Blondie Biography

Blondie, who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006, emerged as one of the great pop idols of New York's famous late '70s new wave punk movement by resisting easy classification. They created fantastic rock melodies as well as smart, sarcastic lyrics. They wore the trendiest clothing and had the coolest hair. Debbie Harry rose from the pages of Punk magazine to the front cover of nearly every major journal on the market. Blondie was founded in 1974 by art student/guitarist Chris Stein and vocalist/songwriter Deborah Harry, an ex-folkie and ex-Kansas Max's City waitress. Clem Burke, on drums, and Jimmy Destri, on keyboards, joined in 1975. Before recording their debut album Blondie for the Private Stock label in 1976, the band performed the legendary New York downtown circuit of CBGB's, Max's Kansas City, and Mothers, building a sizable fan base. It was released in 1977 and got positive reviews as the band toured in support of Iggy Pop and David Bowie. Plastic Letters, their second album, was released in the summer of 1977, and they toured Europe and Asia. Denis, a single released in March 1978, reached number two in the United Kingdom. That summer, the band collaborated with producer Mike Chapman to fine-tune their radio sound and produced the album Parallel Lines, with the song Picture This reaching number 12 in the United Kingdom and the follow-up, Hanging on the Telephone, reaching number 5. Blondie's first number one hit in the United States was Heart of Glass, which also sold over a million copies in the United Kingdom and sold more than 20 million copies worldwide. Sunday Girl, Parallel Lines' fourth single, also reached number one in the United Kingdom. Eat to the Beat, the band's fourth album, was released in September 1979, accompanied with the first-ever album-length video. Blondie's chart presence in the United Kingdom was extended before the end of the year with the 2 hit Dreaming. By February 1980, they had another number one single in the United Kingdom with Atomic, and two months later, Call Me, from the Paul Schrader film American Gigolo, had reached number one in the United States for the second time. Eat to the Beat was declared platinum before the end of the year. The Tide Is High, from Blondie's fifth album Autoamerican, was a No. 1 hit in the United Kingdom, and it was a No. 1 hit in the United States. The band was featured on the popular TV show Solid Gold, and the record quickly went platinum. Debbie's debut solo album, Koo Koo, was produced by Chic's Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards and had a cover by H.R. Giger, the Academy Award-winning sci-fi artist who designed the Alien monster. In 1982, the band released The Hunter, which contained the single Island of Lost Souls, their penultimate U.S. success before Chris was struck down by a rare and frequently deadly genetic illness, forcing the band to take a brief sabbatical. Debbie went on to perform in a number of films and plays, as well as compose music in a variety of situations. In recent years, she has been the Jazz Passengers' featured vocalist. Jimmy took a break from music to raise a family and work as a contractor. In New York, Chris produced a number of acts. Clem continues to record and perform with well-known artists. Sixteen years later, the band members were used to being apart, but they were still communicating. Friendships were still present. The doors were slightly ajar. They reassembled to play a concert in response to a request, and they had so much fun and discovered so much chemistry that they decided to attempt to produce some new music. That worked so well that they reformed and released No Exit, the seventh Blondie studio album, produced by Craig Leon, who had also produced the band's debut single, X-Offender, and assisted producer Richard Gottehrer on the first album. Blondie's No Exit was a wonderful, up-to-date development - a great mix of flawlessly constructed pop tunes. That precise, driving beat; Debbie's distinctive voice, sensuous, soulful but sarcastic; atmospheric synths, sometimes rich, sometimes spooky; and superbly defined guitar lines remained. It was a triumphant return, highlighted by the single Maria, which reached number one in 14 countries. The album sold over two million copies worldwide, and the band followed it up with two tours in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe. The Curse of Blondie, the band's 11th album, included 14 strong new songs, making it the most musically diversified and creative record in the group's career. Blondie's Live By Request CD and DVD were released on September 14, 2004, and the band released their Greatest Hits: Sight and Sound CD/DVD in the United Kingdom (which immediately went gold) to coincide with a November-December 2005 British tour. The package was released in the United States in the spring of 2006 by Capitol/EMI Music Catalog Marketing. Aside from the group's pioneering films from 1977 to 1982, the CD/DVD includes an additional track and movie of Rapture Riders, a mash-up of Rapture and The Doors' Riders on the Storm. The Best of Blondie, a Capitol/EMI Music Catalog Marketing product, has been certified double platinum by the RIAA for sales of more than two million copies. One of the plaques was auctioned off to generate funds for the renowned CBGB's club, which is facing eviction from its downtown site. In 2008, EMI will commemorate the 30th anniversary of Blondie's Parallel Lines with a re-release of the iconic album that gave the band their first No. 1 hit in the United States, "Heart of Glass," and went on to sell over 20 million copies – an extraordinary feat accomplished only by a select group of artists. The reissue includes all of the original iconic tunes, as well as instrumental versions and several older recordings previously only available on vinyl, as well as new video material. The timeless band that shattered records and crossed boundaries with their own style and music will return to the road for a tour that will take them throughout the United States and Europe from the summer until the end of the year. Debbie is justifiably pleased of the band's achievements: "The guys have grown extremely talented at what they do." They were always terrific players and composers, but I believe they are now accomplished.”

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