Patty Smyth
Encyclopedia
Patty Smyth is an American rock and roll
musician. She first enjoyed mainstream success in 1982 as lead singer
of the band Scandal and later scored a solo #2 hit with her song "Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough
". She is currently married to tennis star John McEnroe
.
, it went on to become Columbia Records
' biggest selling EP
. In 1984, they put out their follow-up, The Warrior. Buoyed by MTV
airplay, the album peaked at #17 on the charts, and the first song off the release, also titled "The Warrior
", was a top-ten smash. However, despite their success, internal strife with in the group led to their breakup shortly afterwards.
to join the band Van Halen
to replace David Lee Roth
as lead singer. However, she declined the offer. She guest-appeared on The Hooters
1985 album Nervous Night
on the song "Where Do the Children Go" as an accompanying vocalist.
Smyth released her first solo album, Never Enough
, in 1987. It contained her version of the Tom Waits
song "Downtown Train
," which Rod Stewart
would make a hit several years later, and the title track "Never Enough," which was co-written with members of the Hooters and based off of a song of the same title that Hooters members Eric Bazilian
and Rob Hyman
had written for their earlier band, Baby Grand. She put out another solo effort in 1992, the self-titled Patty Smyth
. Off of that effort, she secured a huge 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 was certified gold
for sales of 500,000. The album, also certified gold, featured an additional US Top 40 hit with "No Mistakes" and also spawned the minor hit "I Should Be Laughing". Smyth 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 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. (Her husband, John McEnroe, claims in his autobiography 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.)
recruited Smyth and the surviving members of Scandal for a Bands Reunited
episode, resulting in a small reunion tour of concerts on the United States East Coast in 2005. The next year, Columbia/Legacy released a new Scandal compilation
CD
as part of the We Are The 80's series. The 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". In July 2008, Billboard
reported the upcoming release of new music by the band (featuring original members Keith Mack and Benjy King). They debuted their first single as a band ("Hard For You To Love Me", also referred to as "Make It Hard") in over 24 years on January 17, 2009 in Ridgefield, Connecticut to a standing ovation. Smyth stated the song would be available to purchase digitally in February 2009, with the new EP to follow shortly. However, the single was delayed as the EP will be expanded to a full length album, according to Patty Smyth's blog in May 2009.
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. Sean, Kevin, and Emily are children from McEnroe's previous marriage to Tatum O'Neal
. Ruby is from her relationship with Hell, and Smyth and McEnroe's daughters in common are Anna and Ava.
Patty is a fan of the TV series Aqua Teen Hunger Force
and has been featured as a DVD commentator for the Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie.
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
musician. She first enjoyed mainstream success in 1982 as lead singer
Singing
Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
of the band Scandal and later scored a solo #2 hit with her song "Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough
Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough
"Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough" is the title of a 1992 rock ballad performed as a duet by the American singers Patty Smyth and Don Henley.-History:...
". She is currently married to tennis star John McEnroe
John McEnroe
John Patrick McEnroe, Jr. is a former world no. 1 professional tennis player from the United States. During his career, he won seven Grand Slam singles titles , nine Grand Slam men's doubles titles, and one Grand Slam mixed doubles title...
.
With Scandal
After growing up in the Brooklyn neighborhood Gerritsen Beach, Smyth joined Scandal as vocalist in 1981. The band released a self-titled debut album the next year. Featuring the song "Goodbye to YouGoodbye to You (Scandal song)
"Goodbye to You" is a new wave single and song by the 1980s band Scandal.-Original release information:The song was written by band member Zack Smith. It appeared on Scandal's 1982 Scandal EP...
, it went on to become Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
' biggest selling EP
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
. In 1984, they put out their follow-up, The Warrior. Buoyed by MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
airplay, the album peaked at #17 on the charts, and the first song off the release, also titled "The Warrior
The Warrior (song)
"The Warrior" is a song by pop/rock group Scandal, from the album of the same name. The song went to number one in Canada and number seven in the US, as well as number one on the Mainstream Rock chart in the US, in addition to winning a BMI Airplay Award in 1984.-In popular culture:*The song was...
", was a top-ten smash. However, despite their success, internal strife with in the group led to their breakup shortly afterwards.
Solo Career
Following the end of Scandal, Smyth was asked by friend Eddie Van HalenEddie Van Halen
Edward Lodewijk "Eddie" Van Halen is a Dutch-American guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter and producer, best known as the lead guitarist and co-founder of the hard rock band Van Halen, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...
to join the band Van Halen
Van Halen
Van Halen is an American hard rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1972. The band has enjoyed success since the release of its debut album, Van Halen, . As of 2007 Van Halen has sold 80 million albums worldwide and has had the most #1 hits on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart...
to replace David Lee Roth
David Lee Roth
David Lee Roth is an American rock vocalist, songwriter, actor, author, and former radio personality. Roth was ranked nineteenth by Hit Parader on their list of the 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Singers of All Time....
as lead singer. However, she declined the offer. She guest-appeared on The Hooters
The Hooters
The Hooters is an American rock band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. By combining a mix of rock and roll, reggae, ska and folk music, The Hooters first gained major commercial success in the United States in the mid 1980s due to heavy radio and MTV airplay of several songs including "All You...
1985 album Nervous Night
Nervous Night (album)
Nervous Night is the second studio album by the American rock band The Hooters, released in 1985 by Columbia Records and on CBS Records in Europe.-Background:...
on the song "Where Do the Children Go" as an accompanying vocalist.
Smyth released her first solo album, Never Enough
Never Enough (Patty Smyth album)
Never Enough is the debut album by former Scandal frontwoman Patty Smyth. It was released in 1987 on Columbia Records three years after the band's breakup in 1984....
, in 1987. It contained her version of the Tom Waits
Tom Waits
Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...
song "Downtown Train
Downtown Train
"Downtown Train" is a song by Tom Waits released on his album Rain Dogs in 1985.The promo video for the song was directed by Jean-Baptiste Mondino and features the boxer Jake LaMotta....
," which Rod Stewart
Rod Stewart
Roderick David "Rod" Stewart, CBE is a British singer-songwriter and musician, born and raised in North London, England and currently residing in Epping. He is of Scottish and English ancestry....
would make a hit several years later, and the title track "Never Enough," which was co-written with members of the Hooters and based off of a song of the same title that Hooters members Eric Bazilian
Eric Bazilian
Eric M. Bazilian , is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, arranger and producer, best known for being a founding member of the rock band The Hooters.-Early life:...
and Rob Hyman
Rob Hyman
Robert Andrew "Rob" Hyman is an American singer, songwriter, keyboard player, accordion player, producer, arranger and recording studio owner, best known for being a founding member of the rock band The Hooters.-Early life:Hyman started taking piano lessons at the age of four and grew up playing...
had written for their earlier band, Baby Grand. She put out another solo effort in 1992, the self-titled Patty Smyth
Patty Smyth (album)
Patty Smyth is the second solo studio album by rock singer-songwriter Patty Smyth, formely of Scandal, which went gold, as a result of the popularity of its first single, "Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough", which peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and also went Gold...
. Off of that effort, she secured a huge hit record
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
via a duet
Duet (music)
A duet is a musical composition for two performers. In classical music, the term is most often used for a composition for two singers or pianists; with other instruments, the word duo is also often used. A piece performed by two pianists performing together on the same piano is referred to as...
with Don Henley
Don Henley
Donald Hugh "Don" Henley is an American singer, songwriter and drummer, best known as a founding member of the Eagles before launching a successful solo career. Henley was the drummer and lead vocalist for the Eagles from 1971–1980, when the band broke up...
of The Eagles; "Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough
Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough
"Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough" is the title of a 1992 rock ballad performed as a duet by the American singers Patty Smyth and Don Henley.-History:...
" peaked at number 2 in the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
, and was certified gold
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...
for sales of 500,000. The album, also certified gold, featured an additional US Top 40 hit with "No Mistakes" and also spawned the minor hit "I Should Be Laughing". Smyth had previously recorded with Henley as a backing singer on several songs on his albums Building The Perfect Beast
Building the Perfect Beast
Building the Perfect Beast is the second album by Don Henley, released in 1984. The album became a huge hit for Henley, forming him into a solo star. The album reached #13 on the charts and sold 3 million copies. It also released four Top 40 singles including "The Boys Of Summer" which won Henley...
and The End of the Innocence
The End of the Innocence
Released in 1989, The End of the Innocence is the third album by Don Henley. It is his best selling album, selling over 6 million copies in the United States, peaking at #8. The album released three Top 40 singles "The End of the Innocence", "The Heart of the Matter", and "The Last Worthless...
.
Smyth subsequently co-wrote the 1994 song "Look What Love Has Done", nominated for a Grammy
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
and an Academy Award after its inclusion in the soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
to the feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
Junior
Junior (film)
Junior is a 1994 American comedy film written by Kevin Wade and Chris Conrad and directed by Ivan Reitman. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as a scientist who undergoes a male pregnancy as part of a scientific experiment.-Plot:...
. Further soundtrack commissions resulted in her penning the theme tune, "Wish I Were You", to the 1998 feature film Armageddon. (Her husband, John McEnroe, claims in his autobiography 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.)
Reunited with Scandal
In 2004, VH1VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
recruited Smyth and the surviving members of Scandal for a Bands Reunited
Bands Reunited
Bands Reunited is a television program produced by VH1 in 2004. Hosted by Aamer Haleem, the show documented the attempted reuniting of a formerly popular musical ensemble for a special concert in either London or Los Angeles....
episode, resulting in a small reunion tour of concerts on the United States East Coast in 2005. The next year, Columbia/Legacy released a new Scandal compilation
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
CD
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
as part of the We Are The 80's series. The 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
A-side and B-side
A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...
of "Goodbye To You". In July 2008, Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
reported the upcoming release of new music by the band (featuring original members Keith Mack and Benjy King). They debuted their first single as a band ("Hard For You To Love Me", also referred to as "Make It Hard") in over 24 years on January 17, 2009 in Ridgefield, Connecticut to a standing ovation. Smyth stated the song would be available to purchase digitally in February 2009, with the new EP to follow shortly. However, the single was delayed as the EP will be expanded to a full length album, according to Patty Smyth's blog in May 2009.
Personal life
Smyth dated punkPunk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
Richard Hell
Richard Hell
Richard Hell is a singer, songwriter, bass guitarist, and writer.Richard Hell was an innovator of punk music and fashion. He was one of the first to spike his hair and wear torn, cut and drawn-on shirts, often held together with safety pins...
for two years; their daughter, Ruby, was born in 1985. In April 1997, Smyth married former tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
star John McEnroe. They presently live in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and have six children between them. Sean, Kevin, and Emily are children from McEnroe's previous marriage to Tatum O'Neal
Tatum O'Neal
Tatum Beatrice O'Neal is an American actress best known for her film work as a child actress in the 1970s. She is the youngest to win a competitive Academy Award, at the age of 10, which she won for her performance as Addie Loggins in Paper Moon opposite her father Ryan O'Neal...
. Ruby is from her relationship with Hell, and Smyth and McEnroe's daughters in common are Anna and Ava.
Patty is a fan of the TV series Aqua Teen Hunger Force
Aqua Teen Hunger Force
Aqua Teen Hunger Force , retitled Aqua Unit Patrol Squad 1 in 2011, is an American animated television series on Cartoon Network late night programing block, Adult Swim, as well as Teletoon's Teletoon at Night block and later G4 Canada's ADd block in Canada...
and has been featured as a DVD commentator for the Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie.
Albums
- Never EnoughNever Enough (Patty Smyth album)Never Enough is the debut album by former Scandal frontwoman Patty Smyth. It was released in 1987 on Columbia Records three years after the band's breakup in 1984....
(1987) #66 U.S. - Patty SmythPatty Smyth (album)Patty Smyth is the second solo studio album by rock singer-songwriter Patty Smyth, formely of Scandal, which went gold, as a result of the popularity of its first single, "Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough", which peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and also went Gold...
(1992) #47 U.S. - Greatest Hits – Featuring Scandal (1998)
Singles
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Album | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
US Main | US AC Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks The Adult Contemporary chart is a weekly chart published in Billboard magazine that lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary and "lite-pop" radio stations in the United States... |
UK UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
CAN Canadian Singles Chart The Canadian Singles Chart is currently compiled by the U.S.-based music sales tracking company, Nielsen SoundScan . The chart is compiled every Wednesday, and is published by Jam! Canoe on Thursdays.... |
CAN AC | ||||
| 1987 | "Never Enough" | 61 | 4 | — | — | — | — | Never Enough | |
| "Downtown Train Downtown Train "Downtown Train" is a song by Tom Waits released on his album Rain Dogs in 1985.The promo video for the song was directed by Jean-Baptiste Mondino and features the boxer Jake LaMotta.... " |
95 | 40 | — | — | — | — | |||
| "Isn't It Enough" | — | 26 | — | — | — | — | |||
| 1992 | "Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough "Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough" is the title of a 1992 rock ballad performed as a duet by the American singers Patty Smyth and Don Henley.-History:... " (with Don Henley Don Henley Donald Hugh "Don" Henley is an American singer, songwriter and drummer, best known as a founding member of the Eagles before launching a successful solo career. Henley was the drummer and lead vocalist for the Eagles from 1971–1980, when the band broke up... ) |
2 | — | 1 | 22 | 1 | 2 | Patty Smyth | |
| "No Mistakes" | 33 | — | 4 | — | — | — | |||
| 1993 | "I Should Be Laughing" | 86 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Shine" | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| 1994 | "Look What Love Has Done" | 106 | — | 23 | — | — | — | Non-album song | |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | |||||||||