Deborah Harry
| Deborah Harry | ||
 Deborah Harry im 1976 | ||
| Background information | ||
| Birth name | Angela Trimble | |
| Born | Jul 01, 1945 Miami, Florida USA  New York City USA
| |
| Height | 5' 3" (1.6m) | |
| Weight | 128 lbs (58 kg) | |
| Years active | .\1964 to Present | |
| Spouse(s) | . | |
| Official site | Blondie.net | |
Deborah Ann Harry (born Angela Trimble; ✦July 1, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress, known as the lead vocalist of the band "Blondie". Her recordings with the band reached No. 1 in the US and UK charts on many occasions from 1979 to 2017.
Born in Miami, Florida, Harry was adopted as an infant and raised in Hawthorne, New Jersey. After attending college, she worked various jobs, including as a secretary (including at the BBC in New York), dancer, and Playboy Bunny, before breaking through in the music industry. Harry co-formed "Blondie" in 1974 in New York City. The band released their eponymous debut album in 1976, and released a further three albums between then and 1979, including "Parallel Lines", which spawned six singles, including "Heart of Glass". Their fifth record, "Autoamerican" (1980), afforded Harry and the band further attention, spawning such hits as a cover of "The Tide Is High", and "Rapture", the latter of which is considered the first rap song to chart at number one in the United States.
In 1981, Harry released her debut solo album, "KooKoo", and, during a hiatus of Blondie, embarked on an acting career, appearing in lead roles in the neo-noir Union City (1980) and in David Cronenberg's body horror film Videodrome (1983). She released her second solo album, "Rockbird", in 1986, and subsequently starred in John Waters's cult dance film Hairspray (1988). Harry went on to release two more solo albums between then and 1993, after which she returned to film with roles in a John Carpenter-directed segment of the horror film Body Bags (1993), and in the drama Heavy (1995).
Blondie reunited in the late 1990s, releasing "No Exit" (1999), followed by "The Curse of Blondie" (2003). Harry continued to appear in independent films throughout the 2000s, including "Deuces Wild" (2002), "My Life Without Me" (2003) and "Eulogy" (2008). With Blondie, she released the group's ninth studio album, "Panic of Girls", in 2011, followed by "Ghosts of Download" (2014). The band's eleventh studio album, 2017's "Pollinator", charted at number 4 in the United Kingdom.
Life and career
1945–1965: Early life
Harry was born Angela Trimble on July 1, 1945, in Miami, Florida. At the age of three months, she was adopted by Catherine (née Peters) and Richard Harry, gift shop proprietors in Hawthorne, New Jersey, and renamed Deborah Ann Harry. Harry learned of her adoption at four years old. Initially deciding against locating her birth parents, she located her birth mother, a concert pianist, in the late 1980s, who chose not to establish a relationship with Harry. In her memoir, she recalls being a tomboy, spending much of her childhood playing in the woods adjacent to her home.
Harry attended Hawthorne High School, graduating in 1963. She graduated from Centenary College in Hackettstown, New Jersey, with an Associate of Arts degree in 1965. Before beginning her singing career, she moved to New York City in the late 1960s and worked there as a secretary at BBC Radio's office for one year. Later, she was a waitress at Max's Kansas City, a [[go-go dancer]] in a discothèque in Union City, New Jersey, and a Playboy Bunny.
1966–1975: Early projects; formation of Blondie
In the late 1960s, Harry began her musical career as a backing singer for the folk-rock group "The Wind in the Willows", which released an eponymous album in 1968 on Capitol Records.
In 1974, Harry joined the Stilettoes with Elda Gentile and Amanda Jones. Shortly thereafter, the band added guitarist Chris Stein, who became her boyfriend. In her memoir, "Face It, Harry" describes having been raped at knifepoint during a burglary of the home she shared with Stein.
After leaving the Stilettoes, Harry and Stein formed Angel and the Snake with Tish Bellomo and Snooky Bellomo. Shortly thereafter, Harry and Stein formed Blondie, named after the catcall men often directed at Harry after she bleached her hair blonde. The band quickly became regulars at Max's Kansas City and CBGB in New York City.
1976–1980: Global success
With her beauty, daring choice of clothing and two-tone bleached-blonde hair, Harry quickly became a punk icon.
In June 1979, Blondie was featured on the cover of "Rolling 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.
Blondie released their self-titled debut album in 1976; it peaked at No. 14 in Australia and No. 75 in the United Kingdom. Their second album, "Plastic Letters", garnered some success outside the United States, but their third album, "Parallel Lines" (1978), was a worldwide hit and catapulted the group to international success. It included the global hit single "Heart of Glass". Riding the crest of disco's domination, the track made No. 1 in the US and sold nearly two million copies. It also reached No. 1 in the UK and was the second highest-selling single of 1979. The band's success continued with the release of the platinum-selling Eat to the Beat album (UK No. 1, US No. 17) in 1979.
Harry appears on the 2001 Bill Ware album "Vibes 4" singing the track "Me and You" as well as on former Police guitarist Andy Summers's album "Peggy's Blue Skylight" on the track "Weird Nightmare". A techno cover of Stan Jones' "Ghost Riders in the Sky" was featured on the soundtrack to the 1998 film "Three Businessmen", and was available on her website to download. Harry sings on two tracks on Andrea Griminelli's Cinema Italiano project: "You'll Come to Me" (inspired by Amarcord's main theme) and "When Love Comes By" (from Il Postino), as well as on a tribute album reinterpreting the music of Harold Arlen, on which she sings the title track "Stormy Weather". In May 2002, she accompanied the Jazz Passengers and the BBC Concert Orchestra in a performance of her jazz material at the Barbican 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 by Dan Zanes and Friends, released on the 2003 album House Party. The same year, Blondie released the album "The 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 2005 Sound and Vision compilation), the first music to surface in was a hip-hop track titled "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), "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, she 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 2007 True Colors World Tour with Cyndi 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."
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 at No. 5 on the US Dance Club Play chart. The album peaked at No. 86 in the UK and No. 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.[42]
2008–present: Further musical endeavors
Harry contributed to Fall Out Boy's 2008 album "Folie 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 with Nick Cave and others) for The Jeffrey Lee Pierce Sessions Project. Blondie released their ninth studio album, Panic of Girls, in July 2011.
In 2014, Harry made a guest appearance with Arcade Fire at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, The following month, Blondie released their tenth studio album "Ghosts of Download" (2014). In 2015, Blondie members Debbie Harry and Chris Stein made a guest appearance alongside The Gregory Brothers in an episode of Songify the News, and they collaborated again to parody the United States presidential election debates, 2016. 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 at No. 4 in the UK. In October 2019, Harry released a memoir, Face It, through Dey Street Books. In 2020, Harry cameoed on the third episode of the romantic comedy web television series High Fidelity.
Personal life
Harry was in a relationship with Blondie guitarist Chris Stein. The pair split up in 1987 but remained friends. In 2011, Harry admitted that she and Stein were both drug users during their relationship, but added that they had spent time in a rehabilitation clinic and no longer used drugs. Harry is the godmother to Stein's two daughters.
In 2014, Harry revealed that she had had several relationships with women in her youth.
In her 2019 memoir, "Face It", Harry describes having been raped at knifepoint during a burglary of the home she shared with Stein. She also wrote in "Face It" that during the early 1970s, serial killer Ted 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 1968 VW Bundy was driving, but authorities believed him to be in Florida at the time. Ann Rule, an author of the Bundy biography "The Stranger Beside Me", stated that erroneous claims of Bundy abductions are not uncommon.
As of 2019, Harry lives part-time in New York City and part-time in Monmouth County, New Jersey, together with her four dogs.
Philanthropy
In a 2011 interview, Harry said that "After witnessing Elton John and his tireless efforts against HIV/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." Some of Harry's preferred charities include those devoted to fighting cancer and endometriosis.
Sources
- Harry, Debbie (2019). Face It: A Memoir. New York: Dey Street Books. isbn 978-0-063-00957-8.
- Porter, Dick; Needs, Kris (2012). Blondie: Parallel Lives. Music Sales Group. isbn 978-0-857-12780-8.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debbie_Harry
External links
- https://www.blondie.net/ Official Blondie website Official website
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