Neil Giraldo

Pat Benatar's guitarist (and husband), Neil Giraldo, proved to be one of the finest yet underrated guitarists of the early-'80s arena rock/MTV generation. Born on December 29, 1955, and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Giraldo picked up the guitar at the age of seven (at the insistence of his father). Influenced early on by such groups as the Yardbirds, Giraldo had begun playing in bar bands by the age of 15, a few of which issued obscure regional singles. By the mid-'70s, Giraldo was playing bass in a local group, when he got word through a friend that Edgar Winter was looking for ...