Rock diva Benatar still giving it her best shot

Lisa Ferguson

Friday, July 18, 1997 | 12:13 p.m.

Being a working mother isn't easy. Just ask Pat Benatar.

For the rock 'n' roll mama who made her mark during the early '80s with a slew of hit tunes including "Hit Me With Your Best Shot," "Heartbreaker" and "Love is a Battlefield," work is a family affair.

Benatar and her guitarist husband of 15 years, Neil Giraldo, take their daughters, 12-year-old Haley and 3-year-old Hana, on the road with them.

During the summer months, the brood resides on a tour bus traveling the country to mom's gigs which, in recent years, have been opening for other rock legends including REO Speedwagon, Steve Miller and Fleetwood Mac.

"The girls are great," Benatar said recently, calling from "somewhere near Buffalo," New York.

The trick to traveling with kids, she says, is "just trying to keep the peace and keep everybody happy. When your kids want their mother, they want their mother."

Tonight, the brood will stop at the MGM Grand Garden, where Benatar is opening for Styx.

The family's jaunts usually wrap up before Haley starts school each fall. But it may have to be extended this year so Benatar can continue touring to promote her latest CD, "Innamorata," which was released in June.

Mom and dad's dilemma: Do they tutor their preteen on the bus or send her home? "This will be a big decision," the 44-year-old Benatar says, sounding every bit as motherly as June Cleaver.

If only everything came as easy as making albums. After two decades of collaborating together, it's one task she and Giraldo can practically do in their sleep.

"We've got the bugs worked out," she says. "I think that Neil and I are probably having the best time that we've ever had."

Melissa Ruggieri, of the Richmond (Virginia) Times-Dispatch, wrote that during a recent performance, the two "...proved themselves the consummate rock couple. You didn't just witness their synergy on stage, you felt every twinge of it."

Benatar and Giraldo began writing the 13 relationship-themed tracks featured on "Innamorata" two years ago.

"You really don't go in with a preconceived idea of what you're trying to do. It's always a reflection of where you're at in your life," she says.

These days, "It's not about being a warrior, it's about sitting back and taking stock."

But not of the four Grammy awards, four gold and six platinum albums Benatar has amassed throughout her career.

Collecting music trophies is "not part of the equation anymore. That's really not the point," she says. "You really can't chase yourself."

Pleasing herself is another matter. It's the reason Benatar left her longtime record label, Chrysalis, a few years ago, after relations there spoiled.

"All of us were pretty much fed up," she says. "I was probably going to retire ... not because I wanted to stop performing and playing, I really couldn't take the s---. It was just awful. Music couldn't even redeem it at that point."

She signed a contract with CMC International Records earlier this year. "We have moved on," Benatar says.

Luckily, her fans didn't. "We have a core group who have been there from the beginning," she says.

"I worked hard to get here. It's 20 years later, I've got two kids. Life is good."