Debbie Harry
What is Debbie Harry’s original name?
With whom was Debbie Harry in a relationship?
Did Debbie Harry meet her birth parents?
Debbie Harry (born July 1, 1945, Miami, Florida, U.S.) is an American singer-songwriter who fronts the new wave band Blondie, which gained prominence in the late 1970s with chartbusters such as “Heart of Glass” (1978). Known for her signature platinum blonde hair and distinctive blend of feminine allure and fearless songwriting, Harry is regarded as one of the most revolutionary women in rock, and her impact has extended beyond music to fashion and culture.
Making of an icon
Harry was born Angela Trimble but was renamed Deborah (shortened to Debbie) after being adopted at three months old by Richard and Catherine Harry of Hawthorne, New Jersey. Debbie Harry later revealed that as an adult, she tried to connect with her biological mother, who declined to meet her. Harry’s interest in music and the entertainment industry began early. As a child, she sang in a church choir and modeled her look on Marilyn Monroe by bleaching her hair blonde. She moved to New York City in 1965 and worked in an assortment of jobs, including at the Playboy Club. She also sang in various bands, such as a folk band called the Wind in the Willows and a female-fronted band named the Stilettos.
Blondie and stardom
While singing in the Stilettos, Harry met guitarist Chris Stein, with whom she cofounded Blondie in 1974. The pair began a romantic relationship that lasted 13 years. Blondie’s original lineup also included drummer Clem Burke, bassist Gary Valentine, and keyboardist Jimmy Destri, and the band’s sound was a distinctive synthesis of such genres as disco, pop, and reggae. Alongside performers including Patti Smith, Talking Heads, and Television, Blondie was one of the acts that made their mark at the downtown New York punk club CBGB, which incubated a number of punk and new wave bands.
The band released its first album, the self-titled Blondie, in 1976, followed in 1977 with Plastic Letters and Parallel Lines in 1978. The latter album helped catapult the band into stardom with the hit songs “Picture This,” “Heart of Glass,” and “One Way or Another,” all of which Harry cowrote. Her lyrics were unflinching and often deeply personal. “Heart of Glass,” which hit number one on the U.S. charts, explored romantic disillusionment, and the pulsating, hard-charging “One Way or Another” was inspired by Harry’s experience being stalked. “Call Me” (1980), which also hit number one, was cowritten by Harry and Europop producer Giorgio Moroder for the film American Gigolo.
In the early 1970s Debbie Harry, after failing to get a cab in New York City, hitched a ride with a man she later believed to have been serial killer Ted Bundy. However, it was unlikely to have been Bundy, who was not known to have been in New York City.
Public triumphs, private struggles
Harry’s gritty lyrics reflected a resilience informed by a series of traumatic experiences. She was raped at knifepoint, battled a heroin addiction, and survived a financial crisis after her business manager failed to pay her taxes for two years, after which the Internal Revenue Service seized her assets. In 1982, after Blondie released its sixth album, The Hunter, Stein was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. The band soon broke up, and Harry devoted her time to looking after Stein. They split up in 1987 but remained friends.
Solo career and Blondie reunion
Harry explored a career without Blondie in 1981 with the album KooKoo and continued her solo work with Rockbird (1986), Def, Dumb & Blonde (1989), Debravation (1993), and Necessary Evil (2007). The original members of Blondie reunited in the late 1990s, touring Europe in 1998 and releasing a comeback album the next year titled No Exit, the leading single of which was the chart-topping “Maria.” The band continued to perform and tour sporadically, releasing the albums The Curse of Blondie (2003), Panic of Girls (2011), Ghosts of Download (2014), and Pollinator (2017). A new album, titled High Noon, is scheduled to release in 2026. In 2006 the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Legacy
“I’m not blind and I’m not stupid: I take advantage of my looks and I use them.” —Debbie Harry in her 2019 memoir, Face It
Harry’s unique look contributed immensely to her enduring appeal—she is instantly recognizable by her bleached blonde hair and razor-sharp cheekbones. Her provocative persona injected a layer of seduction to the hard-hitting songs she wrote. Harry reflected in her memoir:
I was playing up the idea of being a very feminine woman while fronting a male rock band in a highly macho game. I was saying things in the songs that female singers really didn’t say back then.
My Blondie character was an inflatable doll but with a dark, provocative, aggressive side. I was playing it up, yet I was very serious.
Harry’s influence can be heard in songs by performers including Miley Cyrus, Kelly Clarkson, and Missy Elliott, all of whom have sampled or covered Blondie songs. Madonna has cited Harry as “a role model.” She was also the subject of a portrait by Andy Warhol, a nod to her status as a pop culture icon.
- In full:
- Deborah Ann Harry
- Original name:
- Angela Trimble
Harry has appeared in such films as David Cronenberg’s Videodrome (1983) and John Waters’s 1988 comedy Hairspray (later turned into a successful musical), in which she played the antagonist Velma Von Tussle. She declined a role in the 1982 sci-fi movie Blade Runner, to her eternal regret; Daryl Hannah got the part.