Daily Mirror Rock & Pop Club – Women In Rock

1st May 1983

Pages 30 & 31

Debby Harry

Before Blondie got off the ground, Debby Harry had been around in various bands. She was attracted by the LA clubs, left her job as a Playboy bunny to bum around the music scene, and eventually recorded an album with an outfit called Wind In The Willows; this LP has enjoyed great post-Blondie success, despite being truly abysmal. Not the most exciting music, so it was hardly surprising that Debby should move off in search of something fresher and more entertaining, which turned up in the shape of The Stilettos, a three-piece girlie outfit with symmetry in dress and appearance, and healthy followings in many places.

All of which is but chicken feed compared with what was to come.

Having met Chris Stein and the rest of the band through various auditions, Debbie found herself as the lead singer of pop band Blondie; they became one of the most popular club bands in America and made headlines everywhere. The group landed a deal with Private Stock Records and released their debut album, entitled ‘Blondie’, which managed reasonable sales, and established their reputation as a sixties-based pop group with devious undertones.

In 1977 they came over to England as support to New York cult-band Television, and promptly stole all the glory. Their reception and press were so good that the album released over here sold very well, and the band were back within six months, headlining the Rainbow Theatre and enjoying a massive following. In the meantime Chrysalis stepped in and signed the band, re-releasing the album a short while later, and slapping out the single ‘Denis’, to capitalise on their early 1978 tour. It rocketed up the charts and Blondie were assured of regular chart coverage right up until their split in 1982.

The hastily released ‘Plastic Letters’, their second album, leapt into the album chart and several singles taken from it gave them further hits both here and overseas as their fame spread through Europe to Japan, Australia and finally their own United States.

‘Presence Dear’, ‘Hanging On The Telephone’ and ‘Picture This’ all sold very well, ensuring that the third album, ‘Parallel Lines’, also released in 1978, went to the top of the charts. It became one of the all-time best-sellers and Blondie-mania reached its peak; their fame carried on through 1979 with the clearly inferior album ‘Eat To The Beat’, although ‘Heart Of Glass’ was a major single success, and ‘Atomic’ reached number one and stayed there for several weeks. Success was theirs with ease, but inside the band things were slightly different: Debbie became involved with an acting role in the film American Gigolo, and Chris Stein, her boyfriend and the other main motivator in the Blondie scheme, began thinking of production roles with unknown bands. Throughout this confusion, the band continued to release singles and get chart action, but no-one can deny that ‘Rapture’, ‘The Tide Is High’, ‘Dreaming’ or ‘Union City Blue’ were nowhere near their previous work in term of quality.

When Debby Harry and Chris Stein collaborated with Chic on the Debby Harry solo album ‘Koo Koo’ – a reasonable success, but largely unsatisfying- it was obvious to most people that Blondie were soon to call it a day. Like The Jam in Britain, it always seemed unlikely that Blondie would carry on when there was no need.

The final straw came when projected plans for London shows were aborted, when ticket sales were far below the expected level: the plain truth became clear. Just as Debby and Chris had tired of Blondie, so had the fans. Blondie hadn’t really created anything genuinely exciting since ‘Atomic’, and their termination was long overdue.

The last actual Blondie album, ‘The Hunter’, was in many ways better than ‘Koo Koo’ but still sold badly; people simply weren’t interested any more.

Before we write Debby Harry off completely, there is good news about her musical future. Despite considering acting roles, she is placing musical activities top of her list of priorities, and there will be another solo album in the new year, and a tour, presumably with musicians of her own choice, although Chris Stein will doubtless be included. They will be taking in far smaller venues than Blondie was planning to play on that abortive tour.

It could be that the real work has only just begun.

Deborah Harry… by Deborah Harry

‘The first thing I wanted to be when I grew up was a roller derby queen. Then I went through all those stages of wanting to be a ballet dancer, a tap dancer… I even wanted to be in the circus!

‘When I moved here from New Jersey, I didn’t even know that any kind of scene existed. I just knew that I wanted to live in New York, and I had some friends who were much older and were painters and jazz musicians. I worked at Max’s Kansas City when Warhol was making those 12-hour movies. I was so far removed, on the fringes, I didn’t really understand it that much – but I was more introspective then. I was painting, too.

“I tried to model for a while. But I was never the right type. I’m too much of my own self and a mixture of all things that models absolutely must have. I got a few jobs as a character kind of person. Marilyn Monroe could never have made it as a model either.

‘The reason we got these clothes is because they were what we could afford at first. I was always raving in the early days about straight-leg pants; bell-bottoms used to really make me crazy ‘cos they would swoosh and get in the way and I was always falling down in them. So I was constantly stitching everyone’s pants.

“I think some things that are always put down about girls, like being clothes – and fashion-conscious, are great. I like to wear clothes that make me feel like a different character. I think that all the girls and guys who appear onstage try to look the best they can. It’s just a sense of style – and if I’m gonna be compared to anyone in that way, I would try to be like Bowie, ‘cos I feel chameleon-like and I always go through a lot of changes.

‘I was never wild about a group that wasn’t both visually and musically exciting to the point where you really had to watch them. I know I’m a good singer, but I feel that I’m doing a lot more onstage.’