Pat Benatar, Belief, and the Power of a Shared Destiny
3 days ago
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Last year was the year of concerts for me, the year where music didn't just entertain me, it met me right where my story began.
The final performance of that year was Pat Benatar.A powerhouse. A legend. A woman whose voice changed what was possible for female rock vocalists.
I grew up classically trained as one of the top sopranos in my state. Everyone assumed I would go down the classical or opera path. But something in me always longed for a different kind of sound. A sound with edge, emotion, and grit. A sound that didn't yet feel like it belonged to someone like me.
So when I got gifted VIP passes and suddenly found myself face-to-face with Pat Benatar, the woman who made that very leap, I knew exactly what I needed to ask:
“How did you go from classical to grit when there weren’t vocal coaches teaching women that at the time?”
Her answer wasn't just technical; it was transformational.
She told me she and her husband, Neil Giraldo, worked together for two years to develop that iconic rock sound.
Two years of stretching beyond the rules of classical voice.Two years of believing in a voice that didn't exist yet. Two years of courage fueled by shared belief.
Pat tapped into Neil's gifts, his ear, his imagination, his unwavering belief in what she could become. And he tapped into hers. It wasn't one person pushing the other; it was mutual belief manifesting a future version of her voice.
That moment struck me deeply, because:
I have spent years studying belief.
How it forms. How it grows. It takes different shapes depending on a person's Belonging Language. How it changes and expands when we connect with others.
We often talk about self-belief as if it's a solo act. But Pat's journey reveals a deeper truth:
She didn’t become iconic simply because she believed in herself. She became iconic because they believed with each other.
She believed in herself. Neil believed in her. She believed in Neil. And Neil believed in himself.
That closed loop of belief created a kind of creative force that changed the course of musical history.
I left that night with more than the thrill of meeting one of my heroes. I left with a reminder:
Belief creates a whole new shape when it is shared.
Belief becomes transformative when it is mutual.
Destiny isn't a solo performance; it's a duet. A harmony of courage.A collaboration of belonging. A sound only possible when voices rise together.
(Pat and Neil are icons in music. This is them as dolls in history. (There is actually a woman in the History series.)
