Neil Giraldo

Neil Giraldo (born December 29, 1955 in Cleveland / Ohio ) is an American guitarist and songwriter .

childhood

Neil Thomas Giraldo grew up as the son of Sicilian immigrants and was interested in music from an early age, both through his fondness for Elvis Presley , as well as through his musical sister and supportive father. He started playing the guitar at the age of six and expanded his repertoire to include the piano at the age of twelve.

Early career

He made his first appearance at the age of twelve during a church service. At that time Cleveland was one of the most important music metropolises in the USA, so that, inspired by Jeff Beck , Eric Clapton and above all Scotty Moore , he quickly made good contacts with the local music scene. His first professional job was as a keyboardist on Rick Derringer's 1979 album Guitars and Woman. Unfortunately, Giraldo was more of a guitarist than a keyboardist, so that job didn't fill him up. In the same year he moved to New York .

Pat Benatar

In New York Giraldo met producers Mick Chapman and Jeff Aldridge from Chrysalis Records, who brought him together with Pat Benatar . In 1979 the Pat Benatar album In The Heat Of The Night was released, which reached platinum status in the USA and thus helped Pat Benatar to become very well known. Other platinum albums such as Precious Time or Tropico followed and made Pat Benatar one of the biggest female stars in the USA. Neil took on the leading role in the band right from the start and was, along with Pat Benatar himself, its figurehead. In 1985 the first Benatar album, Sex As A Weapon , came on the market, which could not reach platinum, the two following albums also only achieved gold status.

With True Love from 1991 Giraldo broke new ground, because True Love was no longer rock, but a jazz and blues album. With Gravity's Rainbow , the last album under Chrysalis came out in 1993, which could have a distinct 1990s sound. After the contract with Chrysalis was not extended, the band behind Pat Benatar broke up. From then on, Benatar and Giraldo continued their work together and published Innamorata in 1997 and Go in 2003 . To this day they continue to tour the USA very successfully.

In addition to working with Pat Benatar, Neil has also worked for numerous other artists, such as: Kenny Loggins , John Waite or Rick Springfield , but also for his daughter Haley, who followed in her parents' footsteps with the girl group Glo .

Private

While working with Pat Benatar, it wasn't just about the music very early on, a romance developed that led to the wedding in Maui in 1982 . In 1985 a daughter was born. This is also related to the slow decline in success, as the family had priority for both. Both of them no longer pursued the promotion of their albums intensively, which was noticeable in the charts. Shortly after the release of the album Gravity's Rainbow in 1993, another daughter was born.

Discography

The publications are listed with Pat Benatar, as this can be viewed both as a band and later as a duo.

Albums

year	album	US	DE	Remarks
1979	In the heat of the night	12	-	Debut album
1980	Crimes of Passion	2	-	-
1981	Precious Time	1	-	-
1982	Get nervous	4th	-	-
1983	Live From Earth	13	-	Live album with extra studio tracks
1984	Tropico	14th	-	-
1985	Seven the Hard Way	26th	-	-
1988	Wide Awake in Dreamland	28	-	-
1989	Best shots	67	-	Best of album
1991	True love	37	-	-
1993	Gravity's Rainbow	85	-	-
1997	Innamorata	171	-	-
2003	Go	187	-	-

Only the official albums were performed, but not the various samplers.

Singles

year	title	US	DE	album
1979	Heartbreaker	23	-	In The Heat Of The Night
1980	We Live For Love	27	-	In The Heat Of The Night
1980	You Better Run	42	-	Crimes Of Passion
1980	Hit Me With Your Best Shot	9	-	Crimes Of Passion
1981	Treat me right	18th	-	Crimes Of Passion
1981	Fire and Ice	17th	-	Precious Time
1981	Promises In The Dark	38	-	Precious Time
1982	Shadows Of The Night	13	-	Get nervous
1983	Little Too Late	20th	-	Get nervous
1983	Looking For A Stranger	39	-	Get nervous
1983	Love Is A Battlefield	5	3	Live From Earth
1984	We Belong	5	9	Tropico
1985	Ooh ooh song	36	-	Tropico
1985	Invincible	10	31	Seven the Hard Way
1985	Sex As A Weapon	28	-	Seven the Hard Way
1986	Le Bel Age	54	-	Seven the Hard Way
1988	All fired up	19th	-	Wide Awake In Dreamland

Web links

• Official Pat Benatar / Neil Giraldo homepage
• Neil Giraldo at Allmusic (English)