Music Icons Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo Coming to the Wilson Center in June 2022!

The Wilson Center at Cape Fear Community College is thrilled to announce that Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo will be coming to the Wilson Center this summer! The duo of rock icons will take the stage on Tuesday, June 28, 2022, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets go on sale this Friday, April 1, 2022, at 10 a.m.

Pat Benatar has always been a rule-breaker and a trail-blazer; she remains a bold and distinctive artist both on stage and on record, and now, after more than three decades in rock ‘n’ roll, she’s a bonafide living legend.  A four-time Grammy winner, Benatar is a classically trained mezzo-soprano. 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 the Top 10 hits, “Hit Me With Your Best Shot”, “Love Is a Battlefield”, “We Belong” and “Invincible”. During the early days of MTV, Benatar was one of the most heavily played artists on the popular music channel. Her hits continue to be as unforgettable now as they were at the dawn of MTV, when Pat emerged, fearless, fighting and forging a path for other female rock stars around the world.

Neil “Spyder” James Giraldo, has been a professional musician, producer, arranger, and songwriter for over four decades now, changing the face of the pop charts throughout the 1980s with his collaborator, muse, and wife, Pat Benatar. More than just an explosive steel bending guitar player, Giraldo’s innovative vision helped him create the signature Benatar sound, from its inception.

His impressive back catalog includes more than 100 songs written, produced, arranged, and recorded for Benatar, as well as many hits he helped create for John Waite, Rick Springfield (Grammy-winning classic “Jessie’s Girl” and Top Ten hit “I’ve Done Everything For You”), Kenny Loggins (“Don’t Fight It”), Steve Forbert, The Del Lords, Beth Hart, and countless others. Giraldo began his career in 1978, as a key member of the Rick Derringer band, beating out 200 other guitarists for the position. It wasn’t long before Rick discovered Neil’s piano-playing prowess and quickly put those skills to work in the studio as well while recording Guitars and Women.

In the spring of 1979, producer and writer Mike Chapman introduced Giraldo to an up-and-coming singer who had recently signed to Chrysalis Records. While impressed with the young vocalist, Chapman felt she needed a musical director/partner who could establish a more aggressive sound. Shortly afterward, the world was introduced to Giraldo and Benatar’s enduring partnership and rock ‘n’ roll love affair via her platinum 1979 debut album, In The Heat Of The Night — which included the classic “Heartbreaker,” as well as the Giraldo-penned hit, “We Live For Love”.

The following year, Benatar and Giraldo cemented their place in music history forever, by being the first female and first guitarist, respectively, to ever appear on MTV, with the video for “You Better Run,” taken from the 1980’s Grammy-winning album Crimes of Passion – an album that also included the gold-certified single, “Hit Me With Your Best Shot.”

Please note that this is anticipated to be a full-capacity event, and will adhere to all local and state guidelines at the time of the show. Tickets may be purchased online at www.WilsonCenterTickets.com, or by contacting the Ticket Central box office. Ticket Central is open for telephone and in-person sales from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday. Ticket Central may be reached by telephone at 910.362.7999; questions may also be directed to tickets@wilsoncentertickets.com.