Date of Birth:
1st July 1945, Miami, Florida
Show History:
Current Role
Deborah Harry is the latest star to sign her songs over to a West End production, Desperately Seeking Susan will open in the West End October 2007 featuring a number of classic Blondie songs. Deborah has also recently released a new album called "The Scotsman: Feeling Right At Home".
Early Life
Deborah was born in Miami, Florida on the 1st July 1945 and was adopted when she was three by a family from Hawthorne, New Jersey. She attended Hawthorne High School where she graduated in 1963, after completing her studies Deborah moved to New york and found work as a secretary in the BBC Radio New York office. Later she worked as a waitress, a dancer in Union City and a Playboy Bunny .
Deborah began her musical career in 1968 with folk rock group The Wind In The Willows, however she soon left to join the girl group trio "The Stilettos" in the early 1970s. The Stiletto's backup band included boyfriend and eventual Blondie guitarist Chris Stein, Deborah and Chris formed Blondie mid 1970 and quickly became regulars at Max's Kansas City and CBGB's in New York City. Blondie's debut album reached commercial in the late 1970s and early 1980s, first in Australia and Europe, then in the United States.
Career Highlights
Blondie quickly rose to fame with Debbie becoming recognised for her punk style, her look was further popularised by the band's early presence in the music video revolution. Blondies clip for single "Rapture" appeared within the first 24 hours of MTV's launch. Although in 1976 to 1977 Blondie's first two LP's had little success outside the US, from 1978 to 1980 the group hit big and were an international success with the singles "Heart of Glass", "Atomic", "The Tide is High", "Rapture" and "Call Me", with albums "Parallel Lines", "Eat To The Beat" and "Autoamerican".
After their sixth album "The Hunter" Blondie launched a North American tour to support the release, however after Chris Stein fell ill with a rare genetic disease the tour was cut short and the band called it quits and announced their split.
The mid 1990's saw the the release of the Blondie remix album and due to the success the band reformed in 1998. Blondie had a sell out Europe tour, a Guinness World Record single, performances at sell out festivals, highly popular album.
Winter of 2002 Blondie burst back to life after losing their master tapes in the 9/11 attacks, they launched a full scale UK tour. This considered with the release of a new single in summer of 2003 entitled "Good Boys" and the release of Blondie's eighth studio album, the critically acclaimed The Curse of Blondie. Blondie toured throughout 2003 and 2004 completing two further full scale tours of the UK.
2005 saw the release of Blondie's second live album "Live By Request", their fourth UK tour and in 2006 they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. At the end of 2006 a new mix of "Heart of Glass" became a big club hit in Europe, while Harry released the single "New York New York", a collaboration with Moby.
Deborah has also had a very successful solo career which began in 1981 releasing four hit albums and a string of number one songs and collaborative tracks. The new album will be released on Eleven Seven Music on August 7, 2007 (US only) by which time she will have completed both a solo tour of the US in June and an European tour with Blondie in July. The Album gets a UK release in September 2007.
The multitalented Harry has also starred in a number of acting roles, both film and stage, and lent her song writing skills to various film soundtracks. It comes as no surprise that Deborah has released a number of Blondie tracks to the upcoming stage adaptation of Desperately Seeking Susan which is due to hit the West End this October.
Interesting Facts
- Deborah entered the Guinness Book of World Records in 1999 as the "Oldest Female Singer to Reach No. 1 in the UK Chart" when Blondie went to number one with "Maria" on February 13, 1999 at the age of 53 years and 227 days
Awards
- Nominated for a Golden Globe and an Independent Spirit Award
- ASCAP award for "Heart of Glass"
