Patty Smyth

Patty Smyth
Smyth at the premiere of War, Inc.
Background information
Born	June 26, 1957 (1957-06-26) (age 52) New York City, New York, U.S.
Genre(s)	Rock
Instrument(s)	Vocals
Years active	1981 - present
Label(s)	Columbia, Sony
Associated acts	Scandal

Patty Smyth (born June 26, 1957, New York) is an American rock and roll musician. She first enjoyed mainstream success in 1982 as lead singer of the band Scandal. That band's self-titled debut release became Columbia Records' biggest selling EP. Her last name is pronounced /sməɪθ/ to avoid confusion with punk rocker Patti Smith.

Personal life

In the mid 1980s, Smyth became friends with Valerie Bertinelli and her then husband, Eddie Van Halen. When David Lee Roth left the band Van Halen, Eddie Van Halen invited Smyth to replace Roth as the band's lead singer. Smyth declined the offer.^[1]

Smyth dated punk musician Richard Hell for two years; their daughter, Ruby, was born in 1985. In April 1997, Smyth married former tennis star John McEnroe. They presently live in New York City and have six children between them (three from his previous marriage to Tatum O'Neal, Ruby, and two together: daughters Anna and Ava).

Solo career

Following two solo albums in 1987 and 1992, she secured a further hit record via a duet with Don Henley of The Eagles; "Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough" peaked at number 2 in the Billboard Hot 100, and went gold. Its parent album, Patty Smyth, also went gold and featured an additional Top 40 hit with "No Mistakes", as well as "I Should Be Laughing", a minor hit. She had previously recorded with Henley as a backing singer on several songs on his albums Building The Perfect Beast and The End of the Innocence. Smyth guest-appeared on The Hooters 1985 album Nervous Night on the song "Where Do the Children Go" as an accompanying vocalist. Her solo hit "Never Enough" (from the 1987 album by the same name) was also co-written with members of The Hooters.

She subsequently co-wrote the 1994 song "Look What Love Has Done", nominated for a Grammy and an Academy Award after its inclusion in the soundtrack to the feature film Junior. Further soundtrack commissions resulted in her penning the theme tune, "Wish I Were You", to the 1998 feature film Armageddon. (Smyth's husband, John McEnroe, claims in his autobiography^[2] that she was inspired to write the song by his own attempt at a musical career: she was struck by his excitement at playing music, when her feelings about the music industry were far more ambivalent.)

As a result of her renewed popularity, Columbia issued a retrospective album, Greatest Hits - Featuring Scandal. Two new songs were released on the anthology, including "Carnival Lights". The song, co-written with Bob Thiele Jr., concerned her mother Betty Smyth's years as a trapeze artist. Smyth set out to promote the album on an acoustic tour, employing ex-Bullet Lavolta guitarist Duke Roth as her sideman.

In 2004, VH1 recruited the surviving members of Scandal for a Bands Reunited episode resulting in a small reunion tour in 2005. In 2006, Columbia/Legacy released a new Scandal compilation CD as part of the We Are The 80's series. The new compilation contained three unreleased tracks from the 1982 recording sessions ("Grow So Wise", "If You Love Me", "I'm Here Tonight") as well as "All My Life", previously available on the flip side of "Goodbye To You", perennially one of her more popular songs.

Discography

Albums

• Never Enough (1987) #66 U.S.
• Patty Smyth (1992) #47 U.S.
• Greatest Hits – Featuring Scandal (1998)

Singles

References

External links

• PattySmythandScandal.com (official website)
• Patty Smyth at the Internet Movie Database
• Scandal at Allmusic
• Official Patty Smyth & Scandal Page on MySpace