Debbie Harry | |
|---|---|
 Harry in 1977 | |
| Born | Angela Trimble (1945-07-01)July 1, 1945 (age 79) Miami, Florida, U.S. |
| Other names | Deborah Ann Harry |
| Education | Centenary College (AA) |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1966–present |
| Musical career | |
| Origin | New York City, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Instruments | Vocals |
| Labels | |
| Member of | Blondie |
| Formerly of | |
Musical artist | |
Deborah Ann Harry (bornAngela Trimble; July 1, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter and actress, best known as the lead vocalist of the bandBlondie. Four of her songs with the band reachedNo. 1 on the US charts between 1979 and 1981.
Born in Miami, Florida, Harry was adopted as an infant and raised inHawthorne, New Jersey. After college she worked various jobs—as a dancer, aPlayboy Bunny, and a secretary (including at the BBC in New York)—before her breakthrough in the music industry. She co-formed Blondie in 1974 in New York City. The band released itseponymous debut studio album in 1976 and released three more studio albums between then and 1979, includingParallel Lines, which spawned six singles, including "Heart of Glass". Their fifth studio album,Autoamerican (1980), produced hits including a cover of "The Tide Is High", and "Rapture", which is considered the first rap song to chart at number one in the United States.[2]
Harry released her debut solo studio album,KooKoo, in 1981. During a Blondie hiatus, she embarked on an acting career, appearing in lead roles in the neo-noirUnion City (1980) and inDavid Cronenberg'sbody horror filmVideodrome (1983). She released her second solo studio album, 1986'sRockbird, and starred inJohn Waters's cult dance filmHairspray (1988). She released two more solo albums between then and 1993, before returning to film with roles in aJohn Carpenter-directed segment of the horror filmBody Bags (1993), and in the dramaHeavy (1995).
Blondie reunited in the late 1990s, releasingNo Exit (1999), followed byThe Curse of Blondie (2003). Harry continued to appear in independent films throughout the 2000s, includingDeuces Wild (2002),My Life Without Me andSpun (2003), andElegy (2008). With Blondie, she released the group's ninth studio album,Panic of Girls, in 2011, followed byGhosts of Download (2014). The band's eleventh studio album, 2017'sPollinator, charted at number 4 in the United Kingdom.
Harry was born Angela Trimble on July 1, 1945, in Miami, Florida.[3] At the age of three months, she was adopted by Catherine (née Peters) and Richard Harry,[4] gift shop proprietors inHawthorne, New Jersey, and renamed Deborah Ann Harry. She is ofScottish ancestry and her biological parents' surnames were Trimble and Mackenzie.[5] Harry learned of her adoption at four years old. At first, she decided against locating her birth parents,[6] but nonetheless, in the late 1980s,[7] located her birth mother, a concert pianist, who chose not to establish a relationship with Harry.[8] In her memoir, she recalls being a tomboy, spending much of her childhood playing in the woods adjacent to her home.[9]
Harry attendedHawthorne High School, where she was voted "Best Looking", graduating in 1963.[10] She graduated fromCentenary College inHackettstown, New Jersey, with an Associate of Arts degree in 1965.[11] Before beginning her singing career, she moved to New York City in the late 1960s, and worked there as a secretary atBBC Radio's office for one year.[12] Later, she was a waitress atMax's Kansas City,[13] ago-go dancer in adiscothèque inUnion City, New Jersey,[14] and aPlayboy Bunny.[15]
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In the late 1960s, Harry began her musical career as a backing singer for thefolk rock groupThe Wind in the Willows,[16] which released an eponymous album in 1968 onCapitol Records.[17]
In 1973, Harry joined The Stilettos withElda Gentile and Amanda Jones. Shortly thereafter, the band added guitaristChris Stein, who became her boyfriend.[18][19] In her memoir,Face It, Harry describes having beenraped at knifepoint during a burglary of the home she shared with Stein.[20]
In 1974 Harry and Stein left the Stilettos (along with the band's bassist and drummer) and formed Angel and the Snake with Tish Bellomo and Snooky Bellomo. Shortly thereafter, they changed the name of the band toBlondie, named after the catcall men often directed at Harry after she bleached her hairblonde.[21] The band quickly became regulars at Max's Kansas City andCBGB in New York City.[13]
With her beauty, daring choice of clothing, and two-tone bleached-blonde hair, Harry quickly became a punk icon.[22][23]
Blondie released theirself-titled debut album in 1976; it peaked atNo. 14 in Australia and (later, in 1979)No. 75 in the United Kingdom.[24] Their second album,Plastic Letters, garnered some success outside the United States,[25] but their third album,Parallel Lines (1978), was a worldwide hit and catapulted the group to international success.[26] It included the global hit single "Heart of Glass". Riding the crest of disco's domination, the track madeNo. 1 in the US and sold nearly two million copies. It also reachedNo. 1 in the UK and was the second highest-selling single of 1979.
In June 1979, Blondie was featured on the cover ofRolling 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.[27] The band's success continued with the release of the platinum-sellingEat to the Beat album (UKNo. 1, USNo. 17) in September.[28]
Autoamerican (UKNo. 3, USNo. 7) was released in 1980. Blondie had furtherNo. 1 hits with "Call Me" (American Gigolo soundtrack) (US and UKNo. 1), "Atomic" (Eat to the Beat album) (UKNo. 1), "The Tide Is High" (US and UKNo. 1), and "Rapture" (USNo. 1).
During this time, both Harry and Stein befriendedgraffiti artistFab Five Freddy, who introduced them to the emerging hip-hop scene in the Bronx. Freddy is mentioned in "Rapture".[29] Through Fab Five Freddy they were also able to connect withGrandmaster Flash[30] who is played byJean-Michel Basquiat[31] in the video.[29] "Rapture" became the first rap-oriented song to reachNo. 1 in the USBillboard charts.[32] Grandmaster Flash said Harry "opened up so many doors for hip hop" by mentioning him in Rapture.[33]
Harry was immortalized byAndy Warhol in 1980, who produced a number of artworks of her image from a single photoshoot atthe 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 raresilver 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 showAndy Warhol's Fifteen Minutes. The first episode opened with Harry announcing the theme: "Sex, Vegetables, Brothers and Sisters".[34]
Harry said of her relationship with Warhol, "I think the best thing [Andy Warhol] 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."[35]
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 theNo Exit tour book:
Hi, it's Deb. You know, when I woke up this morning I had a realization about myself. I was always Blondie. People always called me Blondie, ever since I was a little kid. What I realized is that at some point I becameDirty Harry. I couldn't be Blondie anymore, so I became Dirty Harry.[36]
Harry began her solo career with the albumKooKoo (1981). Produced byNile Rodgers andBernard Edwards ofChic, the album peaked atNo. 25 in the US andNo. 6 in the UK;[37] and was later certified gold in the US and silver in the UK. The album's cover art was controversial, showing Harry apparently with skewers through her face, and many stores refused to stock it.[38] "Backfired", the first single from the album, had a video directed byH.R. Giger (who also created the album's front cover featuring Harry's face with metal skewers through it). The single reachedNo. 43 on theBillboard Hot 100,No. 29 on theHot Dance Club Songs, andNo. 32 on the UK Singles Chart.[37] "The Jam Was Moving" was lifted as the second single and peaked at No. 82 in the US. In the same year (1981) Harry appeared in the movie "Downtown 81" where Jean-Michel Basquiat played the leading role. Harry plays a bag lady who turns into a princess when Basquiat kisses her.
After a year-long hiatus, Blondie regrouped and released their sixth studio album,The Hunter (1982). 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 diseasepemphigus. 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 albumMiami, 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 singerJeffrey 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.[39][40]
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 (produced byGiorgio Moroder and taken from the filmScarface), but it was commercially unsuccessful. The same year, Harry had a leading role inDavid Cronenberg'sbody horror filmVideodrome (1983), playing the sadomasochistic lover of a television producer who uncovers an underground video output ofsnuff films. Harry received rave reviews for her performance in the film.[41] 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."[42]
A new single, "Feel The Spin" (taken from the filmKrush Groove), was released as a limited 12" single in 1985, which peaked atNo. 5 on the Billboard Dance Chart. In 1986, Harry released her second solo album, calledRockbird, which peaked atNo. 97 in the US, andNo. 31 in the UK[37] (where it has been certified gold for 100,000 sales by the BPI). The single "French Kissin' in the USA" gave Harry her only UK solo top 10 hit (No. 8) and became a moderate US hit (No. 57). Other singles released from the album were "Free to Fall" and "In Love with Love", with the latter completely re-recorded in London with hit British producersStock Aitken Waterman (SAW).[43] The track hitNo. 1 on the US Dance Charts and was released with several remixes. Harry also recorded another track with SAW during the same sessions, "Mind Over Matter", which was never officially released.[43]
In 1987, Harry starred oppositeAlec Baldwin in the comedy mystery filmForever, Lulu, playing the title character.[44]
"Liar, Liar" was recorded by Harry for the soundtrack albumMarried to the Mob in 1988 and was produced by Mike Chapman. It was their first collaboration since the 1982 Blondie albumThe Hunter. The same year, Harry starred as Velma Von Tussle inJohn Waters's satirical dance filmHairspray.
Her next solo venture was the albumDef, 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 toNo. 12 on the UK chart,[37] where it earned a silver disc. However, with little promotion from her record company in the US, it peaked atNo. 123. 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 theRock and Rule animated film, was the fourth single released from the album in June 1990 to coincide with a UK tour (her second in six months). 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 inTales from the Darkside: The Movie (1990). From 1989 to 1991, Harry toured extensively across the world with former Blondie guitarist Chris Stein,Underworld'sKarl Hyde, and future Blondie bassist Leigh Foxx. In July 1991 she played Wembley Stadium, supportingINXS. In 1991, Chrysalis released a new "best of" compilation in Europe entitledThe Complete Picture: The Very Best of Deborah Harry and Blondie, containing hits with Blondie as well as her solo hits. The collection reachedNo. 3 in the UK album chart[37] and earned a gold disc. The album also included her duet withIggy Pop of theCole Porter song "Well, Did You Evah!" from the 1990Red Hot + Blue AIDS charity album.
In 1992, Harry collaborated with Germanpost-punk bandDie Haut on the track "Don't Cross My Mind" and released the song "Prelude to a Kiss" on the soundtrack to thefilm of the same name. She also released a cover of "Summertime Blues" from the soundtrack to the filmThat Night in Australia. Her fourth solo album,Debravation, was released in July 1993. The album peaked at No. 24 in the UK but was less successful in the US. The album's first single was "I Can See Clearly", which peaked atNo. 23 in the UK[37] andNo. 2 on the US dance charts.[45] 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.[46] US editions of the album feature two additional tracks recorded with prerecorded music byR.E.M.: "Tear Drops" and a cover ofSkeeter Davis's 1961 hit "My Last Date (with You)". Also in 1993, Harry had a supporting role in aJohn Carpenter-directed segment of the anthology horror filmBody 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" (from 1989) and "Ordinary Bummer" (from the Stein-produced Iggy Pop albumZombie Birdhouse, a track that, under the moniker Adolph's Dog, Blondie covered in 1997). Tentative plans to record these shows and release them as a live double CD never came to fruition. However, covers ofthe Rolling Stones' "Wild Horses" andDavid Oliver's "Love TKO" exist as bootlegs. In early 1994, Harry took the Debravation tour to the US.[47] In the UK, Harry's long tenure with Chrysalis Records also came to an end afterDebravation's lackluster sales, but the label released all of Blondie's albums and Harry'sKooKoo album (for the first time on CD) 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 ensemblethe Jazz Passengers in 1994, appearing on their albumIn Love (1994). Harry also reunited with Blondie keyboardist Jimmy Destri for a cover ofOtis Blackwell's "Don't Be Cruel" for the 1995 albumBrace Yourself! A Tribute to Otis Blackwell. During this period, she also recorded a duet with actor Robert Jacks titled "Der Einziger Weg (The Only Way)", a theme for the horror filmTexas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1994), which was recorded in German and in English. Harry also served as a vocalist inTalking Heads side project the Heads' 1996 releaseNo Talking, Just Head, followed by the Jazz Passengers'Individually Twisted (1997). 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 theEdgar Allan Poe tribute albumClosed on Account of Rabies (1997).
In film, Harry co-starred withPruitt Taylor Vince andLiv Tyler inJames Mangold's directorial debutHeavy (1995), playing a misanthropic waitress at an upstate New York restaurant.[48] The following year, she filmed Mangold'sCop Land (1997), a neo-noir thriller in which she portrayed a bartender.[49]
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In 1997, Blondie began working together again for the first time in 15 years. The four original members (Harry, Stein,Clem Burke andJimmy Destri) began sessions for what would become Blondie's seventh studio album,No Exit (1999). The lead single from the album, "Maria", debuted atNo. 1 in the UK, giving Blondie their sixth UKNo. 1 hit. "Maria" also reachedNo. 1 in 14 countries, the top 10 on the US Dance Charts, and Top 20 on the US Adult Top 40 Charts.No Exit debuted atNo. 3 in the UK andNo. 17 in the US.
Harry appears on the 2001Bill Ware albumVibes 4 singing the track "Me and You" as well as on formerPolice guitaristAndy Summers's albumPeggy's Blue Skylight on the track "Weird Nightmare". Atechno cover ofStan Jones' "Ghost Riders in the Sky" was featured on the soundtrack to the 1998 filmThree Businessmen, and was available on her website to download. Harry sings on two tracks on Andrea Griminelli'sCinema Italiano project: "You'll Come to Me" (inspired byAmarcord's main theme) and "When Love Comes By" (fromIl Postino), as well as on a tribute album reinterpreting the music ofHarold Arlen, on which she sings the title track "Stormy Weather". In May 2002, she accompanied the Jazz Passengers and theBBC Concert Orchestra in a performance of her jazz material at theBarbican 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 byDan Zanes and Friends, released on the 2003 albumHouse Party. The same year, Blondie released the albumThe Curse of Blondie (2003).
In 2006, Harry started work in New York City on her fifth solo album,Necessary Evil (released in 2007). Working with production duo Super Buddha (who produced the remix of Blondie's "In the Flesh" for the 2005Sound and Vision compilation), the first music to surface in was ahip-hop track titled "Dirty and Deep" in which she spoke out against rapperLil' Kim's incarceration. Throughout 2006, a number of new tracks surfaced on Harry'sMyspace page, including "Charm Alarm", "Deep End", "Love with a Vengeance", "School for Scandal", and "Necessary Evil", as well as duets she recorded withMiss Guy (ofToilet Böys fame), "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, Harry delineated the different personae (Blondie the band, her role in the band, and Deborah Harry the singer) to an interviewer who asked why she played only solo music on the 2007True Colors World Tour withCyndi 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."[50]
Harry's fifth solo album,Necessary Evil (2007), was released after she completed the True Colors World Tour. The first single, "Two Times Blue", peaked atNo. 5 on the US Dance Club Play chart. The album peaked atNo. 86 in the UK andNo. 37 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.[51]
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Harry contributed toFall Out Boy's 2008 albumFolie à Deux, singing on the chorus of the album's closer "West Coast Smoker". In 2010, Harry began a series of recordings (featuring solo songs and duets withNick Cave and others) forThe Jeffrey Lee Pierce Sessions Project.[52][53][54] Blondie released their ninth studio album,Panic of Girls, in 2011.[55]
In 2014, Harry made a guest appearance withArcade Fire at theCoachella,[56] Harry would appear again, with Blondie, at Coachella in 2023.[57] In May 2014, Blondie released their tenth studio albumGhosts of Download. 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 the United States presidential election debates, 2016.[58][59] 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 atNo. 4 in the UK. In October 2019, Harry released a memoir,Face It, throughDey Street Books.[60] In 2020, Harry cameoed on the third episode of the romantic comedy web television seriesHigh Fidelity.[61] In 2023,Rolling Stone ranked Harry at number 168 on its list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time.[62]
Harry collaborated with theDandy Warhols and NALA on the track "IWNSLY", released in July 2023.[63] She also contributed vocals to the track "I Will Never Stop Loving You", which was released as a single and featured on the 2024 Dandy Warhols albumRockmaker.[64]
Harry was in a relationship with the Blondie guitaristChris Stein. The pair split up in 1987, but they remained friends.[65] In 2011, Harry said that she and Stein were both drug users during their relationship, and that they had spent time in a rehabilitation clinic and no longer used drugs.[66] Harry is godmother to Stein's two daughters.[67]
In 2014, Harry revealed that she had several relationships with women in her youth.[68]
In her 2019 memoir,Face It: A Memoir, Harry describes having been raped at knifepoint during a burglary of the home she shared with Stein.[69] She also wrote that during the early 1970s, theserial killerTed Bundy lured her into his car in New York City, but she escaped. Harry's description of the white vehicle stripped on the inside and missing the passenger door handle matched the 1968VW Bundy was driving, but authorities believed him to be in Florida at the time.Ann Rule, author of the Bundy biographyThe Stranger Beside Me, commented that erroneous claims of Bundy abductions are fairly common.[70][71][72]
As of 2019, Harry lives in theChelsea neighborhood of New York City and inMiddletown Township, New Jersey[65] with her four dogs.
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In a 2011 interview, Harry said that "After witnessingElton John and his tireless efforts againstHIV/AIDS", she had been inspired to make philanthropy 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."[73] Some of Harry's preferred charities include those devoted to fighting cancer andendometriosis.[74]
Studio albums
Compilations and other albums
Debbie Harry: Class of 1963, Hawthorne High School
former Max's waitress Debbie Harry
Actress Lauren Hutton was a Bunny, as was singer Deborah Harry...
'Blondie' from what men would shout at her in the street
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Media from Commons
Quotations from Wikiquote
Data from Wikidata