BEAUTY ICON OF THE WEEK~ DEBORAH HARRY

DEBORAH HARRY

Date of Birth

1 July 1945, Miami, Florida, USA 

Birth Name

Angela Tremble

Harry is the daughter of Catherine and Richard Harry, gift shop proprietors in Hawthorne, New Jersey, who adopted her at the age of three-months-old, in Miami, Florida. According to Harry's website, her birth parents' names on her original birth certificate are Scottish: MacKenzieand Trimble. She also stated that her name prior to adoption was Angela Trimble. She has never traced the roots of her birth parents, but said she may do so in the future.^[1] She attended Hawthorne High School, where she graduated in 1963.^[2] She graduated from Centenary College in Hackettstown, New Jersey, with an Associate of Arts degree in 1965. Before starting her singing career she moved to New York City in the late 1960s and worked as a secretary at BBC Radio's office there for one year. Later, she was a waitress at Max's Kansas City, and worked in a Dunkin' Donuts shop, after which she was a dancer in Union City, New Jersey, and a Playboy Bunny.

She began her musical career with a folk rock group, The Wind in the Willows.{The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia Of Rock & Roll c1983, page 48} Harry then joined a girl-group trio, The Stilettos, in the early 1970s. The Stilettos' backup band included her eventual boyfriend and Blondie guitarist, Chris Stein.^] Harry and Stein formed the band Blondie in the mid-1970s, naming it for the term of address men often yelled at Harry from passing cars.^[ciBlondie quickly became regulars at Max's Kansas City and CBGB in New York City.^[4] After a debut album in 1976, commercial success followed in the late 1970s to the early 1980s, first in Australia and Europe, then in the United States.

While leading Blondie, Harry and Stein became life as well as musical partners, although they never married; Harry has no children. In the mid-1980s, she took a few years off to nurse Stein back to health after he suffered a life-threatening disease. Stein and Harry broke up in the 1990s, but they have continued to work together. In 1999, she was called the 12th greatest woman of rock and roll by VH1's 100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll ^[5] and in 2002, she was called the 18th sexiest artist of all time by VH1's 100 Sexiest Artists ^[6] Harry resides in Red Bank, New Jersey, and in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City.

Blondie

“

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 became Dirty Harry. I couldn't be Blondie anymore, so I became Dirty Harry.[8]

”

With her two-tone bleached-blonde hair, Harry quickly became a recognizable punk icon. Her look was further popularized by the band's early presence in the music video revolution of the era. She was a continued regular at Studio 54 and was associated with Andy Warhol. In June 1979, Blondie graced the cover of Rolling Stone. Harry's stage persona of cool sexuality and streetwise style became so closely associated with the group's name that many came to believe the singer's name to be "Blondie". The difference between the individual Harry and the band Blondie was famously highlighted with a "Blondie is a Group" button campaign by the band in 1979.^[7] To complicate matters further, Harry sometimes described her character in the band as being named "Blondie", as in this quote from the No Exit tour book:

During 1976 and 1977 Blondie released their first two albums. The second experienced some marginal success outside the United States. However, 1978's Parallel Lines (US #6, UK #1) shot the group to international success and included the global smash hit single, "Heart of Glass". Riding the crest of Disco's domination, the infectous track hit #1 in the US and sold nearly two million copies. The follow-up single, "One Way Or Another" reached #24 on Billboard's Hot 100. The album was the band's biggest success, having sold over 6 million copies in the United States alone. The band were also pioneers of the music video movement with Eat To The Beat being heralded as the first ever music video cassette album.

The release of the platinum-plus Eat to the Beat album (US #17, UK #1) in 1979 and Autoamerican (US #7, UK #3) in 1980, continued the band's run of hits, including "Dreaming",Atomic" and three more US #1 singles: "The Tide Is High", "Rapture" and "Call Me" from the film soundtrack American Gigolo which became Billboard's #1 song of 1980.

After a year long hiatus in 1981, during which Harry released her first solo album (see below), Blondie regrouped and released their sixth studio album The Hunter (US #33, UK #9). The album met with a disastrous reception, peaking at #33 and falling rapidly off the charts. The single "Island of Lost Souls" briefly cracked the US Top 40. The band's "War Child" was released as a single in the UK. Blondie launched a North American tour to support the release, but it was cut short when Stein fell seriously ill with the rare autoimmune disease,pemphigus. Coupled with declining commercial fortunes, the band split up.

Later in the 1980s, the remix album Once More Into The BleachBeautiful in Europe and Remixed Remade Remodeled in the U.S. New mixes of "Heart of Glass", "Atomic" and "Union City Blue" were released as singles and all made the UK Top 40, while remixes of "Atomic", "Rapture" and "Heart of Glass" had major success on the U.S. dance charts.

In 1997, Blondie began working together again for the first time in 15 years. Two tracks were recorded with TV Mania, the production trio of two Duran Duran members, Nick Rhodes andWarren Cuccurullo, and producer Anthony J. Resta. "Studio 54" and "Pop Trash Movie" were scheduled to be released on a Blondie compilation, entitled This Is Blondie. However, the project and the tracks were shelved as the four original members (Harry, Stein, Clem Burke and Jimmy Destri) embarked on sessions for what would become Blondie's seventh studio album. During this period, they released a cover of Iggy Pop's "Ordinary Bummer" on the tribute album We Will Fall (1997).

After a final tour of Europe with The Jazz Passengers in the summer of 1998, Deborah Harry resumed duties as lead vocalist of Blondie. Prior to the release of No Exit, the band completed a sold out tour of Europe. Dates at London's Lyceum Theatre were recorded by the BBC and aired on national BBC Radio 1. A week prior to the release of No Exit, the lead single "Maria" debuted at number one in the UK, giving Blondie their sixth UK No.1 hit. "Maria" also reached #1 in 14 different countries, the top 10 on the U.S. Dance Charts and Top 15 on the U.S. Adult Top 40 Charts. No Exit debuted at No.3 in the UK and #17 in the U.S. and Blondie announced dates for a major arena tour that summer, during which they played the Glastonbury Festival and Party in the Park in London. "Nothing Is Real but the Girl" was another UK Top 30 hit, while the title track was released as a limited edition single to coincide with further arena dates in November of that year.

Tracks culled from dates throughout the 1999 world tour were released as a live album, titled Live in the U.S. and Livid in the UK and were released in late 1999 and early 2000, respectively. A Blondie Live companion DVD was also released, recorded at a show in New York City's The Town Hall.

A second live album, entitled Live By Request, was released in 2005, along with a companion DVD set. In that year, the band also released the mash-up "Rapture Riders", which combined their 1981 hit "Rapture" with The Doors' "Riders on the Storm". This track was taken from a greatest hits compilation entitled Sound and Vision (first issued in the UK as Sight + Sound), released with a companion DVD disk and new mixes of "In the Flesh" and "Good Boys".Although Blondie commenced recording tracks for the follow-up to No Exit in 2001, the sessions were besieged with problems including the loss of master tapes after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In the winter of 2002, Blondie returned with a full scale UK tour. This preceded the release of a new single in 2003 entitled "Good Boys" (a hit across the UK and Europe that autumn, and top 10 on the U.S. Dance Charts the following spring) and the release of Blondie's eighth studio album, The Curse of Blondie. The band toured throughout 2003 and 2004, completing two further full scale tours of the UK.

In the winter of 2005, Blondie toured the UK for the fourth time in as many years. In 2006, they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Around this time, Blondie released a new studio track, a cover of Roxy Music's 1982 hit "More Than This". This was to promote their "Road Rage" tour and the single was made available for free download.

At the end of 2006, a new mix of "Heart of Glass" became a club hit in Europe, while Harry released the single "New York New York", a collaboration with Moby. The song debuted on YouTube, some four weeks before its official release.

In the summer of 2007, Blondie toured in the UK once again. Around this time, Harry delineated the different personas (Blondie the band, her role in the band and Deborah Harry, the singer) in an interview which asked why she played only solo music on the 2007 True Colors Tour: "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."^[9]

On July 3, 2008, Blondie commenced a world tour to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Parallel Lines with a sell-out concert at the amphitheatre in Ra'anana, Israel. During the tour, drummer Clem Burke stated that the tour had inspired the band to make another record, Panic of Girls.^[10] It will be their first new album since the release of The Curse of Blondie in 2003.

In 2009, Blondie went on tour with Pat Benatar for the "Call Me Invincible" tour. The majority of the shows were opened by The Donnas. In December 2009, Blondie recorded their version of the traditional song "We Three Kings" to coincide with the bands much awaited 2010 album.

In the summer of 2010, Blondie began a UK tour, including venues in Newcastle, Manchester, Sheffield and Dublin. They also played festivals including the Isle of Wight and Rockness Festival in Inverness, Scotland. Tracks from their forthcoming album 'Panic of Girls' have been performed during their tour of the UK, notably 'D-Day' and 'What I heard'. The album is due for release around September 2010. In an interview at the Isle of Wight Festival, drummer Clem Burke indicated that Blondie may return for another tour in 2011, depending on how well the record is received.

Solo albums

To date, Harry has released five solo albums. Harry began her solo career with the Chrysalis Records album Koo Koo in 1981. The album peaked at #28 in the US and #6 in the UK; it was later certified gold in the US and Silver in the UK. "Backfired", the first single from the album, had a video directed by H. R. Giger (who also painted the album's eye-catching cover featuring Harry's face with metal skewers through it) and climbed to #43 on the Billboard Hot 100, #29 on the Hot Dance Club Songs and #32 on the UK Singles Chart. "The Jam Was Moving" was lifted as the second single and peaked at #82 in the US. In 1986, Harry released her second solo album on Geffen Records called Rockbird, which peaked at #97 in the US (where it sold 200,000 copies) and #31 in the UK (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 (#8) and became a moderate US hit (#57). Other singles released from the album were "Free to Fall" and "In Love with Love" which hit #1 on the U.S. Dance Charts and was released with several remixes.

Her next solo venture was the Sire/Red Eye/Reprise album Def, Dumb and Blonde in 1989. At this point Harry reverted from "Debbie" to "Deborah" for her professional name. The first single "I Want That Man" was a hit in Europe, Australia, and on the U.S. Modern Rock Charts. The success of the single propelled the album to #12 on the UK charts. However, the US was less receptive and it peaked at #123. She followed this up with the ballad "Brite Side" and the club hit "Sweet and Low". "Maybe for Sure", a track originally recorded by Blondie for the Rock 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). "Kiss It Better" was also a Top 15 Modern Rock single in the U.S.

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 with INXS. In 1991, Chrysalis released a "best of" compilation in Europe entitled The Complete Picture: The Very Best of Deborah Harry and Blondie, containing hits with Blondie as well as solo hits. The collection reached #3 in the UK album charts. The album also included her duet with Iggy Pop on the Cole Porter song "Well, Did You Evah!" from the Red Hot + Blue AIDS charity album produced by the Red Hot Organization and released at the end of 1990.

Harry's fourth solo album, Debravation, appeared in July 1993. The album's first single was "I Can See Clearly", which peaked at #23 in the UK and #2 on the U.S. 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 it being banned. U.S. editions of the album feature two additional tracks recorded with pre-recorded music by R.E.M.: "Tear Drops" and "My Last Date (With You)".

In November 1993, Harry toured the UK with Stein, Peter Min, Greta Brinkman and 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 album Zombie Birdhouse; a track which under the moniker "Adolph's Dog" Blondie would cover in 1997). Tentative plans to record these shows and release them as a double live CD never came to fruition. However, a cover of The Rolling Stones' "Wild Horses" is available as a bootleg. At the end of 1993, Chrysalis released the Blondie rarities collection Blonde and Beyond, which featured the previously unreleased tracks "Scenery" and "Underground Girl". In early 1994, Harry took the Debravation tour to the U.S

In 2006, Harry started work in New York City on tracks for her fifth solo album Necessary Evil (2007). Working with production duo Super Buddha (who produced the remix of Blondie's "In the Flesh" for the 2005 Sound and Vision compilation) the first music to surface in was a hip hop track entitled "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 (of Toilet Böys fame). These were "God Save New York" and "New York Groove". A streaming version of the lead single, "Two Times Blue", was added to Harry's My Space page in May 2007. On June 6, 2007, an iTunes downloadable version was released via her official web site, www.deborahharry.com

Necessary Evil was released on Eleven Seven Music after Harry completed both a solo tour of the US in June 2007 and a European tour with Blondie in July 2007. The first single, "Two Times Blue", peaked at #5 on the US Dance Club Play chart. The album debuted at #86 in the UK and #37 in the US Billboard Top Independent Albums chart.Harry joined Cyndi Lauper's True Colors Tour for the Human Rights Campaign. She is a strong advocate for gay rights and same-sex marriage. Though she has stated that she identifies as mostly heterosexual, Harry has said she has had intimate relationships with both men and women.

To promote the album, Harry appeared on various talk shows to perform "Two Times Blue". She also started a 22-date U.S. 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.

Trivia

Was a former beautician, barmaid and Playboy bunny.

She and her band Blondie reunited and released their first album since their 1982 breakup (1998).

Her band Blondie broke up (1982).

Name of her band was originally called "Angel and the Snakes," but she changed the name to Blondie after the countless cat calls from truck drivers who would yell out the window at her when she was walking down the street, "Hey! Blondie!" Lead singer and songwriter for punk rock group Blondie.

Singer/actress.

Blondie's video for their hit song "Rapture" featured a cameo appearance New York artist/Andy Warhol disciple Jean Michel Basquiat, whose life was portrayed in the Basquiat (1996).

In 1981 "Harper's Bazaar" named her to their 10 Most Beautiful Women in America list.

Has admitted to getting a face lift.

Ranked #12 on VH1's 100 Greatest Women of Rock N Roll.

"Eat To The Beat", released in 1979, is an early video collection by Blondie. The late model Gia Carangi appears in the eighth video, "Atomic".

Starred in the Broadway play "Teaneck Tanzi" with Andy Kaufman. She played a female wrestler and Kaufman played the ref. The play closed after opening day. The play was her Broadway debut.

Dyed her hair red for her role as James Woods's masochistic girlfriend in David Cronenberg's Videodrome (1983).

She and Blondie are credited, due to the rapped section of the song "Rapture" (which, among other things, name-drops Fab 5 Freddy) and its graffiti-filled video, with helping to popularize hip hop music, especially among white audiences.

Blondie was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame on March 13, 2006.

Was a good friend of Nancy Spungen.

Was up for the female lead roles in the movies Raging Bull (1980) and TRON (1982).

Ranked #18 on VH1's 100 Sexiest Artists.

Was the original choice for Pris in Blade Runner (1982).

Has stated that if she had the choice of any actress to play her in a film, she would choose Michelle Pfeiffer. Not surprisingly, Michelle stated in an interview that when she was in her twenties, strangers would come up to her thinking she was Debbie Harry.

Personal Quotes

I wish I had invented sex.

I could be a housewife... I guess I've vacumed a couple of times.

The only person I really believe in is me.

"I know who I am, and it would be an insult to the Harrys." - on her refusal to locate her birth parents

Performing in front of a camera is a new adventure for me. It's a new and much more intellectual process. Music is more of the moment, more spiritual. It's an event! (from an early 80s interview)

[On actress Kirsten Dunst playing her in a proposed biographical film]: She's a really sweet person. I've met with her a couple of times and hung out with her socially. She's just a sweetie. She's probably capable of a lot of things she hasn't been asked to do yet, and doing something that's sort of left of center would be great for her.

The only place left for rock to go is toward more girl stars. There's nothing left for men to do. There's bound to be more male stars, but they can't express anything new.

Why should you force your brain cells to remember a lot of stuff when the most important thing you can do is to come up with new stuff? For me you know, I'm just writing now and trying to think of things that take the twist with a lot of the stuff. Why should I sit here and be chronological or like a time machine with old information? It doesn't make sense to me.

I'm very comfortable and happy with Chris, it's a good thing, something happens with our two minds, which automatically just fits together. Even now everything is sort of parallel. We don't even think about it, it just happens. I think we're lucky that we actually found each other. I never expected anything like that to happen, I never knew that anything like that even existed.

.

[On the 70s]: You know I always felt about that period, that all of those drugs that came around that wiped out a lot of us and obliterated a lot of stuff, was all politically sanctioned. I always felt that and Chris said that too; that a lot of people who really had something important to say or do were subdued.

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When I think of Debbie Harry I think of the wonders of my youth,  So many moments and  memories of  driving with a bunch of friends in someones mom's car, lying saying we're going to a local party to actually be driving to LA to a club called the ODYSSEY,  playing Blondie tacks on our tape cassette player, the entire car singing in unison , One Way Or another, I'm gonna find ya, I'm gonna getcha getcha getcha.............. just thinking about it puts a smile on my face.   As a young gay boy of the 80's,  it was hard enough being new wave ,if you will, but I was heavily influenced  by Debbie Harry, I wanted to look like her and dress like her. well, i was a boy so i really couldn't get that into it, it was cool back in the day  to be a bit androgynous, but a drag queen i am not.

So heavy black lined eyes, bleached blond hair with dark roots, and bangs that covered one eye.  while i sand in the mirror to RAPTURE and HANGING ON THE TELEPHONE, still my all time favorite.  As an adult, i have to say that nothing has changed, Debbie Harry m Blondie our still a major influence in my life. I still rock out to the music  and continue to collect all music recorded from Blondie and Solo works alike. As a makeup artist what can I say? Look at her? she's beautiful, that post- punk, new wave Marylin Monroe rock Goddess is still at 65 years old belting it out and always pushing the artistic edge of music.  Before Madonna, Cyndi Lauper, before all of them, there was Debbie Harry, they all own her  much praise and gratitude for paving the way and making it easy for them to fallow in her footsteps, She was the original, and still goes it better then any of them still. Can't wait till the new release from Blondie tittled, PANIC OF GIRLS!

Debbie Today at 65

As to Debbie's Film work, she had done quite a bit actually, mostly Indies and little art house style films. I have added select filmography of her work that I  feel shows her talent. I wish someone would really allow he to shine.

• Unmade Beds (1976)
• Union City (1980)
• Videodrome (1983)
• Hairspray (1988)
• New York Stories (1989)
• Tales from the Darkside: The Movie (1990)
• Intimate Stranger  (1992)
• Heavy (1995)
• Cop Land (1997)
• Six Ways to Sunday (1997)
• Deuces Wild (2002)
• Spun (2002)
• All I Want (2002)
• My Life Without Me (2003)
• A Good Night to Die (2003)
• Ghostlight (2003)
• Full Grown Men (2006)
• Elegy (2008)

check these out cool clips !