Debbie Harry


Deborah Ann Harry is an American singer, songwriter, model and actress, known as the lead singer of the new wave band Blondie. Her recordings with the band reached number one in the U.S. and UK charts on many occasions from 1979 to 2017.
Born in Miami, Florida, Harry was adopted as an infant and raised in Hawthorne, New Jersey. After attending college, she worked various jobs, including as a secretary, dancer, and Playboy Bunny, before breaking through in the music industry. Harry co-formed Blondie in 1974 in New York City. The band released their eponymous debut album in 1976, and released a further three albums between then and 1979, including Parallel Lines, which spawned six singles, including "Heart of Glass". Their fifth record, Autoamerican, afforded Harry and the band further attention, spawning such hits as a cover of "The Tide Is High", and "Rapture", the latter of which is considered the first rap song to chart at number one in the United States.
In 1981, Harry released her debut solo album, KooKoo, and, during a hiatus of Blondie, embarked on an acting career, appearing in lead roles in the neo-noir Union City and in David Cronenberg's body horror film Videodrome. She released her second solo album, Rockbird, in 1986, and subsequently starred in John Waters's cult dance film Hairspray. Harry went on to release two more solo albums between then and 1993, after which she returned to film with roles in a John Carpenter-directed segment of the horror film Body Bags, and in the drama Heavy.
Blondie reunited in the late 1990s, releasing No Exit, followed by The Curse of Blondie. Harry continued to appear in independent films throughout the 2000s, including Deuces Wild, My Life Without Me and Eulogy. With Blondie, she released the group's ninth studio album, Panic of Girls, in 2011, followed by Ghosts of Download. The band's eleventh studio album, 2017's Pollinator, charted at number 4 in the United Kingdom.

Life and career

1945–1965: Early life

Harry was born Angela Trimble on July 1, 1945 in Miami, Florida. At the age of three months, she was adopted by Richard Harry and Catherine Harry, gift shop proprietors in Hawthorne, New Jersey, and renamed Deborah Ann Harry. Harry learned of her adoption at four years old, and in the late 1980s, located her birth mother, a concert pianist, who chose to not establish a relationship with her. In her memoir, Harry recalled being a tomboy, spending much of her childhood playing in the woods adjacent to her home in Hawthorne.
Harry attended Hawthorne High School, graduating in 1963. She graduated from Centenary College in Hackettstown, New Jersey with an Associate of Arts degree in 1965. Before beginning her singing career, she moved to New York City in the late 1960s, and worked there as a secretary at BBC Radio's office for one year. Later, she was a waitress at Max's Kansas City, a go-go dancer in a discothèque in Union City, New Jersey, and a Playboy Bunny.

1966–1975: Early projects; formation of Blondie

In the late 1960s, Harry began her musical career as a backing singer for the folk rock group The Wind in the Willows, which released an eponymous album in 1968 on Capitol Records.
In 1974, Harry joined the Stilettoes with Elda Gentile and Amanda Jones. Shortly thereafter, the band added guitarist Chris Stein, who became her boyfriend. In her memoir, Face It, Harry describes having been raped at knifepoint during a burglary of the home she shared with Stein.
After leaving the Stilettoes, Harry and Stein formed Angel and the Snake with Tish Bellomo and Snooky Bellomo. Shortly thereafter, Harry and Stein formed Blondie, named after the catcall men often directed at Harry after she bleached her hair blonde. The band quickly became regulars at Max's Kansas City and CBGB in New York City.

1976–1980: Global success

With her beauty, daring choice of clothing, and two-tone bleached-blonde hair, Harry quickly became a punk icon.
In June 1979, Blondie was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone. Harry's persona, combining cool sexuality with streetwise style, became so closely associated with the group's name that many came to believe "Blondie" was the singer's name. The difference between the individual Harry and the band Blondie was emphasized by a "Blondie is a group" button campaign by the band in 1979.
Blondie released their self-titled debut album in 1976; it peaked at in Australia and in the United Kingdom. Their second album, Plastic Letters, garnered some success outside the United States, but their third album, Parallel Lines, was a worldwide hit and catapulted the group to international success. It included the global hit single "Heart of Glass". Riding the crest of disco's domination, the track made in the US and sold nearly two million copies. It also reached in the UK and was the second highest-selling single of 1979. The band's success continued with the release of the platinum-selling Eat to the Beat album in 1979.
Autoamerican was released in 1980. Blondie had further hits with "Call Me" , "Atomic" , "The Tide Is High", and "Rapture".
During this time, both Harry and Stein befriended graffiti artist Fab Five Freddy, who introduced them to the emerging hip-hop scene in the Bronx. Freddy is mentioned in "Rapture" but is played by Jean-Michel Basquiat in the video. Through Fab Five Freddy they were also able to connect with Grandmaster Flash. Their song ‘Rapture’ became first rap-oriented song to reach #1 in the US Billboard charts.
Harry was immortalized by Andy Warhol in 1980, who produced a number of artworks of her image from a single photoshoot at the Factory. The artist created a small series of four acrylic and silkscreen ink on canvas portraits of the star in different colors, as well as Polaroids and a small number of rare silver gelatin prints from the shoot. Stein was also present that day to capture Warhol photographing Harry in a series of his own photographs, exhibited in 2013 in London.
Her collaboration and friendship with Warhol continued and she was his first guest on the MTV show Andy Warhol's Fifteen Minutes. The first episode opened with Harry announcing the theme: "Sex, Vegetables, Brothers and Sisters".
Harry said of her relationship with Warhol, "I think the best thing taught me was always to be open to new things, new music, new style, new bands, new technology and just go with it. Never get mired in the past and always accept new things whatever age you are."

1981–1987: Solo work and acting

In 1981, Harry issued a press release to clarify that her name was not "Debbie Blondie" or "Debbie Harry" but rather Deborah Harry, though Harry later described her character in the band as being named "Blondie", as in this quote from the No Exit tour book:
Harry began her solo career with the album KooKoo. Produced by Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards of Chic, the album peaked at in the US and in the UK; and was later certified gold in the US and silver in the UK. The album's cover art was controversial, and many stores refused to stock it. "Backfired", the first single from the album, had a video directed by H.R. Giger. The single reached on the Billboard Hot 100, on the Hot Dance Club Songs, and on the UK Singles Chart. "The Jam Was Moving" was lifted as the second single and peaked at No. 82 in the US.
After a year-long hiatus, Blondie regrouped and released their sixth studio album, The Hunter. The album was not as successful as their previous works, and a world tour was cut short due to slow ticket sales. It was around this time that Stein also fell seriously ill with the rare autoimmune disease pemphigus. His illness, along with declining record sales and internal struggles, caused the band to split up.
In June 1982 Harry contributed backing vocals to The Gun Club's second album Miami, being credited as 'D.H. Lawrence Jr' while Chris Stein also produced the record, and is credited as 'bongos' and 'cover photos/design'. The Gun Club's singer Jeffrey Lee Pierce was an ardent fan, emulating Harry's hairstyle and founding the West Coast Blondie Fan Club, before becoming friends with the band in New York.
After Blondie split up in 1982, Harry's solo output slowed down as she cared for ailing partner Chris Stein. She released the single "Rush Rush" in 1983, but it was commercially unsuccessful. The same year, Harry had a leading role in David Cronenberg's body horror film Videodrome, playing the sadomasochistic lover of a television producer who uncovers an underground video output of snuff films. Harry received rave reviews for her performance in the film. Critic Howard Hampton noted in a retrospective that Harry "carries herself with the wry, burned-out, but still titillated instincts of a voyager buying a one-way ticket for the outer limits. A vivid, smallish part can either anchor or undo a risky, conceptually spiky film like David Cronenberg's viscerally deranged phantasia: Harry's presence grounds it in acute, self-aware reality."
A new single, "Feel The Spin", was released as a limited 12" single in 1985, but it was unsuccessful. In 1986, Harry released her second solo album, called Rockbird, which peaked at in the US, and in the UK. The single "French Kissin' in the USA" gave Harry her only UK solo top 10 hit and became a moderate US hit. Other singles released from the album were "Free to Fall" and "In Love with Love", which hit on the US Dance Charts and was released with several remixes.
In 1987, Harry starred opposite Alec Baldwin in the comedy mystery film Forever, Lulu, playing the title character.

1988–1996: Blondie reunion, solo, and further acting

"Liar, Liar" was recorded by Harry for the soundtrack album Married to the Mob in 1988 and was produced by Mike Chapman. It was their first collaboration since the 1982 Blondie album The Hunter. The same year, Harry starred as Velma Von Tussle in John Waters's satirical dance film Hairspray.
Her next solo venture was the album Def, Dumb and Blonde in 1989. At this point Harry reverted from "Debbie" to "Deborah" as her professional name. The first single "I Want That Man" was a hit in Europe and Australia and on the US Modern Rock Charts. The success of the single propelled the album to on the UK chart, where it earned a silver disc. However, with little promotion from her record company in the US, it peaked at. She followed this up with the ballad "Brite Side" and the club hit "Sweet and Low". "Maybe for Sure", a reworked version of "Angel's Song" she'd recorded for the Rock and Rule animated film, was the fourth single released from the album in June 1990 to coincide with a UK tour. The track "Kiss It Better" was also a Top 15 Modern Rock single in the US.
Harry also appeared in film during this time, with a supporting part in '. From 1989 to 1991, Harry toured extensively across the world with former Blondie guitarist Chris Stein, Underworld's Karl Hyde, and future Blondie bassist Leigh Foxx. In July 1991 she played Wembley Stadium, supporting INXS. In 1991, Chrysalis released a new "best of" compilation in Europe entitled ', containing hits with Blondie as well as her solo hits. The collection reached in the UK album chart and earned a gold disc. The album also included her duet with Iggy Pop of the Cole Porter song "Well, Did You Evah!" from the 1990 Red Hot + Blue AIDS charity album.
While recording her fourth album, Debravation, in 1992, Harry collaborated with German post-punk band Die Haut on the track "Don't Cross My Mind" and released the song "Prelude to a Kiss" on the soundtrack to the film of the same name. She also released a cover of "Summertime Blues" from the soundtrack to the film That Night in Australia. Devotion was ultimately released in July 1993. The album's first single was "I Can See Clearly", which peaked at in the UK and on the US dance charts. This was followed by "Strike Me Pink" in September. Controversy surrounded the latter track's promotional video, which featured a man drowning in a water tank, resulting in its being banned. US editions of the album feature two additional tracks recorded with prerecorded music by R.E.M.: "Tear Drops" and a cover of Skeeter Davis's 1961 hit "My Last Date ". Also in 1993, Harry had a supporting role in a John Carpenter-directed segment of the anthology horror film Body Bags.
In November 1993, Harry toured the UK with Stein, guitarist Peter Min, bassist Greta Brinkman, and drummer James Murphy. The set list of the Debravation Tour featured an offbeat selection of Harry material including the previously unreleased track "Close Your Eyes" and "Ordinary Bummer". Tentative plans to record these shows and release them as a live double CD never came to fruition. However, covers of the Rolling Stones' "Wild Horses" and David Oliver's "Love TKO" exist as bootlegs. In early 1994, Harry took the Debravation tour to the US. In the UK, Harry's long tenure with Chrysalis Records also came to an end after Debravation lackluster sales, but the label released all of Blondie's albums and Harry's KooKoo album as remastered editions with bonus tracks.
In the mid 1990s, Harry worked as a guest vocalist on several projects: She joined the avant-garde jazz ensemble the Jazz Passengers in 1994, appearing on their album In Love. Harry also reunited with Blondie keyboardist Jimmy Destri for a cover of Otis Blackwell's "Don't Be Cruel" for the 1995 album Brace Yourself! A Tribute to Otis Blackwell. During this period, she also recorded a duet with actor Robert Jacks titled "Der Einziger Weg ", a theme for the horror film , which was recorded in German and in English. Harry also served as a vocalist in the Talking Heads' side project the Heads' 1996 release No Talking, Just Head, followed by the Jazz Passengers' Individually Twisted. The same year, she collaborated with Jazz Passengers' Bill Ware in his side project Groove Thing, singing lead vocals on the club hit "Command and Obey". Another Jazz Passengers collaboration, "The City in the Sea", appeared on the Edgar Allan Poe tribute album Closed on Account of Rabies.
In film, Harry co-starred with Pruitt Taylor Vince and Liv Tyler in James Mangold's directorial debut Heavy, playing a misanthropic waitress at an upstate New York restaurant. The following year, she filmed Mangold's Cop Land, a neo-noir thriller in which she portrayed a bartender.

1997–2007: Blondie reformation and solo output

In 1997, Blondie began working together again for the first time in 15 years. The four original members began sessions for what would become Blondie's seventh studio album, No Exit. The lead single from the album, "Maria", debuted at in the UK, giving Blondie their sixth UK hit. "Maria" also reached in 14 different countries, the top 10 on the US Dance Charts, and Top 20 on the US Adult Top 40 Charts. No Exit debuted at in the UK and in the US.
Harry appears on the 2001 Bill Ware album Vibes 4 singing the track "Me and You" as well as on former Police guitarist Andy Summers's album Peggy's Blue Skylight on the track "Weird Nightmare". A techno cover of Stan Jones' "Ghost Riders in the Sky" was featured on the soundtrack to the 1998 film Three Businessmen, and was available on her website to download. Harry sings on two tracks on Andrea Griminelli's Cinema Italiano project: "You'll Come to Me" and "When Love Comes By", as well as on a tribute album reinterpreting the music of Harold Arlen, on which she sings the title track "Stormy Weather". In May 2002, she accompanied the Jazz Passengers and the BBC Concert Orchestra in a performance of her jazz material at the Barbican Centre in London. In 2003, she was featured vocalist on the song "Uncontrollable Love" by DJ duo Blow-Up. She also sang on the version of "Waltzing Matilda" recorded by Dan Zanes and Friends, released on the 2003 album House Party. The same year, Blondie released the album The Curse of Blondie.
In 2006, Harry started work in New York City on her fifth solo album, Necessary Evil. Working with production duo Super Buddha, the first music to surface in was a hip-hop track titled "Dirty and Deep" in which she spoke out against rapper Lil' Kim's incarceration. Throughout 2006, a number of new tracks surfaced on Harry's Myspace page, including "Charm Alarm", "Deep End", "Love with a Vengeance", "School for Scandal", and "Necessary Evil", as well as duets she recorded with Miss Guy, "God Save New York" and "New York Groove". A streaming version of the lead single, "Two Times Blue", was added to Harry's Myspace page in May 2007. On June 6, 2007, a downloadable version was released via her official website.
In 2007, she delineated the different personae to an interviewer who asked why she played only solo music on the 2007 True Colors World Tour with Cyndi Lauper: "I've put together a new trio with no Blondie members in it. I really want to make a clear definition between Debbie's solo projects and Blondie, and I hope that the audience can appreciate that and also appreciate this other material."
Harry's fifth solo album, Necessary Evil, was released after she completed the True Colors World Tour. The first single, "Two Times Blue", peaked at on the US Dance Club Play chart. The album peaked at in the UK and in the US Billboard Top Independent Albums chart. Harry performed "Two Times Blue" on various talk shows to promote the album. She also started a 22-date US tour on November 8, lasting until December 9, playing small venues and clubs across the country. On January 18, 2008, an official music video for "If I Had You" was released.

2008–present: Further musical endeavors

Harry contributed to Fall Out Boy's 2008 album Folie à Deux, singing on the chorus of the album's closer "West Coast Smoker". In 2010, Harry began a series recordings for The Jeffrey Lee Pierce Sessions Project. Blondie released their ninth studio album, Panic of Girls, in July 2011.
In 2014, Harry made a guest appearance with Arcade Fire at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, The following month, Blondie released their tenth studio album Ghosts of Download. In 2015, Blondie members Debbie Harry and Chris Stein made a guest appearance alongside The Gregory Brothers in an episode of Songify the News, and they collaborated again to parody the United States presidential election debates, 2016. In March 2015, Harry held a residency of several weeks at the Café Carlyle in New York.
Blondie's eleventh studio album, Pollinator, was released in May 2017, and debuted at in the UK. In October 2019, Harry released a memoir, Face It, through Dey Street Books. In 2020, Harry cameoed on the third episode of the romantic comedy web television series High Fidelity.

Personal life

Harry lives part of the year in Monmouth County, New Jersey together with her four dogs. Harry was in a relationship with Blondie guitarist Chris Stein but they split in 1989. She admitted they were both drug users during their relationship but are now clean after spending time in a rehabilitation clinic. Harry is godmother to Stein's two daughters.
In 2014, Harry revealed that she had had relationships with women in her youth.
In her memoir, Face It, published in October 2019, Harry describes having been raped at knifepoint during a burglary of the home she shared with Stein. She also claimed in Face It that during the early 1970s she was lured into a car driven by serial killer Ted Bundy in New York City, but escaped. Harry's description of the white vehicle stripped on the inside and missing the passenger door handle matched the 1968 VW Bundy was driving, however, authorities believed him to be in Florida at the time. Ann Rule, an author of a book on Bundy, stated that erroneous claims of Bundy abductions are not uncommon.

Philanthropy

In a 2011 interview, Harry said that "After witnessing Elton John and his tireless efforts against HIV/AIDS", she had been inspired to put philanthropy as her top priority. She said, "These things are important to my life now. I have the privilege of being able to get involved, so I do. I applaud people like Elton John, who have used their position to do so much good." Some of Harry's preferred charities include those devoted to fighting cancer and endometriosis.

Discography

Studio albums
Compilations and other albums