[SolKane]

Purpose: Someone suggested in the "Awesome people hanging out" thread that we should have a Debbie Harry appreciation thread. So here it is.

Background:

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, in Miami, Florida.[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.[3]

She began her musical career in the late '60s with a folk rock group, The Wind in the Willows.[4] who recorded one album for Capitol Records. 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. Blondie quickly became regulars at Max's Kansas City and CBGB in New York City.[5] 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.

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.[9] To complicate matters further, Harry sometimes described her character in the band as nbeing named "Blondie", as in this quote from the No 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 became Dirty Harry. I couldn't be Blondie anymore, so I became Dirty Harry.[10]

Image
Music, style and sex appeal. Debbie Harry is icon to many, not only for natural photogenicity but also for her unique style, simultaneously brash and coy. Pay particular attention to the duck-like curve of her upper-lip and her prominent cheekbones.

Before she was "Blondie" she was an ingenue of the late hippy generation:


At one point she was a Playboy Bunny (you can find some nude pics from this period):


Then she was Dirty Harry:





Not sure who the guys in the background are:


Hanging out on Coney Island:


A friend to the Muppets:


Here she is showing union solidarity:


She supports the troops, too:




With Joan Jett:


With David Bowie:


With Patti Smith:


In black and white:






This is a letter Debbie wrote to her 16 year old self. Very inspiring!


Video

Blondie - Heart of Glass (she looks great in this video)

Interview & photoshoot in 1979

Improv during a show in 1980

Screen test from film "Union City"

Duet with Kermit the Frog, from the Muppet Show

I've been a fan of Blondie for years, but I have to admit when it comes to her solo career I know very little. I read she contributed vocals to some Fallout Boy album, but she probably only did it for the money so I can't fault her for that. So feel free to share your opinions on Blondie or the rest of her work in general. Or just pictures, whatever.

[infiniteloop]

With Patti Smith:

ummm.......


anyway, Harry was soooooo hot

[xbhaskarx]

Long live the new flesh!

lol that's not Patti Smith, that's Joey Ramone!

[G-Fex]

Yes! I fully support this thread

[devenger]

I love Debbie, hate the "rap" in Rapture with a white hot passion. Such an awesome song completely ruined.

[Satyamdas]

She was great in Videodrome. And was a bad ass lesbian chick in Spun. Oh yeah, Blondie was cool, too.

[xxracerxx]

God yes, love Debbie Harry.

[tekumseh]

When Parallel Lines came out in, like '78, I was in 8th/9th grade. I had such an enromous crush on Debbie Harry during those years it was pathetic. I was completely smitten...

[Apple Sauce]

God damn, she is the perfect woman.
I watched a documentary about the band not too long ago, it was really touching to hear how she put her career on a 7 year hiatus to nurse her boyfriends potentially fatal, contagious(?) skin condition.
They broke up after he got better but they're still best friends. She just seems like a really nice person. I bet she was insane in bed too.

[SolKane]

I love Debbie, hate the "rap" in Rapture with a white hot passion. Such an awesome song completely ruined.

It's not that bad; it's a fairly typical of Blondie's eclectic sound and genre mixing. I agree it does change the vibe of the song, though. Like, the first half of the song seems to set you up for classic make-out mix material, then they pull a fast one on you.

God damn, she is the perfect woman. I watched a documentary about the band not too long ago, it was really touching to hear how she put her career on a 7 year hiatus to nurse her boyfriends potentially fatal, contagious(?) skin condition. They broke up after he got better but they're still best friends. She just seems like a really nice person. I bet she was insane in bed too.

We can only imagine :(

[Buckethead]

Long live the new flesh! lol that's not Patti Smith, that's Joey Ramone!

Alright people stop stealing my posts. It's getting silly.

Great minds think alike...

[SolKane]

Shayla's one of my favorite Blondie songs, I think it's fairly underrated by fans (something about Debbie's chorus in contrast to the somberness of the verses gets me, plus that guitar solo):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMqB23HONzI

[teruterubozu]

80s chicks were cool.

[brianjones]

im more interested in your avatar

[SolKane]

More pics: