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Pat Benatar is among the most electric female rockers in music history, ranked as the top selling female rock act of all time and influencing most rock artists in the late ''80s and early ''90s.
Benatar grew up in Long Island, NY, and worked as a bank teller while playing gigs at night after moving to Richmond, Va., with her husband. By 1979, Benatar was divorced and living in New York City, pursuing her dream of being a singer - she eventually came into her own in a Catwoman costume that caught the attention of Chrysalis Records founder Terry Ellis.
After joining the label, she released the single "Heartbreaker" in 1979, and it was an automatic hit. Benatars debut album, "In the Heat of the Night" was also extremely successful. The album included "We Live for Love" and two covers, John Cougar Mellencamps "I Need a Lover" and "Rated X" by Nick Gilder.
In 1980, Benatar released her second album, "Crimes of Passion." The album included the smash hit "Hit Me with Your Best Shot," which sold more than four million copies in the U.S. The single won her a Grammy Award for "Best Female Rock Vocal Performance" that year. Other singles on the album were "You Better Run," which was the second album every played on MTV and ''Treat me Right."
"Precious Time" was released the following year, and "Fire and Ice" was another huge hit. She won another Grammy Award in the same category for the track. The single "Shadows of the Night" was released off of "Get Nervous" in 1982, and she scored another Grammy for the performance that year. The next single from the album was "Little Too Late."
Benatar was at the top of her game in 1983, when she released the biggest hit of her career, "Love is a Battlefield." She won her fourth consecutive Grammy Award for the single, off of the album "Live from Earth." In 1985, she released ''Invincible," another massive hit. While she didnt score any other big commercial hits after 1985, she was nominated for "Best Rock Vocal Performance" four more times, in 1985, 1986, 1988 and 1989. More recently, Benatar released the studio album "Go" in 2003 and a best-of compilation in 2005.
Aside from her successful music career, Benatar performed with Harry Chapins off-Broadway musical "Zinger," plus the role of "Jeanette Florescu" in the film noir Union City by Marcus Reichert. She has also been featured in the small screen, on an episode of "Charmed" and "Dharma & Greg."
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