How Pat Benatar Started a Career-Long Collaboration on Her First Us Hit

Many artists have a hard time defining their sound in the early parts of their careers. They often undergo a period of trial and error before landing on what they do best. Some never quite get there.

Then there’s Pat Benatar. She had a feel for what she wanted to do right from the jump of her career. Benatar quickly found a sympathetic collaborator who was on board with her preferred approach. And they laid down a powerful track that became her first Top 40 hit.

Understanding Her Style

Pat Benatar was working at a bank when she decided that she wanted to try to make it in the world of music. With an operatically trained voice, she soon found plentiful singing gigs. That included a steady one at the Catch A Rising Star Club in New York City.

Eventually, record company executives came calling. Chrysalis Records won the bidding war, and Benatar was full-speed ahead to start recording. Yet it was a complicated time for her, as her first marriage was crumbling while her career was hitting its stride.

At the time that Benatar was recording the album that would become In The Heat Of The Night, disco was still a very powerful influence on the music scene. But she didn’t see herself in that vein at all. Instead, she imagined herself belting out bluesy rock songs a la Lou Gramm of Foreigner or Ann Wilson of Heart. She’d soon get her wish.

Pat Meets Neil

The early stages of the sessions for In The Heat Of The Night were overseen by producer Mike Chapman, known for his work with Debbie Harry in Blondie. But Chapman moved on from the sessions once he found someone who he knew was going to forge a perfect professional combination with Benatar. That’s how she met Neil Giraldo.

Giraldo had gained his chops playing in Rick Derringer’s band. By that time, he already possessed a knack for not just playing his instrument, but also for producing and arranging. He and Benatar immediately agreed on the direction that they wanted her music to go.

The first song that they started working on was “Heartbreaker”. Songwriters Geoff Gill and Cliff Wade wrote it for a British singer named Jenny Darren, who recorded it in 1978. Benatar changed some of the lyrics around, replacing some of the references that would have been lost on American audiences.

The “Heart” of the Matter

When she first recorded the song, she didn’t feel like it captured the energy she had in her head. When Giraldo came around, they took another crack at it. Heightening the drama in places with techniques aimed at enhancing the unique qualities of Benatar’s voice, the two hit upon a winning formula.

“Heartbreaker” leads off In The Heat Of The Night, which arrived in 1979. But when it came time to choose a single, Chrysalis thought that Benatar might be better served with something a little less aggressive.

As a result, the first two singles from the album were “I Need A Lover”, which John Cougar (as he was known then) had written and performed, and “If You Think You Know How To Love Me”, a former British hit by the band Smokie. Neither made any kind of mark on the radio.

Benatar had always preferred “Heartbreaker” as the first single. When the record company finally relented and released it, her instincts were proven right. The song peaked at No. 23 on the pop charts, giving Benatar her first mainstream exposure and setting her up for the massive career to come.

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