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Patty Smyth, best known for her hits “Goodbye to You" and “The Warrior” -- is playing new and classic material with Scandal, the band she started with.
Smyth and Scandal will perform at The Ridgefield Playhouse at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 4.
Spurred by a 2004 reunion on VH1’s “Bands Reunited,” the band regrouped, with two original members — guitarist Keith Mack and keyboardist Benjy King — as well as a new rhythm section, bassist Tom Welsch and drummer Eran Asias.
“This is probably the best band I’ve ever been in,” said Smyth, who has been touring and writing new material.
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 Jan. 17, 2009 in Ridgefield.
As for her current revival, Smyth said, “It’s just these four guys and I out there seriously kicking some ass and having fun. We’re so tight, if I fell down a flight of stairs, they would follow me and we’d all land on our feet. It’s like flying. I feel like I’m at the top of my game, and totally in my element. It’s an unbelievable joy.”
From her hits with Scandal to her solo hits including “Sometimes Love Just Ain’t Enough” and “Look What Love Has Done,” Smyth has always been, at heart, a rock and roll chick.
Having grown up in Greenwich Village skipping school and listening to the likes of Janis Joplin at her mother’s various nightclubs -- including the Gaslight and Café Wah -- Smyth picked up the guitar at 15 and performed at New York's Folk City. It wasn’t long before she was appearing in places like Catch A Rising Star, playing a set between comedians like Chris Rock and Jerry Seinfeld.
Scandal burst onto the music scene in 1982 with a best-selling EP. The group’s first full-length album, "The Warrior," released in 1984, climbed into the Top 20 on the sales chart, eventually earning Platinum status, with more than a million in sales.
Smyth’s 1992 solo album turned out to be a career peak. “Sometimes Love Just Ain’t Enough,” a song Smyth wrote that featured a performance by Don Henley, became her biggest hit ever.
Her song “Look What Love Has Done,” the theme from the hit Arnold Schwarzenegger/Danny DeVito comedy movie, "Junior," was nominated for an Oscar, Golden Globe and a Grammy Award.
For tickets ($47.50) call or visit the box office, 203-438-5795 or go online at ridgefieldplayhouse.org. The Ridgefield Playhouse is a non-profit performing arts center at 80 East Ridge, parallel to Main Street in Ridgefield.
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