Ageless beauty Debbie Harry is about to enter her ninth decade. We take a look back at her incredible life and career with new age rockers Blondie…
One way or another, punk icon Debbie Harry is turning 80 on Tuesday. She shot to fame in the mid-1970s, dazzling the world with her striking looks and vocals as the frontwoman of Blondie.
But the Atomic singer has always been something special. Here Meg Jorsh takes a look back through the Decades of Debs…
Childhood
Born Angela Trimble, Debbie was adopted at three months old by Richard and Catherine Harry. They renamed her Deborah Ann Harry and raised her in New Jersey, US.
As a child, she was a “tomboy” who loved playing in the woods next to her house. She knew she was adopted from the age of four and often used to fantasise that her birth mum was Marilyn Monroe.
Debbie eventually tracked down her biological mum in the mid-1980s. A concert pianist, identified via a private detective, she wasn’t keen to have a relationship with her famous daughter.
Teens
Naturally brunette with a touch of ginger, Debbie started dying her hair at the age of 12. She experimented with shades of violet before settling on the platinum blonde that became her signature.
Voted “best looking” girl at Hawthorne High School, New Jersey, she was never short of attention. She would eventually name her band after the “Hey blondie!” catcalls that followed wherever she went.
20s
After graduating from art school in 1965, Debbie moved to New York to pursue fame and fortune. But her first job, as a backing singer for folk group The Wind in the Willows, didn’t exactly pay the bills.
She kept herself afloat with shifts waitressing at legendary nightclub Max’s Kansas City, where she served the likes of Andy Warhol and Jimi Hendrix. She also spent time as a go-go dancer.
Most famously, she worked as a scantily-clad bunny at the Playboy Club in New Jersey. She later said: “I like to dress up, so it didn’t really bother me.”
30s
Debbie was singing with punk band The Stilettos when she fell in love with guitarist Chris Stein. They quit in 1974 to form their own band, calling it Angel and the Snake before changing its name to Blondie.
Debbie was 31 – much older than many pop starlets – when their self-titled first album came out in 1976. And they only achieved mainstream success in 1978 with third LP Parallel Lines.
The rockers went on to sell 40million records worldwide, racking up No 1 singles like Call Me and Heart of Glass. But Debbie and Chris struggled with heroin addiction and nearly lost their home due to an unpaid tax bill.
40s
Blondie were still riding high in 1982 when they suddenly called it quits. What fans didn’t know was that Chris had become gravely ill with rare autoimmune disease pemphigus vulgaris.
Debbie dedicated herself to caring for the rocker, staying by his bedside for months as he recovered. But the strain of the illness, combined with their drug use, led to them separating in 1985.
The singer went on to release a string of solo records, working with British hit producers Stock Aitken Waterman. She also appeared in feature films like 1987’s Forever, Lulu with Alec Baldwin.
50s
Even after they split, Debbie and Chris stayed close pals. They became bandmates again in 1997, when Blondie reunited for a European tour.
The group released No Exit, their first album together in more than 15 years, in 1999, followed by single Maria. It topped the charts in the UK, but wasn’t as well-received in the US.
Debbie, by then going by Deborah, said she had come to terms with never getting married or having children. But she wasn’t too impressed with her noughties pop contemporaries.
She said: “Britney Spears and the rest… well, I think it’s boring, quite frankly. Money seems to be the big motive.”
60s
Entering her 60s, Debbie proved she was just as creative as ever. She released fifth solo album Necessary Evil in 2007, before touring the world with fellow icon Cyndi Lauper.
She refused to play any Blondie songs on that tour, telling an interviewer: “I really want to make a clear definition between Debbie’s solo projects and Blondie.”
But it didn’t stop the band reuniting in 2008 for the thirtieth anniversary of Parallel Lines. Debbie went on to record tracks with contemporary acts like Fall Out Boy, Nick Cave and Arcade Fire.
70s
After a lifetime of protecting her privacy, Debbie gave a candid account of her life in 2019 memoir Face It. She revealed she had been raped at knifepoint in the 70s and may even have escaped the clutches of serial killer Ted Bundy.
She is still working with Blondie and the band plan to release their 12th studio album later this year. But tragedy struck in April when their drummer Clem Burke died aged 70 after a “private battle with cancer”.
In a statement, his devastated bandmates said: “Clem was not just a drummer; he was the heartbeat of Blondie. His talent, energy and passion for music were unmatched.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
