literally no liza minnelli no pat benatar yeah it's just the fact that i saw somebody doing what i really in my heart really wanted to do within a few years she was divorced and in new york city booking any club she could then came halloween 1977 we are coming into a new situation and her costume taken from the b movie catwoman of the moon [Music] spandex and a career would never be the same i had all this big eyeliner on i had this this little short thing with these black ties these little short boots and a ray gun so i had been doing fine having gigs and all that kind of stuff but i sang in costume that night it was a whole other experience and i remember standing there thinking to myself hmm what's happening here what was happening was her first record deal in 1978 which is how she met a 22 year old guitarist from cleveland all i was looking for was a great singer i just wanted to find that so i can write songs produce write make records make great records i didn't want to be a solo artist i wanted what robert plant and jimmy page had together or keith and mick i wanted that back and forth back and forth back and forth she was looking for you right before there was a you correct and i was looking for her and as soon as i got there i go you need to sing we got to sing in a different key this has got to go up there's another part of your voice you're not getting we did heartbreaker first and the minute we did it we knew right i was like that's it i knew it i i i wasn't looking [Music] back follow up heartbreaker with three top ten hits in the next five years that girl is just like there are three girls here at ridge might have cultivated the pet benatar look and her tough cookie persona would speak to a generation an icon of female empowerment who decades before me too didn't take any crap from any dj who held the power of playing her songs the minute i'd walk in there he said why don't you sit right here and we'll see if we can get that record playing you in the beginning i mean i was still kind of like timid and then i finally started to realize wait i have an opportunity here if i change this for myself it will start the ripple effect i had power now so that changed everything almost instantly pat and neil had realized their connection went far deeper than musical collaborators then there's this sort of winning life's lottery component the chemical thing was ridiculous by 1982 they had married formalizing their to against the world posture in dealing with the music business i didn't start this by myself he and i did this together from day one it seems like it's important to almost set the record straight this was a partnership somebody said i don't understand why his name has to be up on the marquee too i said because every song that you love and listen to was created by him [Music] that kind of pushback they say explains one of the great mysteries of the rock universe that given her influence impact and number of hits [Music] how can pat benatar not be in the rock and roll hall of fame she's not does it bother you at this point that you're not in the rock and roll hall of fame nope listen when you win things it's really fun but the point is does this validate not validate what we've done no it would be nice to have it for our children for the fans everything else do i need someone to acknowledge no that sounds disarmingly healthy besides they have better things to focus on two grown daughters and two grandchildren who live near their home outside los angeles neil started three-quart bourbon a company that earmarked some of its sales to help struggling musicians [Music] and they may have just found the perfect next chapter for their rock and roll love story using their songs as the foundation for a musical they've always called us romeo and juliet of rock and roll because they tried to split us up so early on a modern version of romeo and juliet they hope to bring to broadway next year the balcony scene is we live for love it's gorgeous it's like it was written for that [Music] what else would pat benatar and neil geraldo call it but invincible with the musical it's just the whole point of the story is that the differences between us make us stronger not weaker that's the point of the story and that true love exists romeo and juliet or neil and pat [Music]

Channel: CBS Sunday Morning

Views: 1,148,544

Keywords: CBS Sunday Morning, CBS News, news, pat benatar, neil giraldo, romeo and juliet, rock, music, musician, long island, guitarist, cleveland, ohio, couple, albums, top 40 hits, grammys, jim axelrod, creative partnership, marriage, love, family, invincible, reimagining

Id: HFyjSY1eVi4

Length: 8min 29sec (509 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 28 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/heresjoanie]

I just caught this on CBS News Sunday Morning. Such a nostalgic surprise to see this couple and catch up with them. They both look great, and I'm so impressed with their 40-year marriage.

[u/Awkward-Macaroon-819]

Pat Benatar and that powerhouse voice doesn’t get nearly enough credit as others from that era..never understood why…maybe just not enough rockstar “drama”. Lovely couple.

[u/fragbert66]

Neil is one of the most underrated guitarists of his time. He just ended up having to compete with all the Aqua-Netted dime-a-dozen EVH clone shredders that oversaturated the '80s

In my humble yet loudly overstated opinion, Neil's solo in "Precious Time" is one of the most melodic, memorable, and skillfully performed solos of all time.

I've queued it up for you. Please give it a listen.