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1980s pop icon and Lindenhurst High School alumna Pat Benatar has just been nominated to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland for its 2020 Class.
Benatar is in the running with 15 other nominees, including The Notorious B.I.G., Dave Matthew’s Band, Whitney Houston and Depeche Mode. (Scroll down for the full list.)
Benatar also attended Stony Brook University for a year.
“As a singer, songwriter and actress born in Brooklyn and schooled on Long Island who received four Grammys, had two multi platinum albums, five platinum albums and 15 Billboard Top 40 singles, there is no question that she is most deserving,” said Jim Faith of the Long Island Music Hall of Fame, where Benatar has already been inducted.
“She’s a true artist, and one more example of the amazing talent that Long Island produces,” he added.
“When ‘You Better Run’ aired as the second-ever video on MTV, Benatar became the first woman … to appear on the channel,” according to the HOF’s biography page. “The band remained in heavy rotation on MTV, and cinematic videos like ‘Love is a Battlefield’ shaped how audiences envisioned rock music and bands led by women.”
Benatar was off to a strong start but is no longer leading the voting, according to the most recent news reports, but she’s still up there. Click here to vote. You can vote once a day through Jan. 10.
“She definitely broke some ground for female artists, and I think she played a role in the women’s empowerment movement at that time,” said James Skidmore, a longtime music promoter on Long Island. “She was bad ass.”
“I was a serious, dedicated, formidably rockin’ lead singer who happened to be a girl,” Benatar told the Hall of Fame. “And that’s exactly how [her guitarist Neil Giraldo] saw it, too. I wanted to make music, but I wanted to do it on my own terms.”
Click here to listen to Banatar’s music.
THE NOMINEES
- Pat Benatar
- Dave Matthews Band
- Depeche Mode
- The Doobie Brothers
- Whitney Houston
- Judas Priest
- Kraftwerk
- MC5
- Motörhead
- Nine Inch Nails
- The Notorious B.I.G.
- Rufus featuring Chaka Khan
- Todd Rundgren
- Soundgarden
- T. Rex
- Thin Lizzy
