Neil Giraldo and Geraldo Rivera walked into a room, and the story that emerged was quite amusing.
First of all, let’s clarify something: Giraldo’s last name is not pronounced like the journalist and political commentator’s first name. However, it turns out there were some issues with the family name that date back quite a while, and in certain periods, it was easy to assume that might be the correct pronunciation.
“It was a mistake in the spelling of my name,” the guitarist and Pat Benatar collaborator tells UCR. “It’s actually c-i, like Chiraldo, because it’s Sicilian, right? When the family came [to America], they thought the ‘C’ was a ‘G,’ so they made it Giraldo, with a g-i-r [spelling]. But then when I joined [Rick Derringer’s band] Derringer, they changed it to g-e, so then it became Geraldo like that. Of course, in the Hispanic community, it’s Her-aldo, right?”
Here’s where the famous media personality makes a cameo in Neil’s world. “Geraldo Rivera would come up to me sometimes and say, ‘People keep getting us mixed up,'” he laughs. “I go, ‘There’s no chance. You’re like five foot three and you don’t look like me. We’re not gonna get mixed up.’ He’s a really nice guy though. But [my last name] wasn’t meant to be [pronounced] Her-aldo. I kept [the Geraldo spelling] through the early records and then I [went back] to the regular spelling, Giraldo.”
What’s New With Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo?
The duo was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2022, and several years later, they’re still maintaining an impressively busy schedule. There’s a new children’s book inspired by their own grandchildren, My Grandma and Grandpa Rock!. Benatar recently told UCR she has ideas for three more books in that genre and is also reworking the Invincible musical that opened in 2022.
Giraldo has a similarly packed schedule of projects and continues to expand his Three Chord Bourbon line. A tour with Bryan Adams will bring the pair back to the concert stage in late October starting in Uncasville, Connecticut, and is currently set to conclude about a month later in Minneapolis.
READ MORE: Bryan Adams, Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo Announce Tour
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Gallery Credit: Nick DeRiso
