Look up pat or Pat in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Pat is a common first name, mostly a shortened version of either Patricia or Patrick. The name may refer to:

People[link]

• Pat Benatar, American female singer
• Pat Boone, American male singer
• Pat Burrell, Major League Baseball player
• Pat Condell, comedian
• Pat McAfee, American football player
• Pat McDonald, Australian actress
• Pat Metheny, musician
• Pat Musick, American voice actress
• Pat Nixon, former First Lady of the United States
• Pat O'Brien, American sportscaster
• Pat Parker, Football player
• Pat Riley, Basketball coach
• Pat Robertson, American televangelist
• Pat Sajak, the host of the current U.S. Wheel of Fortune
• Pat White (football player), American football player

Fictional characters[link]

• Pat (Saturday Night Live), a recurring androgynous character on Saturday Night Live
• Pat Evans, a popular fictional character from Eastenders
• Pat Novak, title character in the American Broadcasting Company radio drama Pat Novak for Hire, played by Jack Webb, who would routinely be duped by his clients.
• Postman Pat, the children's TV character

Places[link]

• Pat, Hungary, a village in Zala county, Hungary
• Pat, Jerusalem, a neighborhood in southern Jerusalem, Israel
• Pat River, a river of Thailand, it joins the Nan River in Uttaradit Province

Other uses[link]

• Pat's King of Steaks, a restaurant and tourist attraction in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania known for serving cheesesteaks.
• Pat and Pat II, the dogs who William Lyon Mackenzie King believed held the spirit of his deceased mother.
• Pat, a type of silk.

See also[link]

• Patrick (disambiguation)
• Patricia (disambiguation)
• PAT (disambiguation)
• PATS (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

This article is written like a personal reflection or essay rather than an encyclopedic description of the subject. Please help improve it by rewriting it in an encyclopedic style. (October 2010)

This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2010)

The East Side Kids were characters in a series of films released by Monogram Pictures from 1940 through 1945. Many of them were originally part of The Dead End Kids and The Little Tough Guys, and several of them later became members of The Bowery Boys.

History[link]

When Samuel Goldwyn turned the play "Dead End" into a 1937 film, he recruited the original tough-talking kids from the play (Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Bobby Jordan, Gabriel Dell, Billy Halop, and Bernard Punsly) to repeat their roles in the film. This led to the making of six other films starring The Dead End Kids. The most successful of these features were Angels with Dirty Faces (1938) with James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart, and They Made Me a Criminal (1939), starring John Garfield. Universal offered a competing series, under the Little Tough Guys brand name, featuring most of the same kids.

The East Side Kids[link]

In 1940 producer Sam Katzman, noting the financial success of other tough-kid series, made the film East Side Kids using two of the 'Little Tough Guys', Hally Chester and Harris Berger. He added former Our Gang player Donald Haines, Frankie Burke, radio actor Sam Edwards, and Eddie Brian to round out the new team. Despite its misleading title, East Side Kids does not contain the actors generally associated with the East Side Kids (Gorcey, Hall, Jordan, et al.). However, it is often lumped in with the subsequent series of 21 films, making the total appear to be 22. The first true film in 'The East Side Kids' series is Boys of the City.

Katzman hired Bobby Jordan to play leads in his series; he was soon joined by Leo Gorcey. Gorcey's brother David was added, as well as (Ernie) 'Sunshine' Sammy Morrison as "Scruno," the only African-American in the group and a former child actor from the very first cast of the Our Gang comedy team.

In the first few films, Dave O'Brien (familiar from low-budget westerns and serials, and as the accident-prone star of the Pete Smith comedies) played Jordan's older brother Knuckles Dolan, who always seemed to be getting roped into chaperoning the kids from adventure to adventure. O'Brien appeared in different roles as well—continuity between films was often ignored. As with the Little Tough Guys, the membership of the team changed from film to film, until Huntz Hall joined in 1941, when the lineup was somewhat stabilized. In total, 20 actors were members of the team at one time or another.

Always the outsider, Gabriel Dell drifted in and out of the series as a gang-member, a reporter, or a small-time hoodlum (as in Million Dollar Kid). In Smart Alecks he's an ex-member who left the gang to pursue a life of crime. Stanley Clements also appeared in Smart Alecks as well as 'Neath Brooklyn Bridge and Ghosts on the Loose. After Gorcey left the subsequent "Bowery Boys" series in 1956, Clements was chosen to replace him in the last seven films.

Monogram (which later became Allied Artists) was notorious for its "Poverty Row" productions, and the East Side films were no exception. With a minuscule budget of around $33,000 per feature and a tight shooting schedule of only 5–7 days, the series churned out three or four movies a year (an astonishing 21 films in less than six years). There was no time or money for subtlety, story development, or more than one or two takes per scene.

The stories always centered around the tough, pugnacious "Muggs McGinnis" (Gorcey) or the more innocent, clean-cut "Danny" (Bobby Jordan). Huntz Hall's "Glimpy" began as a minor character who grew in prominence as he was allowed to do more comedy bits over the course of the series. The loose format proved flexible enough to shift back and forth between urban drama (That Gang of Mine), murder mystery (Boys of the City), boxing melodrama (Bowery Blitzkrieg), and horror-comedy (Spooks Run Wild), with the kids confronting various stock villains: gangsters, smugglers, spies, and crooked gamblers, along the way. The East Side films were problem-teen melodramas until 1943, when director William Beaudine joined the series and emphasized the comedy content. He encouraged the actors to improvise freely, adding to the films' spontaneous charm.

The contemporaneous events of World War II had an impact on the series as well as the cast. In 1943 Béla Lugosi (who was in Spooks Run Wild) returned as a Nazi saboteur in the incongruously-titled Ghosts on the Loose; a German-Japanese spy ring was thwarted in the blatantly patriotic Let's Get Tough! from 1942 (with Gabriel Dell, of all people, as a Nazi spy). At the end of Kid Dynamite Muggs, Danny, and Glimpy enlist and show off their uniforms. In Follow The Leader (1944), Muggs and Glimpy appear in uniform as they are on leave from the Army. Offscreen, between 1942 and 1944, cast members Billy Benedict, Morrison, Jordan, Dell, and David Gorcey left the series after being drafted. A few days after receiving his induction notice, Leo Gorcey suffered a near-fatal motorcycle accident and spent almost a year in recovery. His injuries led to a 4-F classification, rendering him unfit for military service.

During Bobby Jordan's absence, his role in the series was taken by former child actor David Durand. Durand had been the star of Columbia's series of "Glove Slingers" campus comedies, and lent the same earnest sincerity to his East Side Kids appearances. (Jordan returned in 1944, in uniform, for a guest appearance in Bowery Champs.)

Starting with Clancy Street Boys in 1943, Bernard Gorcey (Leo's father) did various bit parts, playing different characters in a total of seven films. In Million Dollar Kid he and Leo exchanged banter borrowed from an Abbott and Costello routine. He later became a fixture with The Bowery Boys.

Given the low budgets, simplistic stories, and crude, assembly-line production of the East Side Kids series, its enduring popularity relies on the cast's rambunctious energy, breezy banter (often ad-libbed and containing inside jokes), fast-paced action, and Leo Gorcey's trademark malapropisms ("This calls for drastic measurements").

The East Side Kids series was supplanted by The Bowery Boys in 1946.

Trivia[link]

• Gorcey married two of his East Side Kids co-stars: Kay Marvis (1939) and Amelita Ward (1949).
• Actor/comedian Morey Amsterdam, best known as "Buddy Sorrell" on The Dick Van Dyke Show, contributed to the scripts for Kid Dynamite and Bowery Champs.

Filmography[link]

See also[link]

• Dead End Kids
• Little Tough Guys
• The Bowery Boys

External links[link]

• Leo Gorcey at the Internet Movie Database
• Huntz Hall at the Internet Movie Database
• Gabriel Dell at the Internet Movie Database
• Bobby Jordan at the Internet Movie Database
• Benny Bartlett at the Internet Movie Database
• David Gorcey at the Internet Movie Database
• Mende Koenig at the Internet Movie Database
• Sammy Morrison at the Internet Movie Database
• Jimmy Strand at the Internet Movie Database
• Eugene Francis at the Internet Movie Database
• Stanley Clements at the Internet Movie Database
• Billy Benedict at the Internet Movie Database
• Hally Chester at the Internet Movie Database
• Harris Berger at the Internet Movie Database
• Johnny Duncan at the Internet Movie Database
• Frankie Burke at the Internet Movie Database
• David Durand at the Internet Movie Database
• Donald Haines at the Internet Movie Database
• Buddy Gorman at the Internet Movie Database
• Bobby Stone at the Internet Movie Database

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (March 2011)

Pat Benatar
Pat Benatar, 2007
Background information
Birth name	Patricia Mae Andrzejewski
Born	(1953-01-10) January 10, 1953 (age 59)
Origin	Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Genres	Rock, hard rock, pop rock
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, Musician
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	1972–present
Labels	Chrysalis Records, CMC International, Bel Chiasso Records
Website	http://www.benatargiraldo.com

Pat Benatar (born Patricia Mae Andrzejewski; January 10, 1953) is an American singer and four-time Grammy winner. She had considerable commercial success, particularly in the United States. During the 1980s, Benatar had two RIAA-certified Multi-Platinum albums, five RIAA-certified Platinum albums, three RIAA-certified Gold albums and 19 Top 40 singles, including "Love Is a Battlefield", "Hit Me With Your Best Shot", and "We Belong".^[1] Benatar was one of the most heavily played artists in the early days of MTV.^[2]

Life and career[link]

Patricia Mae Andrzejewski was born in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, New York City. Her Polish father, Andrew, was a sheet-metal worker, and her Irish mother, Mildred, a beautician.^[3] Her family later moved to North Hamilton Avenue in Lindenhurst, New York, a village within the Long Island town of Babylon.^[4]

Patti (as she was known)^{[citation needed]} became interested in theater and began voice lessons, singing her first solo at age eight, at Daniel Street Elementary School, a song called "It Must Be Spring".^{[citation needed]} At Lindenhurst Senior High School (1967–71),^{[citation needed]} Benatar participated in musical theater, playing Queen Guinevere in the school production of Camelot, marching in the homecoming parade, singing at the annual Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony, and performing a solo of "The Christmas Song" on a holiday recording of the Lindenhurst High School Choir her senior year.^{[citation needed]}

Pat Benatar performing live in Sydney. 22 Oct 2010.

Benatar was cut off from the rock scene in nearby Manhattan. Her musical training was strictly classical and theatrical.^{[citation needed]}

Training as a coloratura with plans to attend the Juilliard School, Benatar surprised family, friends and teachers by deciding a classical career was not for her and pursued health education at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. At 19, after one year at Stony Brook, she dropped out to marry her high school sweetheart Dennis Benatar, an army draftee who trained at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, and then served with the Army Security Agency at Fort Devens, Massachusetts, before being stationed at Fort Lee, Virginia. Specialist (E-4) Dennis Benatar was stationed there for three years, and Pat worked as a bank teller outside Richmond, Virginia.^{[citation needed]}

In 1973, Benatar quit her job as a bank teller to pursue a singing career after being inspired by a Liza Minnelli concert she saw in Richmond. She got a job as a singing waitress at a flapper-esque nightclub named The Roaring Twenties and got a gig singing in lounge band Coxon's Army, a regular at Sam Miller's basement club. The band garnered enough attention to be the subject of a never-aired PBS special, and the band's bassist Roger Capps also would go on to be the original bass player for the Pat Benatar Band. The period also yielded Benatar's first and only single until her eventual 1979 debut on Chrysalis Records: "Day Gig" (1974), Trace Records, written and produced by Coxon's Army band leader Phil Coxon and locally released in Richmond. Her big break came in 1975 at an amateur night at the comedy club Catch a Rising Star in New York. Her rousing rendition of Judy Garland's "Rock-a-Bye Your Baby With a Dixie Melody" earned her a call back by club owner Rick Newman, who would become her manager.^{[citation needed]}

The couple headed back to New York following Dennis' discharge from the army, and Benatar went on to be a regular member at Catch A Rising Star for close to three years, until signing a record contract. She would eventually divorce Dennis Benatar in 1979. Catch A Rising Star was not the only break Benatar got in 1975. She landed the part of Zephyr in Harry Chapin's futuristic rock musical, The Zinger.^[5] The production, which debuted on March 19, 1976, at the Performing Arts Foundation's (PAF) Playhouse in Huntington Station, Long Island, ran for a month and also featured Beverly D'Angelo and Christine Lahti. Benatar noted: "I was 22 by the time I started to sing rock, so at first I was very conscious of technique and I was overly technical. That proved to be inhibiting so it was a disadvantage until I began to sing intuitively. That’s the only way to sing rock – from your gut level feelings. It's the instinct that the best singers have."^[6]

Halloween 1977 proved a pivotal night in Benatar's early, spandexed stage persona. Rather than change out of the costume she wore to a Halloween contest at the Cafe Figaro in Greenwich Village that evening, she went onstage at Catch a Rising Star in costume. Benatar said: "I was dressed as a character from this ridiculous B movie called Cat-Women of the Moon."^[7] Despite performing her usual array of songs, she received a standing ovation.^{[citation needed]}

Between appearances at Catch a Rising Star and recording commercial jingles for Pepsi Cola and a number of regional concerns, she headlined New York City’s Tramps nightclub from March 29 - April 1, 1978, where her performance impressed representatives from several record companies. She was signed to Chrysalis Records by co-founder Terry Ellis the following week.^[8] Benatar recorded her first album, In the Heat of the Night, in June and July 1979.^{[citation needed]}

She won an unprecedented four consecutive Grammy Awards for Best Female Rock Performance from 1980 to 1983 for her second LP, Crimes of Passion, and the songs "Fire and Ice", "Shadows of the Night", and "Love Is a Battlefield".^{[citation needed]} Of the ten Grammy Award ceremonies in the 1980s, Benatar was nominated for Best Female Rock Performance eight times, including for "Invincible" in 1985, "Sex as a Weapon" in 1986, "All Fired Up" in 1988 and in 1989 for "Let's Stay Together".^{[citation needed]}

Benatar also earned Grammy Award nominations in 1985 for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female with "We Belong" and in 1986 for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Duo or Group as a member of Artists United Against Apartheid for their single, "Sun City". Benatar is also the winner of three American Music Awards: Favorite Female Pop/Rock Vocalist of 1981 and 1983, and Favorite Female Pop/Rock Video Artist of 1985.^{[citation needed]}

Pat Benatar was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame at the Second Induction Award Ceremony and Fundraising Gala held October 30, 2008.^{[citation needed]}

Discography[link]

[edit] In the Heat of the Night

"I Need a Lover" was the first single to be released on August 27, 1979. However, both it and the next single, "If You Think You Know How to Love Me" (October 1979), were unsuccessful. Benatar's third single "Heartbreaker" was released in early December 1979 and became an immediate hit, climbing to #23 in the US. A fourth single "We Live for Love," which was written by her future husband Neil Giraldo, was released in February 1980, and reached US #27.^[9]

Benatar's debut album In the Heat of the Night was released in October 1979, and reached #12 in the US. It established Benatar as a new force in rock. Producer Mike Chapman, who had worked with Blondie and The Knack, broke his vow not to take on any new artists when he heard Benatar's demo tape. Chapman personally produced three tracks on the album, while his long-time engineer and now independent producer, Peter Coleman (who also supervised Nick Gilder) oversaw the rest. In addition, Chapman and his song-writing partner, Nicky Chinn, wrote three songs that appear on the LP, "In the Heat of the Night" and "If You Think You Know How to Love Me" which were previously recorded by Smokie, as well as a rearranged version of a song they wrote for Sweet, "No You Don't". The album also featured two songs written by Roger Capps and Benatar as well as "I Need a Lover" written by John Mellencamp and "Don't Let It Show" written by Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson. The album would be Benatar's first RIAA certified platinum album.^[10]

[edit] Crimes of Passion

In August 1980, Benatar released her LP, Crimes of Passion, featuring her signature song "Hit Me with Your Best Shot" along with the controversial song "Hell is for Children", which was inspired by reading a series of articles in the New York Times about child abuse in America. "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" (US #9) was her first single to break the US Top 10 and eventually sold more than one million copies (at that time, gold status) in the United States alone. The album peaked for five consecutive weeks at US #2 in January 1981 (behind Yoko Ono's and John Lennon's Double Fantasy) and eventually sold over five million copies, and a month later, Benatar won her first Grammy Award for "Best Female Rock Vocal Performance" of 1980.^[11] Other singles released from Crimes of Passion were "Treat Me Right" (US #18) and the Rascals' cover, "You Better Run" (US #42), which gained some later fame when it was the second music video ever played on MTV, after the Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star".^[8][12][13] The album also featured a changed-tempo cover of Kate Bush's "Wuthering Heights". Nominally produced by Keith Olsen, Crimes of Passion remained on the US album charts for 93 weeks and in the top 10 for more than six months, eventually becoming her second consecutive platinum certification by the RIAA. In October 1980, Benatar (along with future husband Neil Giraldo) graced the cover of Rolling Stone magazine.

[edit] Precious Time

In July 1981, she released her third LP, Precious Time. A month later the album hit #1 on the Billboard US Top 200 LP chart. It was also her first to chart in the UK, reaching #30. The album's lead single, "Fire and Ice", was another big hit (US #17, AUS #30) and would win Benatar her second Grammy Award, this time for "Best Female Rock Vocal Performance" of 1981 and her third consecutive RIAA certified platinum album. "Promises in the Dark" (US #38) was also released.

In August 1981, Benatar's video for "You Better Run" was the second video aired by MTV.^[12]

[edit] Get Nervous

A hit single, "Shadows of the Night", (US #13, AUS #19) heralded a new LP, Get Nervous, released in late 1982. The album was another smash, reaching US #4, her fourth consecutive RIAA platinum certification, and the single would garner Benatar yet another Grammy, again for "Best Female Rock Vocal Performance" of 1982. The follow-up singles, "Little Too Late" and "Looking for a Stranger", were also successful, hitting US #20 and #39 respectively. The WWII-themed music video for "Shadows of the Night" featured then-unknown actors Judge Reinhold and Bill Paxton as an American fighter copilot and a German radio operator, respectively.

[edit] Live from Earth

By 1983, Benatar had established a reputation for singing about "tough" subject matters, best exemplified by one of the biggest hits of her career, "Love Is a Battlefield" (penned by noted hit songwriter Holly Knight with Mike Chapman), released in December 1983. By then, her sound had mellowed from hard rock to more atmospheric pop and the story-based video clip for "Love Is a Battlefield" was aimed squarely at MTV, even featuring Benatar in a Michael Jackson-inspired group dance number. This new pop/rock direction was a huge commercial success, with the million- selling Gold single peaking at #5 in the United States, and #1 in Australia for seven consecutive weeks. The song gained interest in the UK where it peaked at #49. The song would also net Benatar her fourth consecutive Grammy Award for "Best Female Rock Vocal Performance" of 1983. A live album, Live from Earth, which was recorded during Benatar's sold-out Get Nervous world tour of America and Europe in 1982 and 1983, contained two studio tracks, "Love Is a Battlefield" and "Lipstick Lies." The album peaked at US #13 and became her fifth consecutive RIAA platinum winner.^[10]

[edit] Tropico

In October 1984, the single "We Belong" became another Top 5 smash in the US, and reached #7 in Australia. It was also Benatar's first ever UK top 40 hit, where it peaked at #22. In November, Benatar released her sixth album, Tropico (US #14, AUS #9, UK #31). A second single release, "Ooh Ooh Song," reached US #36. It is also said by Benatar and Giraldo that this album is the first where they moved away from Benatar's famed "hard rock" sound and start experimenting with new, sometimes "gentler," styles and sounds. Despite not quite making the US Top 10, it immediately earned her a sixth consecutive RIAA platinum-certified album. This album is now out-of-print, but is currently available in a 2 for 1 package, combined with "Seven the Hard Way" (import cd).

After the chart success of "We Belong" in the UK, "Love is a Battlefield" was re-released in early 1985 and became her highest chart hit there, reaching #17.

[edit] Seven the Hard Way

Benatar would hit the US Top 10 with the #10 single "Invincible" (the theme from the movie, The Legend of Billie Jean) in 1985. "Sex As a Weapon" would climb as high as #28 in January 1986, and "Le Bel Age" (#54) in February. The album Seven the Hard Way peaked at #26, earning an RIAA Gold certificatio(import cd).

[edit] Wide Awake in Dreamland

In July 1988, Benatar released her eighth album, Wide Awake in Dreamland (US #28, UK #11). A single lifted from the album, "All Fired Up" (written by Kerryn Tolhurst, ex-The Dingoes) reached #19 in both the US and the UK, and was a #2 smash in Australia, becoming one of the biggest hits of 1988 in that country. Other singles released from the LP are "Don't Walk Away" (UK #42), "Let's Stay Together", and "One Love" (UK #59). The album also earned an RIAA gold certification. This album is now out-of-print, but is currently available in a 2 for 1 package, combined with "Live From Earth" (import cd).

[edit] True Love

True Love was a jump blues record, released in late April 1991, and featured the blues band Roomful of Blues, backing up Pat Benatar, Neil Giraldo and Myron Grombacher. The album sold over 339,000^[14] copies without significant radio airplay and limited exposure on VH-1. "Payin' the Cost to Be the Boss," "So Long," and the title cut were released as singles. The album reached #40 in the UK and #37 in the US.

[edit] Gravity's Rainbow

Gravity's Rainbow (US #85) was released in 1993 and was a return to the AOR genre. "Everybody Lay Down" was picked up by Album Rock radio and went all the way to #3. The single was never released to Top 40/Contemporary Hit Radio and a music video was never produced. "Somebody's Baby" was instead released as the single to Top 40 radio and a music video produced.

A third track was scheduled and a video shot for "Everytime I Fall Back", but the single was never released and the music video was lost when Chrysalis was sold to EMI records. Benatar had become pregnant again and this may have had an effect on her label's support of the album. This was Benatar's last album recorded for Chrysalis records. With very little promotion from Chrysalis, Gravity's Rainbow failed to have the same commercial success as Benatar's previous works. According to SoundScan, the album sold approximately 160,000 copies in the United States. It is currently available in a 2 for 1 release with "True Love" (import).

[edit] Innamorata

Innamorata (US #171) was released in 1997 on the CMC International record label. A single video was produced for "Strawberry Wine (Life is Sweet)". According to SoundScan, the album has now sold close to 65,000 copies in the 14 years since its release.

[edit] Go

Benatar has released only one album of new material since 1997's Innamorata, which is 2003's Go (US #187). The album included the 9/11 charity single, "Christmas in America" as a bonus track. A compilation video was produced for the single "Have It All", but was never released; the only video from this album is for the bonus track. According to SoundScan, the album has now sold nearly 34,000 copies.

Greatest hits collections[link]

Best Shots (US #67) was first released in the UK in 1987, where it became Benatar's biggest selling album in the UK, it reached #6 and achieved Gold sales status.^{[citation needed]} The album was also a top 20 hit in Australia.^{[citation needed]} In the US, it was released in November 1989. The US version consisted of 15 tracks on a single CD, including a live version of "Hell is for Children" with Suffer the Little Children intro, "Painted Desert" (from Tropico) and a remixed version of "Outlaw Blues" (also from Tropico). It would be another certified RIAA gold (later platinum) album.^{[citation needed]} Best Shots was the only official greatest hits compilation until 1994^{[citation needed]} when All Fired Up: The Very Best of Pat Benatar was released (2 CD). The box set Synchronistic Wanderings (3 CD) was released in 1999.^{[citation needed]}

Classic Masters was released in October 2002, and Pat Benatar Greatest Hits was released in June 2005. The most recent collection, Ultimate Collection (2 CD set) was released in June 2008 under the Capitol Records label with forty 24 bit-digitally remastered tracks. Ultimate Collection included the version of "Everytime I Fall Back" from her appearance on The Young and the Restless.

21st century[link]

1996 Can't Stop Rockin Tour with Fleetwood Mac and REO Speedwagon

1997 toured with The Steve Miller Band

1998 toured in support of Innamorata

1999 Synchronistic Wanderings 20th Anniversary Tour

2000 PB2000 Tour

2001 Summer Vacation Tour

2002 Summer Vacation Tour

2003 I Won't Go Tour

2004 Let's Go Tour

2005 Almost II Tour

2006 Polyamnesia Off the Rock Tour

2007 Summerized Tour

2008 Fired Up! Tour

2009 Call Me Invincible Tour with Blondie, also features The Donnas.^[15]

2010 Love On The Run Tour with REO Speedwagon,^[16] which included her original drummer, Myron Grombacher. Subsequently, in October 2010, she toured Australia and played various dates with the 1980s girl pop group, The Bangles.^{[citation needed]}

2011 The Elements of Five Tour

2012 touring with Loverboy and Journey

Memoir[link]

In June 2010, Benatar's memoir, Between a Heart and a Rock Place was released. The book was published by HarperCollins and was acquired by Lisa Sharkey. Benatar's memoir touches on her battles with her record company Chrysalis, and the difficulties her career caused in her personal life. Initially reluctant to undertake the project, she found the actual writing process so enjoyable that it inspired her with plans to write a novel.^[16] In summer 2011 Benatar announced she was working on a Christmas album and a novel about the second coming of Christ.^[17]

Band[link]

Neil Giraldo, lead guitarist for Pat Benatar performing live in Sydney. 22 Oct 2010.

Although billed as a solo artist, Benatar recorded and toured with a consistent set of band members over most of her career, who contributed greatly to the writing and producing of songs and are recognizable characters on album photos and in many of her music videos.

• Neil "Spyder" Giraldo (incorrectly spelled as "Geraldo" in early liner notes/credits) is the distinctive lead guitarist of the band and has performed on all of Benatar's albums. Born in Cleveland on December 29, 1955, Giraldo began playing the guitar at the age of six and learned to play the piano at age 12. Giraldo performed in Rick Derringer's touring band before working with Benatar, appearing in a possible bootleg entitled Derringer Live At The Paradise Theater Boston, Massachusetts, July 7, 1978 (UPC 672627400428). Giraldo's appearance on the video for Benatar's "You Better Run" distinguished him and Scott Sheets as the first guitarists on MTV. The video, the second ever aired on MTV, followed The Buggles, who had no guitar player. In addition to playing lead guitar, Giraldo is credited with composing and producing much of Benatar's work. Giraldo's first outside production credit was on John Waite's debut album Ignition. He has also given a helping musical hand to artists such as The Del-Lords, Rick Springfield, The Cruzados, and Kenny Loggins. In addition, Giraldo was the musical composer for the 2005 movie Smile starring Beau Bridges, Linda Hamilton, Sean Astin and directed by Jeffrey Kramer. The soundtrack features an original song by Giraldo and Scott Kempner of The Del-Lords, appearing as The Paradise Brothers, titled "Beautiful Something." Proceeds from the movie go to Operation Smile. The Paradise Brothers also contributed a cover of "Light Of Day" for a Bruce Springsteen Tribute album.
• Myron Grombacher, who played with Neil in Rick Derringer's touring band, is drummer on nine of Benatar's original albums and has numerous writing credits. Myron is easily recognizable in the music videos, particularly as the mad dentist in Get Nervous.
• Charlie Giordano performed keyboard duties on five albums, and is identifiable by his glasses and distinctive array of berets, blazers and 80s-style ties. In 2007, he replaced the late Danny Federici in the E Street Band.
• Mick Mahan is the band's bassist and has performed with Benatar since 1995. The original bassist, Roger Capps, was replaced by Donnie Nossov on Tropico, and then later by Frank Linx.
• Scott St. Clair Sheets is credited on rhythm guitar on the first three albums.
• Glen Alexander Hamilton played drums on the first album.

Other achievements[link]

Pat Benatar performing with her husband and lead guitarist, Neil Giraldo. Live in Sydney, 22 Oct 2010.

Stage and screen soundtracks[link]

• In 1981, "Hell Is For Children" appeared on the soundtrack of the Ralph Bakshi animated film American Pop.
• The soundtrack to Giorgio Moroder's 1984 restoration of Fritz Lang's 1926 classic Metropolis features Benatar performing two versions of the movie's love song "Here's My Heart"
• In 1985, 'Invincible" was featured as the main theme song for the film "The legend of Billy Jean" (Which was also Christian Slater's 1st mainstream film appearance)
• Benatar played the character Zephyr in Harry Chapin's futuristic rock musical The Zinger. Benatar performed the solo "Shooting Star" in honor of Chapin for the Harry Chapin Tribute, Carnegie Hall, December 7, 1987.
• "Run Between the Raindrops" was featured on the soundtrack for The Stepfather (1987 film)
• "Sometimes the Good Guys Finish First" was on the Soundtrack for The Secret of My Success in 1987.
• Benatar appears on "Yakety Yak - Take It Back", a Public Service Announcement produced by the Take It Back Foundation in 1991. It was later shown occasionally on Sesame Street during the 1990s, though it does not feature any Sesame Street characters.
• "Love Is a Battlefield" was featured twice on South Park
• In 2003, "Love Is a Battlefield" was featured in the movie 13 Going on 30.
• In 2003, Konami released a singing video game called "Karaoke Revolution" that featured the cover version of Benatar's song "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" as a part of the song list line-ups.
• Benatar has made numerous TV appearances, mostly as herself. She appeared with her husband in the Charmed episode "Lucky Charmed" on which "Heartbreaker" was used and in an episode of Dharma & Greg as herself singing "We've Only Just Begun" at an impromptu wedding in an airport. In 2001, she also appeared as fictional rock star Anna Raines in the CBS TV drama Family Law with Dixie Carter and Christopher McDonald.
• In 2006, "We Belong" was featured in the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories.
• In 2006, Benatar and her music were featured on "CMT Crossroads."
• In 2007-2008 Benatar's single "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" was put into the songlist for Guitar Hero 3 in the first tier of songs, also in Guitar Hero On Tour, and is available as a downloadable song in the video game Rock Band. Her song "Heartbreaker" is a playable song in the 2008 video game followup Guitar Hero: World Tour as well as also being downloadable content on Rock Band. In 2011, "Fire and Ice", "Love is a Battlefield," "Shadows of the Night," "We Belong," "Invincible," and "Promises in the Dark" were added as downloadable content for the music game, Rock Band 3.

Advertising[link]

In 2006, the song "We Belong" was part of a $20 million ad campaign for Sheraton hotels,^[18] although the version used in the commercial was not Benatar's. Her version of the song is featured in the 2006 comedy Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, starring Will Ferrell and directed by Adam McKay.

Though she had earlier expressed dismay for rock stars endorsing products (including onetime cohort Debbie Harry, who had developed her modeling career simultaneously to her rock career), Benatar herself became a commercial spokeswoman for the Energizer company, and has been featured in an ad for Candies Vintage shoes for Kohl's department store.^{[citation needed]} In 2007, her song "Passion" could be downloaded free from the official Jell-O web site.^{[citation needed]}

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Fissinger,Laura Rock'n PopStars Pat Benatar. Creative Education 1983 ISBN 0-89813-101-4
• Magee, Doug Pat Benatar. Proteus 1985 ISBN 978-0-86276-251-3
• Benatar, Pat and Cox, Patsi Between a Heart and a Rock Place. Harper Collins 2010 ISBN 978-0-06-195377-4

External links[link]

	Book: Pat Benatar
Wikipedia books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Pat Benatar

• Official website
• Fan Club website
• EMI Artist Page
• Sanctuary Records Artist Page
• Chrysalis Music Group USA
• Pat Benatar at the Internet Movie Database
• Neil Giraldo Fan Site
• Neil Giraldo IMDB

v t e Pat Benatar Studio albums In the Heat of the Night Crimes of Passion Precious Time Get Nervous Live from Earth Tropico Seven the Hard Way Wide Awake in Dreamland True Love Gravity's Rainbow Innamorata Go Compilations Coxon's Army Live from Sam Miller's Exchange Cafe Pat Benatar Hit Videos Pat Benatar in Concert Pat Benatar The Visual Music Collection Best Shots Benatar All Fired Up the very best of Pat Benatar Pat Benatar Heartbreaker Sixteen Classic Performances Back to Back Hits Blondie Pat Benatar Pat Benatar Eight-Fifteen-Eighty Pat Benatar All-Time Greatest Hits Synchronistic Wanderings: Recorded Anthology 1979-1999 Extended Versions Pat Benatar The Encore Collection Best of Volume 1 and 2 Pat Benatar Neil Giraldo Summer Vacation Tour Book DVD Pat Benatar Neil Giraldo Summer Vacation Soundtrack Classic Masters Pat Benatar Choice Cuts Pat Benatar The complete video collection From the Front Row...Live Pat Benatar Best of Pat Benatar Vol.1 and Vol.2 Pat Benatar Greatest Hits Live Greatest Hits Pat Benatar Ultimate Collection Pat Benatar Collector's Edition Import compilations Best Shots Greatest Hits Pat Benatar The Very Best of Pat Benatar The Very Best of Volume 2 In the Heat of the Night/Tropico In the Heat of the Night/Crimes of Passion Precious Time/Get Nervous Tropico/Seven the Hard Way Innamorata/8-15-80 Premium Gold Collection The Collection The Divine The Very Best Album Ever In the Heat of the Night Concert Classics Live from Earth/Wide Awake in Dreamland Pat Benatar Live on Air Pat Benatar Live in America Singles "Day Gig" "I Need a Lover" "If You Think You Know How to Love Me" "Heartbreaker" "We Live for Love" "Rated X" "You Better Run" "Hit Me with Your Best Shot" "Treat Me Right" "I'm Gonna Follow You" "Hell Is for Children" "Fire and Ice" "Promises in the Dark" "Precious Time" "It's a Tuff Life" "Shadows of the Night" "Anxiety (Get Nervous)" "Little Too Late" "Looking for a Stranger" "Love Is a Battlefield" "Lipstick Lies" "We Belong" "Diamond Field" "Ooh Ooh Song" "Temporary Heroes" "Painted Desert" "Invincible (Theme from The Legend of Billie Jean)" "Sex As a Weapon" "Le Bel Age" "Big Life" "All Fired Up" "Don't Walk Away" "Let's Stay Together" "One Love" "True Love" "Payin' the Cost to Be the Boss" "So Long" "Everybody Lay Down" "Somebody's Baby" "Crazy" "Every Time I Fall Back" "Strawberry Wine (Life Is Sweet)" "At This Time" "Papa's Roses" "Christmas in America" "Have It All" "Go" Book:Pat Benatar

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (August 2009)

Pat Metheny
Background information
Born	(1954-08-12) August 12, 1954 (age 57) Lee's Summit. Missouri, United States
Genres	Jazz, jazz fusion, folk jazz world fusion, post-bop, jazz-rock, crossover jazz
Occupations	Musician, songwriter
Instruments	Electric guitar, acoustic guitar, guitar synthesizer
Years active	1974–present
Labels	ECM, Geffen, Nonesuch
Associated acts	Pat Metheny Group, Noa, The Orb, Steve Reich
Website	www.patmetheny.com
Notable instruments
Gibson ES-175 Ibanez PM20 Signature Model Ibanez PM100 Signature Model Ibanez PM35 Roland GR-300 Pikasso guitar

Patrick Bruce "Pat" Metheny (/məˈθiːni/mə-THEE-nee; born August 12, 1954) is an American jazz guitarist and composer.

He is the leader of the Pat Metheny Group and is also involved in duets, solo works and other side projects. His style incorporates elements of progressive and contemporary jazz, post-bop, latin jazz and jazz fusion.^[1] Pat Metheny has three gold albums and 19 Grammy Awards.^[2] He is the brother of jazz flugelhornist and journalist Mike Metheny.

Biography[link]

Metheny was born and raised in Lee's Summit, Missouri, a suburb southeast of Kansas City. Following his graduation from Lee's Summit High School, he briefly attended the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida in 1972, where he was quickly offered a teaching position. He then moved to Boston to take a teaching assistantship at the Berklee College of Music with jazz vibraphonist Gary Burton.^[3] He first made his name as a teenage prodigy under the wing of Burton.^[4] In 1974 he made his recording debut on two sessions for pianist Paul Bley's and Carol Goss' Improvising Artists label, along with fretless electric bassist Jaco Pastorius.

Metheny entered the wider jazz scene in 1975 when he joined Gary Burton's band, where he played alongside resident jazz guitarist Mick Goodrick. Goodrick was a 1967 alumnus of Berklee, who had held a teaching post there in the early 1970s. The two guitarists were interviewed jointly by Guitar Player Magazine in 1975, bringing them to the attention of fellow guitar aficionados around the world. Metheny's musical momentum carried him rapidly to the point that he had soon written enough material to record his debut album Bright Size Life with Pastorius and drummer Bob Moses.

Metheny's next recording, 1977's Watercolors, was the first to feature pianist Lyle Mays, Metheny's most frequent collaborator. The other musicians on this session were Eberhard Weber on upright bass and Danny Gottlieb on drums. Metheny's next album formalized his partnership with Mays and began the Pat Metheny Group, featuring several songs they co-wrote; the album was released as the eponymous Pat Metheny Group on West German musician/producer Manfred Eicher's ECM record label. Pat Metheny also has released notable solo, trio, quartet and duet recordings with musicians such as Jim Hall, Dave Holland, Roy Haynes, Toninho Horta, Gary Burton, Chick Corea, Pedro Aznar, Jaco Pastorius, Charlie Haden, John Scofield, Jack DeJohnette, Herbie Hancock, Bill Stewart, Ornette Coleman, Brad Mehldau, Joni Mitchell and many others.

Pat Metheny has also joined projects such as Song X with Ornette Coleman; Parallel Realities; and Jazz Baltica, with Ulf Wakenius and other Nordic jazz players like E.S.T., Nils Landgren and has played with unique singers from all over the world, such as Silje Nergaard on Tell Me Where You're Going (1990), Bruce Hornsby on Harbor Lights (1993) and Hot House (1995), Noa on Noa (1994), Abbey Lincoln on A Turtle's Dream (1994) and Anna Maria Jopek on Upojenie (2002). His collaboration with other great musicians also contains works with Milton Nascimento, Santana, Dominic Miller, Michael Brecker, Trilok Gurtu etc.

Pat Metheny has been touring for more than 30 years, playing between 120 and 240 concerts a year.

Pat Metheny Group[link]

The Pat Metheny Group is a fusion band founded in 1977. The first Pat Metheny Group release, 1978's Pat Metheny Group, featured the writing duo of Pat Metheny and pianist Lyle Mays, a collaboration which has spanned over 25 years and 15 albums. The recording featured the electric bass playing of Jaco Pastorius's protégé Mark Egan. The second group album, American Garage (1980), was a breakout hit, reaching #1 on the Billboard Jazz chart and crossing over onto the pop charts as well, largely on the strength of the up-tempo opening track "(Cross the) Heartland" which would become a signature tune for the group. This early incarnation of the group included Mark Egan on electric bass and Dan Gottlieb on drums.

The group built upon its success through constant touring across the USA and Europe. The early group featured a unique sound, particularly due to Metheny's Gibson ES-175 guitar coupled to two Eventide Clockworks' Harmonizer digital delay units and Mays' Oberheim and Sequential Circuits Prophet 5 synthesizers and Steinway piano. Even in this early state the band played in a wide range of styles from folk to rock to experimental. Metheny later started working with the Roland GR-300 guitar synthesizer and the Synclavier guitar system made by New England Digital. Mays expanded his setup with the Synclavier keyboard and later with various other synthesizers.

Left to right: Steve Rodby and Pat Metheny.

From 1982 to 1985 the Pat Metheny Group released Offramp (1982), a live set Travels (1983), and First Circle (1984), as well as The Falcon and the Snowman (1985), a soundtrack album for the movie of the same name in which they collaborated with David Bowie. A single from the soundtrack, 'This Is Not America', reached number 14 in the British Top 40 in early 1985 as well as number 32 in the USA.

Offramp marked the first appearance of bassist Steve Rodby (replacing Mark Egan) and Brazilian "guest artist" Nana Vasconcelos whose work on percussion and wordless vocals marked the first addition of Latin music shadings to the Group's sound, a trend which would continue and intensify on First Circle with the addition of Argentinian multi-instrumentalist Pedro Aznar, which also marked the group debut of drummer Paul Wertico (replacing Dan Gottlieb) - both Rodby and Wertico were members of the Fred Simon Group at the time, and had played in Simon-Bard as well, in Chicago, before joining Metheny.

This period became a peak of commercial popularity of the band, especially for the live recording Travels. First Circle would also be Metheny's last project with ECM Records; Metheny had been a key artist for ECM but left following conceptual disagreements with label founder Manfred Eicher. The next Pat Metheny Group releases would be based around a further intensification of the Brazilian rhythms first heard in the early 1980s. Additional Latin musicians appear as guests, notably Brazilian percussion player Armando Marçal. Still Life (Talking) (1987) was the Group's first release on new label Geffen Records, and featured several popular tracks, followed by Letter from Home (1989) which also featured Aznar and Marçal. During this period The Steppenwolf Theater Company of Chicago featured an assortment of compositions by Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays for their production of Lyle Kessler's play Orphans where it has remained special optional music for all productions of the play around the world since.

Metheny then again delved into adventurous solo and band projects, and four years went by before the release of the next record for the next Pat Metheny Group, a live set entitled The Road to You, which featured tracks from the two Geffen studio albums amongst new tunes. The group integrated new instrumentation and technologies into its work, notably Mays' unique playing technique accomplished by adding midi-controlled synth sounds at command during acoustic solos via a pedal on the piano.

Mays and Metheny themselves refer to the following three Pat Metheny Group releases as the triptych: We Live Here (1995), Quartet (1996), and Imaginary Day (1997). Moving away from the Latin style which had dominated the releases of the previous 10 years, these albums were the most wide-ranging and least commercial Group releases, including experimentations with sequenced synthetic drums on one track, free-form improvisation on acoustic instruments, and symphonic signatures, blues and sonata schemes.

After another hiatus, the Pat Metheny Group re-emerged in 2002 with the release Speaking of Now, another change in direction adding musicians to the band who are one generation younger and thus grew up with the Pat Metheny Group. The new members on the bandstand are the drummer Antonio Sanchez from Mexico City, trumpet player Cuong Vu, and bassist, vocalist, guitarist, and percussionist Richard Bona from Cameroon.

Metheny touring in 2003
Courtesy: Tyrone Lancaster

The latest release, 2005's The Way Up, is another large concept record which consists of one 68 minute-long piece (although split into four sections solely for CD navigation), a tightly organized, but not through-composed piece based on a pair of three-note kernels: The opening B, A#, F# and the derived B, A, F#. The reception of The Way Up was consistent, with standing ovations in each of the almost 90 concerts during the world tour 2005. On The Way Up, harmonica player Grégoire Maret from Switzerland was introduced as a new group member, while Richard Bona contributed only as a guest musician.

During the world tour Brazilian multi-instrumentalist Nando Lauria completed the line-up of the Pat Metheny Group. The Way Up was released through Nonesuch Records and all of Metheny's Geffen and Warner Brothers back catalogue is to be released on the label. Core members of the group are leader and founder, guitarist Pat Metheny, Lyle Mays (piano, keyboards) and Steve Rodby (double and electric bass) who joined in 1980. Drummer Paul Wertico replaced Dan Gottlieb in 1983 and continued to play with the group for more than 18 years, until he was replaced by Antonio Sanchez, currently also a member of The Pat Metheny Trio.

The current Pat Metheny Group members are Pat Metheny (guitars), Lyle Mays (piano and keyboards), Steve Rodby (double bass, electric bass), Antonio Sanchez (drums), Cuong Vu (trumpet). Other musicians that have been hired regularly for Metheny Group tours are: the late Mark Ledford (vocals, trumpet, guitar); David Blamires (vocals, miscellaneous instruments); Armando Marçal (percussion); Pedro Aznar (vocals, guitar, percussion); Richard Bona (vocals, guitar, bass, and percussion). On the most recent tour to promote the record "The Way Up", Grégoire Maret (harmonica, percussion, vocals) and Nando Lauria (guitar, percussion, vocals) joined the Group. Pat Metheny has collected 19 Grammy Awards, and of them, as part of The Pat Metheny Group, 10 of those awards were consecutive.

Side projects[link]

When working outside of the confines of the PMG, Metheny has shown different sides to his musical personality. On Secret Story (1992) and Orchestrion (2009), he has ventured into forms of orchestrating his music not covered by the PMG. In the late '80s Metheny began collaborating more with established jazz figures such as Ornette Coleman, Chick Corea, Michael Brecker, Joshua Redman, Charlie Haden, Jim Hall, Dave Holland, Christian McBride, David Sanchez and Roy Haynes. Despite his conversion from Brazilian and Latin jazz into more traditional jazz, Metheny still pushed the envelope in the mid-90s with avante garde albums in Zero Tolerance for Silence and The Sign of Four (with Derek Bailey). Metheny's latest side projects teams him with Brad Mehldau and his Trio. In 2006, Metheny appeared as a sideman on Brecker's last album, Pilgrimage.

Guitar contributions[link]

Pat Metheny and his guitar.

Continuing the tradition of jazz guitarists borrowing tones and techniques from their rock counterparts, Metheny has made alterations to the jazz guitar tone palette.

Twelve-string electric[link]

Prior to Metheny, Pat Martino had used the electric twelve-string guitar on a studio album, Desperado, and John McLaughlin had used a double-neck electric guitar with the Mahavishnu Orchestra. (Lenny Breau had introduced the acoustic twelve-string to jazz.^{[citation needed]}) Metheny introduced alternate 12-string tunings to jazz^{[citation needed]}; these can be heard on tunes such as "Sirabhorn" (from Bright Size Life) and San Lorenzo (from Pat Metheny Group and Travels).

Six-string electric[link]

Metheny's tone, which has evolved over the years, involves using the natural full-frequency response of his hollow-body guitar, combined with high-midrange settings on his amplifier to create a smooth, sustaining lead sound that is virtually devoid of piercing treble yet is able to cut through a dense mix. By using digital signal processing that involves digital delay/chorus and reverb, he has created a big, rich, and resonant instrumental voice.

Guitar synthesizer[link]

Metheny was also one of the first jazz guitarists to make heavy use of the Roland GR-300 Guitar Synthesizer. While John Abercrombie and Bill Frisell also used it heavily in the 1980s, Metheny is the only one of the three who still uses the instrument on a regular basis. Unlike many guitar synth users, Metheny limits himself to a very small number of sounds. In interviews, he has argued that each of the timbres achievable through guitar synthesis should be treated as a separate instrument, and that he has tried to master each of these "instruments" instead of using it for incidental color. One of the "patches" that Pat used often is on Roland's JV-80 "Vintage Synth" expansion card titled "Pat's GR-300".

42-string Pikasso guitar[link]

Metheny plays a custom-made Pikasso I created by Canadian luthier Linda Manzer on "Into the Dream" and on the albums Quartet, Imaginary Day, Jim Hall & Pat Metheny, Trio→Live, and the Speaking of Now Live and Imaginary Day DVDs. Metheny has also used the guitar in his guest appearances on other artist's albums.

Manzer has also made many acoustic guitars for Metheny, including a mini guitar, an acoustic sitar guitar, and also the baritone guitar, which Metheny used for the recording of One Quiet Night. His latest use of the Pikasso is found on the album Metheny Mehldau Quartet, his second collaboration with pianist Brad Mehldau and his trio sidemen Larry Grenadier and Jeff Ballard; the Pikasso is featured in Metheny's impressionistic composition "The Sound of Water."

Influences[link]

Metheny playing the guitar controller for the Roland GR300 Guitar Synthesizer.

As a young musician, Pat Metheny did everything he could to sound like Wes Montgomery, but when he was 14 or 15, he decided that he felt that it was disrespectful to imitate him.^[5] In the liner notes on the 2-disc Montgomery compilation Impressions: the Verve Jazz Sides, Metheny is quoted as saying, "(Smokin' at the Half Note) is the absolute greatest jazz-guitar album ever made. It is also the record that taught me how to play."

The angular compositions, asymmetrical lines, relentless rhythmic drive, and deep blues feeling of Ornette Coleman's New York is Now (Blue Note) inspired Metheny to find his own direction.^[6] He has recorded Coleman compositions on a number of his records (starting with a medley of "Round Trip" and "Broadway Blues" on his debut Bright Size Life); worked extensively with Coleman collaborators such as Charlie Haden, Dewey Redman, and Billy Higgins; and has even made a record, Song X, with Coleman.

Metheny's playing (as well as his tone) also show significant influence by Jim Hall, Joe Diorio, Kenny Burrell, Joe Pass, John McLaughlin and other classic jazz players^{[citation needed]}. Metheny has often been quoted saying that he is as likely to name non-guitarists as significant stylistic influences as fellow guitar players, giving as examples players like Clifford Brown and John Coltrane^{[citation needed]}. He has stated that Miles Davis' live album Four & More was hugely influential on his pursuit into jazz music. He has also admitted to being heavily influenced by The Beatles, going so far as to say that everything by The Beatles has impacted him as a musician. He has paid significant attention to the evolution of guitar playing across genres, however, and is familiar with the playing of notables from the likes of rocker Eddie Van Halen to Leo Kottke.^{[citation needed]}

In particular, he has been influenced by Brazilian music--both the European-influenced jazz sound of the bossa nova and the intensely polyrhythmic Afro-Brazilian sounds of the country's northeast.^{[citation needed]} Metheny made 3 albums on ECM with the Brazilian vocalist and percussionist Naná Vasconcelos in the early 1980s. He also lived in Brazil from the late 1980s to the early 1990s and performed with several local musicians such as Milton Nascimento and Toninho Horta. He also played with Antonio Carlos Jobim as a tribute, in a live performance in Carnegie Hall Salutes The Jazz Masters: Verve 50th Anniversary before Jobim’s passing away.

He is also a fan of several pop music artists, especially singer/songwriters including The Beatles; James Taylor (after whom he named the song "James" on Offramp); Bruce Hornsby, Cheap Trick, Joni Mitchell, with whom he performed on her Shadows and Light (1980, Asylum/ Elektra) live tour. Metheny is also fond of Buckethead's music. He also worked with, sponsored or helped to make attractive recordings of unique singer/songwriters from all over the world such as Pedro Aznar (Argentina), David Bowie (UK), Silje Nergaard (Norway), Noa (Israel), and Anna Maria Jopek (Poland).^[7]

Two of Metheny's recordings, The Way Up and Orchestrion, evidence the influence of American minimalist composer Steve Reich and utilize similar rhythmic figures structured around pulse. Reich's composition Electric Counterpoint was first recorded by Metheny and appears on the Different Trains CD released by Nonesuch Records in 1987.

Metheny Brothers[link]

Pat took part in recording some of the CDs by his older brother, trumpeter Mike Metheny, a jazz musician and a trumpet player based in Kansas City, Missouri, among them Day In - Night Out (1986) and more recently Close Enough for Love (2001).^[8][9]

Bibliography[link]

• Goins, Wayne E. (2001). Emotional Response to Music: Pat Metheny's Secret Story. Edwin Mellen Press. 

Discography[link]

Early recognition[link]

Chuck Lorre (producer of Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory) mentions Pat Metheny in his weekly 'vanity card'^[10] (shown briefly after the credits of the Season 1 Episode 12 episode of The Big Bang Theory entitled "The Jerusalem Duality"). To summarize, Chuck Lorre was a professional guitarist at the age of 22. He was invited to audit a jazz guitar class at the University of Miami, and his ego was crushed when Pat Metheny began to play. Chuck says that this experience played a part in shifting his focus toward television.

Awards & Recognition[link]

In 2011, Pat Metheny was voted "Guitarist of the Year" in the DownBeat Magazine's Readers Poll.

In 2010, Pat Metheny was voted "Guitarist of the Year" in the DownBeat Magazine's Readers Poll.

In 2009, Pat Metheny was voted "Guitarist of the Year" in the DownBeat Magazine Readers Poll.

In 1995, Pat Metheny was granted the Miles Davis Award by the Montreal International Jazz Festival.

List of Grammy Awards received by Pat Metheny:^[11]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Pat Metheny

• The Pat Metheny homepage - biographies, discographies, discussion and songbook forums, tour dates, etc.
• The most complete Pat Metheny discography with radio shows, promos a. o.
• Pat Metheny entry at AllMusic.com
• Pat Metheny profile, NNDB
• Pat Metheny's guitar rig
• Pat Metheny at the Internet Movie Database
• Pat Metheny discography at MusicBrainz
• Pat Metheny's artist file on the Montreal International Jazz Festival's website

Pat Summerall

Summerall in 2008
No. 88
Placekicker
Personal information
Date of birth: (1930-05-10) May 10, 1930 (age 82)
Place of birth: Lake City, Florida
Height: 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) Weight: 228 lb (103 kg)
Career information
College: Arkansas
NFL Draft: 1952 / Round: 4 / Pick: 45
Debuted in 1952 for the Detroit Lions
Last played in 1961 for the New York Giants
Career history
Detroit Lions (1952) Chicago Cardinals (1953–1957) New York Giants (1958–1961)
Career highlights and awards
FHSAA's All-Century Team
Career NFL statistics
FGA 212 FGM 100 PAT 257 Stats at NFL.com

George Allen "Pat" Summerall (born May 10, 1930) is a former American football player and television sportscaster, having worked at CBS, Fox, and ESPN.

Summerall is best known for his work with John Madden on NFL telecasts for CBS and Fox.

Football career[link]

High school[link]

At Columbia High School in Lake City, Florida, Summerall played football, tennis, baseball, and basketball.^{[1][2][dead link]} Although basketball was his favorite sport, he was recognized as an All-State selection in basketball and football.^[3] He was inducted into the FHSAA hall of fame and was later named to the FHSAA's All-Century Team.

College[link]

Summerall played college football from 1949 to 1951 at the University of Arkansas, where he played defensive end, tight end, and placekicker positions. He graduated from UA in 1953.

Professional[link]

Summerall spent ten years as a professional football player in the National Football League, primarily as a placekicker. The Detroit Lions drafted Summerall as a fourth-round draft choice in the 1952 NFL Draft.^[4] Summerall played the pre-season with the Lions before breaking his arm, which ended the year for him.^[5] After that season, he was traded and went on to play for the Chicago Cardinals from 1953 to 1957 and the New York Giants from 1958 to 1961, during which he was a part of The Greatest Game Ever Played. His best professional year statistically was 1959, when Summerall scored 90 points on 30-for-30 (100%) extra-point kicking and 20-for-29 (69%) field goal kicking.

Summerall's most memorable professional moment may well have been at the very end of the Sunday, December 14, 1958 regular season finale between his Giants and the Cleveland Browns at Yankee Stadium. Going into the game, the Browns were in first place in the Eastern Conference, holding a one-game lead over the second-place Giants. In that era, there was no overtime during regular season games, standings ties were broken by a playoff, and there were no wild-card teams. This meant that only the Eastern Conference champion would qualify for the NFL Championship Game to be held two weeks later, and it meant that the Giants had to win just to force a tiebreaker playoff game. The Browns, on the other hand, needed only a tie to clinch the Eastern championship. As time was running out, the Giants and Browns were tied, 10-10, a situation that, as indicated, favored the Browns. The Giants got barely into Cleveland territory, and then sent out Summerall to try for a tiebreaking 49-yard field goal. To add to the drama, there were swirling winds and snow. Summerall, a straight-ahead kicker, made the field goal with just two minutes to play, keeping the Giants alive for another week (they defeated Cleveland a week later, 10-0, in the Eastern Conference tiebreaker playoff before losing the sudden-death playoff to Baltimore the week after that). Giants' offensive coach Vince Lombardi was against sending Summerall in^[6] (Summerall had missed 31 yard attempt a few minutes earlier), and then gleefully greeted Summerall as he came off the field 'You son of a bitch, you can't kick it that far!^[7][8] Sports Illustrated ran the story as one of its primary articles the next week, with a leading photograph showing the football heading between the uprights through the snow.^[9]

Summerall's last professional game was the December 31, 1961 NFL Championship Game held at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Vince Lombardi's Green Bay Packers defeated Summerall's Giants, 37-0, holding New York to just six first downs. Summerall was not a factor in that game.

Broadcasting career[link]

CBS Sports[link]

After retiring from football, Summerall was hired by CBS Sports in 1962 to work as a color commentator on the network's NFL coverage. CBS initially paired Summerall with Chris Schenkel on Giants games; three years later he shifted to working with Jim Gibbons on Washington Redskins games. In 1968, after CBS abandoned the practice of assigning dedicated announcing crews to particular NFL teams, Summerall ascended to the network's lead national crew, pairing with Jack Buck and then Ray Scott.

Summerall also covered other events such as ABA basketball for CBS during this period, and through 1966 hosted a morning drive-time music/talk program for WCBS-AM radio in New York. In 1969, Summerall took part in NBC's coverage of Super Bowl III. He also co-hosted the syndicated NFL Films series This Week in Pro Football in the late 1960s and early '70s.

Midway through the 1974 NFL season, CBS shifted Summerall from color to play-by-play. The network's #1 NFL crew now consisted of Summerall and analyst Tom Brookshier (with whom he had previously worked on This Week in Pro Football), and the colorful Summerall-Brookshier duo worked three Super Bowls (X, XII, and XIV) together. Summerall, Brookshier, NFL on CBS producer Bob Wussler, and Miami Dolphins owner Joe Robbie appeared as themselves during the 1977 film Black Sunday, which was filmed on location at the Orange Bowl in Miami during Super Bowl X.

In 1981, Summerall was teamed with former Oakland Raiders coach John Madden, a pairing that would last for 22 seasons on two networks and become one of the most well-known partnerships in TV sportscasting history. Summerall and Madden were first teamed on a 1979 broadcast of a Minnesota Vikings–Tampa Bay Buccaneers game. While the two were paired on CBS, they called Super Bowls XVI, XVIII, XXI, XXIV, and XXVI together.

It is often mistakenly assumed that Summerall and Madden handled the call on CBS-TV for the 1981 NFC Championship Game, when San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Dwight Clark made "The Catch" to lift the 49ers to a 28–27 victory over the Dallas Cowboys and a berth in Super Bowl XVI. Instead, CBS' #2 broadcast team of Vin Scully and Hank Stram handled the broadcast while Madden was given the weekend off to travel to Pontiac, Michigan for the game and to prepare for the broadcast. Since Stram was Jack Buck's color commentator on CBS Radio, Summerall substituted for Stram as Buck's partner; this was the first time Buck and Summerall had called a game together since 1974, when then-lead color commentator Summerall was moved off of Buck's team to become CBS television's lead play-by-play voice for the NFL.

Summerall also broadcast PGA Tour games on CBS, including The Masters Tournament, as well as the US Open of tennis, during his tenure at CBS, and he was the play-by-play announcer for the 1974 NBA Finals, CBS' first season broadcasting the NBA on CBS.

Summerall's last on-air assignment for CBS Sports was the 1994 Masters Tournament. His last game alongside Madden for CBS was the 1993 NFC Championship Game in Irving, Texas.

[edit] The NFL on Fox

In 1994, the Fox network surprised NFL fans by outbidding CBS for the NFC broadcast package. One of the network's first moves was to hire Summerall and Madden as its lead announcing team. While at Fox the pair called Super Bowls XXXI, XXXIII, and XXXVI together. The long-time partnership ended after Super Bowl XXXVI in early 2002, as Summerall had announced he would be retiring from announcing and Madden's contract had expired.

Post-Madden[link]

Fox Sports[link]

Summerall was lured out of retirement and re-signed with Fox for the 2002 season. However, since Madden had left to take over the color commentator position on Monday Night Football for ABC and Fox had promoted Joe Buck to be its number one football play-by-play voice, Summerall was paired with Brian Baldinger on regional telecasts. Most of the games Summerall covered featured the Dallas Cowboys, due in part to his residency in the city. One of the games Summerall called was the Cowboys' game against the Seattle Seahawks at Texas Stadium, in which Emmitt Smith broke Walter Payton's career rushing yardage record. Summerall and Baldinger were joined by Daryl Johnston, who at the time was working as Fox's #2 color man with Dick Stockton and who was a longtime teammate of Smith's with the Cowboys, for this game.

Summerall retired again following the 2002 season but in 2006, he served as a substitute for Kenny Albert alongside Baldinger for the Week 8 (October 29) game between the eventual NFC champion Chicago Bears and the San Francisco 49ers. Summerall returned for one game the following year to take Stockton's place alongside Baldinger and provide the play-by-play for the December 9, 2007 game between the Cincinnati Bengals and St. Louis Rams in Cincinnati.

From 2007 until 2010, Summerall appeared as the play-by-play voice of the network's coverage of the Cotton Bowl Classic game^{[10][dead link]} between Auburn and Nebraska. Summerall teamed with Brian Baldinger on the 2007-09 Cotton Bowl Classic telecasts, and worked with Daryl Johnston on the 2010 game between Ole Miss and Oklahoma State. In 2011, Summerall appeared on the pre-game coverage of the Cotton Bowl.

[edit] NFL on ESPN

Summerall called several preseason and early regular-season NFL games for the ESPN network in 2004, substituting for regular announcer Mike Patrick while the latter recovered from heart surgery.

Super Bowl legacy[link]

Summerall has broadcast 16 Super Bowls on network television with CBS and FOX, more than any other announcer. He also contributed to 10 Super Bowl broadcasts on CBS Radio as a pregame host or analyst.

Awards and honors[link]

The National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association named Summerall National Sportscaster of the Year in 1977, and inducted him into its Hall of Fame in 1994.

Summerall was the 1994 recipient of the Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award, bestowed by the Pro Football Hall of Fame "for longtime exceptional contributions to radio and television in professional football".

In 1999 he was inducted into the American Sportscasters Association Hall of Fame.^[11]

Since 2006 the "Pat Summerall Award" has been presented at the annual Legends for Charity Luncheon given on Super Bowl weekend at the NFL's headquarters hotel in the host city. The award is given "to a deserving recipient who through their career has demonstrated the character, integrity and leadership both on and off the job that the name Pat Summerall represents." Recipients have included James Brown (2006), Greg Gumbel (2007), Jim Nantz (2008), Chris Berman (2009), Cris Collinsworth (2010), and the entire NFL on Fox crew (2011).^[12]

Health issues[link]

During the 1990 season, Summerall was hospitalized after vomiting on a plane during a flight after a Bears–Redskins game, and was out for a considerable amount of time. While Verne Lundquist replaced Summerall on games with Madden, Jack Buck (who was at CBS during the time as the network's lead Major League Baseball announcer) was added as a regular NFL broadcaster to fill-in.

In the spring of 2004, Summerall, a recovering alcoholic who had been sober for many years, underwent a liver transplant.

In 2006, Pat Summerall underwent cataract surgery, and had an intraocular lens implanted.^[13]