Pat Benetar speaks from a rock heart*

For 30 years, Pat Benatar has been one of the most influential women in rock music. Part of the first generation of female rock stars to put the women’s movement into practice, Benatar’s career has embodied the defiant attitude and rebellious edge that has long been associated with her music.

Now, in her first ever memoir, Between a Heart and a Rock Place, this rock legend tells her story as she saw it, detailing her rise to fame, life in the MTV generation, her tours, the fans, and how she managed to avoid the pitfalls of rock stardom.

Winner of an unprecedented four consecutive Grammys for best female rock performance, Benatar details a unique time in music history, explaining how the advent of music videos turned musicians into platinum-selling stars overnight.

As the first woman ever to be featured on MTV, Benatar’s story offers an incredible inside look at the integral role that MTV played in shaping the face of music in the 1980s, as the nascent cable network helped propel rock anthems such Invincible, Love Is a Battlefield and Shadows of the Night to the top of the charts.

Going backstage and into the studio, Benatar sets the record straight about how her music evolved, illustrating the visionary role played by her guitarist, producer, and eventual husband Neil ‘Spyder’ Giraldo, in combining her classically trained voice with his razor-sharp guitar to create her unique hard-rock sound. Together they formed a musical and spiritual bond that would last a lifetime, helping her stay true to herself while avoiding the pitfalls and excesses of rock stardom.

*Based on media release issued by HarperCollins.

PUBLISHING DETAILS

Pat Benatar, Between a Heart and a Rock Place | paperback | $35 | To be published 1 October by HarperCollins.

ON TOUR

Pat Benatar will be touring Australia in October. DETAILS