Patty Smyth

She was married to American singer-songwriter, bass guitarist, and writer Richard Hell from 1985 to 1987. She has a daughter, Ruby, with him (born in 1985).

In 1993, she met John McEnroe and on December 27, 1995, their first daughter, Anna, was born. On May 23, 1997, she married McEnroe and their second daughter, Ava, was born on March 28, 1999.

Patricia Smyth was born on June 26, 1957, in New York City, US, to Betty and George Smyth. Her father was a construction worker, while her mother was a night club owner. Betty also worked as a trapeze artist and served as the manager of noted rock'n'roll guitarist Link Wray. Smyth’s parents later divorced. She grew up in the Brooklyn neighbourhood Gerritsen Beach. He has an elder sister named Elizabeth.

When she was twelve, Smyth fell on the wrong side of the law and was arrested a couple of times. These arrests were made on the grounds of harassing an officer, and waiting on a street corner to purchase narcotics.

At age fifteen, she did her first music gig at the Folk City in New York City when she sang a song by British singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Cat Stevens. She also played musical sets at ‘Catch A Rising Star’ comedy club. While struggling with her music endeavours, she sustained herself by working as a waitress in a steak house. She also came up with her first real band, ‘Patty and the Planets.’

While working as a waitress in a steak house sometime in the early 1980s, she received a call from guitarist Zack Smith, which led Smyth to join the band ‘Scandal’ in 1981. The American rock band was formed by Zack the same year in New York City.

Smyth gained initial recognition and national attention as the lead vocalist of ‘Scandal’ that garnered considerable success in its early years. The self-titled debut EP of the band, released in 1982, emerged as the biggest selling EP released by Columbia Records. One of its tracks, ‘Goodbye to You,’ peaked at #5 on Billboard's Album Rock play list.

The success of the ‘Scandal’ EP was followed by that of the debut and the only full-length album of the band titled ‘Warrior.’ Released on August 21, 1984, by Columbia Records, the album peaked at #17 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 200 album charts while its lead single, ‘The Warrior,’ won a ‘BMI Airplay Award’ and peaked at the ‘Canadian RPM Top Singles’ ‘US Billboard Album Rock Tracks’ charts, and at #7 on the ‘US Billboard Hot 100’ chart.

Although Smyth’s fame surged with the success of the band, which by now had spawned charted hit tracks like ‘Love's Got a Line on You’ (1983) and ‘Hands Tied’ (1984), but internal differences among band members resulted in the disbanding of ‘Scandal’ in 1985.

She received an offer to replace David Lee Roth as the lead vocalist of American hard rock band, ‘Van Halen,’ as she was eight months pregnant.