Chris Stein | |
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 Stein atSXSW in 2014 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | Christopher Stein (1950-01-05)January 5, 1950 (age 76) Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
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| Years active | 1970s–present |
| Member of | Blondie |
Spouse | |
| Website | chrisstein.nyc |
Christopher Stein (born January 5, 1950) is an American musician and songwriter known as the co-founder and guitarist of thenew wave bandBlondie.[1] He is also a producer and performer for the classic soundtrack of the 1982hip hop filmWild Style, and writer of the soundtrack for the 1980 filmUnion City,[2] as well as an accomplished photographer.
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In 1973, Stein became the guitarist of the Stillettoes and began a romantic relationship withDebbie Harry, one of the singers. In the summer of 1974, Stein, Harry, and the band's rhythm section left to start their own group which they eventually called Blondie. They soon became fixtures in thepunk andnew wave scene centered aroundCBGB andMax's Kansas City, and by the end of the decade achieved international stardom. Blondie broke up in 1982, but reformed in 1997 and has been active off and on ever since. In addition to being the sole writer of the Blondie song "Sunday Girl", Stein co-wrote numerous hits with Harry, including "Heart of Glass", "Dreaming", "Island of Lost Souls", "Rapture", and "Rip Her to Shreds". Stein also ran the Animal Records label between 1982 and 1984.[3][4]
In 2015, Blondie members Debbie Harry and Chris Stein made a guest appearance alongsideThe Gregory Brothers in an episode ofSongify the News, and they collaborated again to parody the2016 United States presidential election debates.[5][6]
A photographer, Stein documented the early New York City punk music scene, the visual allure of Debbie Harry[7] andBlondie, and his collaborations with artists includingAndy Warhol andH.R. Giger.[8] Stein's photography was published in September 2014 by Rizzoli in his book,Chris Stein / Negative: Me, Blondie, and the Advent of Punk.[9][10] Stein was a contributing photographer toPunk magazine between 1976 and 1979 - often using it to promote Blondie.
The bookNegative: Me, Blondie and the Advent of Punk was launched with in an exhibition curated by Jeffrey Deitch at the Chelsea Hotel's Storefront Gallery in New York City alongside images by the likes of Mick Rock, Bob Gruen, Annie Leibovitz and Robert Mapplethorpe, which also coincided with the fortieth anniversary of the formation of Blondie.[11] There was also an exhibition[12] atSomerset House in London. Some of the photographs inNegative have also been published in the Debbie Harry, Chris Stein andVictor Bockris co-authored volumeMaking Tracks: The Rise of Blondie, first published by Elm Tree, London (1982).Making Tracks was later reissued by Da Capo, New York (1998).
Stein's photography has also been shown in an exhibition at the Morrison Hotel Gallery, West Hollywood in August 2013;[13] in a joint exhibition withEddie Duggan at theUniversity of Suffolk (April–May 2017), entitledA la recherche du punk perdu,[14] and in an exhibition in a Blondie 'pop-up' shop in London's Camden Market,[15] linked to the 2017 Blondie performance at theRoundhouse.
A second book of Stein's photography,H.R. Giger: Debbie Harry Metamorphosis: Creating the Visual Concept for KooKoo, chronicling the collaboration between himself, Debbie Harry, and H.R. Giger for Harry's 1981 solo album was published by Titan Books on April 18, 2023.[16]
Stein authored a third book,Under a Rock, a memoir that he wrote himself over the course of a few years.[17] It was published on June 11, 2024, by St. Martin's Press, an imprint of Macmillan Publishing.[18]
Stein was born to Jewish parents inBrooklyn, New York, on January 5, 1950.[19] He grew up in theMidwood section of Brooklyn and attendedMidwood High School in Brooklyn, but he was expelled for his long hair.[20][21] Stein was co-host ofTV Party, a public-access television cable TV show in New York City, that ran from 1978 to 1982.[22] In 1983, Stein was diagnosed withpemphigus vulgaris, a rareautoimmune disease of the skin. He was cared for by his then-partnerDebbie Harry, and he has since regained normal function. Stein had developed a mild form of the disease, and was able to control it with a program of steroids.[23]
While in Blondie, Stein and Harry maintained a romantic relationship but never married. The couple went their separate ways in 1985, but have continued to work together on a professional basis.[24] In 1999, Stein married actress Barbara Sicuranza, with whom he has two daughters.In July 2023, Stein said that one of their daughters had died in May. She had struggled with substance abuse, and overdosed.[25][26]
Stein has not toured with Blondie since 2019 due to heart issues, but has remained active with the band. About his health condition, he stated: "I've been dealing with a dumbass condition calledAtrial Fibrillation or AFib which is irregular heartbeats and combined with the meds I take for it I'm too fatigued to deal."[27]
