Happy 80th Birthday, Debbie Harry.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGU_…— John Schmitt (@jschmittwdc.bsky.social) July 1, 2025 at 8:23 AM
Not sure some of y’all will forgive me for this, but… Vanity Fair on “Debbie Harry on Creative Highlights, Her Risqué Run-In With David Bowie, and Why She Didn’t Have Children”:
Debbie Harry isn’t a fan of nostalgia.
“I don’t like looking backwards,” says Blondie’s legendary vocalist, who turns 80 this month. “I want challenges, I want to look ahead—to expand, or gather my physical, mental state of being and squeeze something out. The way Blondie came to be was sort of wringing something out of desperation, or crazy vision, or comic book life. Just push it out.”
Harry, who has sold over 50 million albums worldwide (11 with Blondie and five solo albums), performed until last year with the band—the first out of the 1970s CBGB’s rock scene that had pop hits (“Heart of Glass,” “Call Me,” “Rapture”). She’s appeared in more than 30 film and TV shows, authored a memoir (“Face It”), and, in 2006, was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with fellow Blondie band members Chris Stein, Clem Burke, Gary Valentine, Jimmy Destri, Frank Infante, and Nigel Harrison.
Here, she talks to Lisa Robinson about legacy, influence, drugs, being propositioned by David Bowie, image, her relationship with Blondie cocreator Chris Stein, and future challenges.
Vanity Fair: Do you think the way you integrated rap and reggae into your songs made Blondie more deceptive and subversive than just a pop-punk band?
Debbie Harry: I hope so. We had adversity and resistance, but what I really enjoyed was the climb. And having to win. Not like an athlete who decided to get into music, but it’s just that the challenge is so important. Even if it was my own boundaries; I had to break out of being a middle class kid who wasn’t expected to do any of this. I had to break out of that suburban training.
You’ve done so many genre-defying things that mattered and lasted: Blondie music, solo albums, movies—what are you most proud of?
I think the things I get most teary-eyed about are the relationships, good fortune, and the luck I’ve had working with some wonderful, exotic, talented people. Great minds. My list is going to sound very short, but having worked with Chris [Stein] and Clem [Blondie drummer Clem Burke, who died of cancer this past April] for years—especially Chris, that’s extraordinary. Keeping a rock band together for 50 years was like a marriage, and it’s sad that with Clem’s passing and without having Chris onstage, I can’t see myself being onstage as Blondie, even though I am the face of Blondie. But I’m proud of the music, and I would still like to do music. Then, [working with] John Waters and David Cronenberg on the film side of things. I feel like a little footnote in terms of how these people have affected culture.
But you’ve influenced so many female music stars who followed, including Madonna, Gwen Stefani and Lady Gaga, to name a few. But you weren’t “androgynous,” you didn’t wear black leather or play guitar; you were very feminine. Do you think that made people think you weren’t as smart as you are?
I was always sort of the pop tart. Whatever it took. We were ready to take what came along. And that’s one of the things I really like about live music…
Happy birthday Debbie Harry 🎂
📷 Mick Rock, 1978
"Debbie led the pack. She had so many setbacks, and she just kept going."
– Cyndi Lauper— Dean Frey (@dean.bsky.social) July 1, 2025 at 11:20 AM
CaseyL
There was a time in the 1970s-80s when Blondie was my background music wherever I went, whatever I did.
Trollhattan
Queen.
Not being a New York kid I never had the CBGB experience but really, really wish I could have seen a triple bill of Ramones, Talking Heads and Blondie. What an era.
And the music will carry on many more decades to come. What’s better for any artist?
zhena gogolia
Why wouldn’t we forgive you? I don’t see anything obnoxious.
Tony Jay
Take it from a foreign guy of the half century variety, Debbie Harry is pretty much an icon of ‘America’ right up there with Marilyn, cowboys and the Dollar Bill.
Blondie = New York. 70s. First-draft cool and great music.
VFX Lurker
Debbie Harry sang some of the fine tracks for the Rock & Rule (1983 animated feature), too.
Trollhattan
A guilty pleasure is first reactions to “classic” pop music. Here’s a favorite first listen of Heart of Glass.
https://youtu.be/yat9-i8LBmQ?si=ckVFcOyBiJ0KdxEo
Omnes Omnibus
I often pair Debbie Harry woth Chrissie Hynde on my mind as tough women who succeeded in a very misogynistic world.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
Free link:
https://archive.ph/J0ftR
Great interview, thanks for sharing.
NutmegAgain
Debbie Harry has an amazing voice and a fantastic attitude. Anybody else around here remember Blondie & the Stilettos?
Wapiti
Parallel Lines was the first album I bought.
We were trying to explain Blondie to a (now 22 y.o.) family member. A band with disco (Heart of Glass) and rap (Rapture, the man from mars eating cars song) hits. I think I read that Rapture was the first rap featured on MTV.
Trollhattan
@Tony Jay:
The least we could do in return for The Clash, Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, etc….
Fun era, really fun.
Trollhattan
@Omnes Omnibus:
Truth. And The Pretenders ranks among the best debut albums by anybody.
Ten Bears
I’m having a hard time with … 80
Anne Laurie
She was an icon when I was {mumble mumble} years old, so if she’s now 80 then I must be…
Tony Jay
@Trollhattan:
To each according to their need, from each according to their ability.
JWR
@Trollhattan:
And everyone’s always saying that the ’70’s were so dull, dull, DULL!
I really enjoyed a lot of Blondie’s stuff, (okay, I especially liked Debbie Harry, for obvious reasons), but that disco inspired stuff? Pass.
Gin & Tonic
@Trollhattan: CBGB (actually, to be precise, CBGB&OMFUG) was a thing of a very specific time and place, like the nearby Electric Circus before it. These things can’t be replicated.
hells littlest angel
Thank you, AL. I’d likely have missed this story without your post.
zhena gogolia
@Anne Laurie: Oh, I’m well past that kind of feeling.
NotMax
@Gin & Tonic
Also too Cafe Wha? which AFAIK is still in business, showcasing musical talent.
JWR
A favorite from the Red, Hot & Blue AIDs fundraiser CD:
TheOtherHank
I think my favorite acting role of hers is when she played “Neighbor” in an episode of The Adventures of Pete & Pete. Mostly because I shouted something like “Holy shit! That’s Debbie Harry!” when she came on screen.
Omnes Omnibus
@JWR: That’s a great album.
Sure Lurkalot
@Trollhattan:
AND…..English Beat, Psychedelic Furs, Big Audio Dynamite, Public Image Ltd……
Matt McIrvin
So badass and so good and she’s still out there making music.
JWR
@Omnes Omnibus: It’s swellegant!
JCJ
@Ten Bears: yeah, that really stings. 80? How is that possible? Well, if I admit that I am now retired (although providing vacation coverage on occasion) I must confess to having aged myself.
Kristine
Love Blondie. Harry’s great voice.
::digs out the Parallel Lines lp::
(but damn, 80)
The Pale Scot
So beautiful, so talented. Best videos of her is when she went on the Muppet show.
Debbie Harry & Kermit The Frog – Rainbow Connection
Muppet Show: Debbie Harry and the Frog Scouts
Dan B
@Trollhattan: Chryssie Hinds was from the town I was born in so it felt extra special to me. Several great musicians came out of Akron.
Mai Naem mobile
Always liked Debbie Harry. She never comes across as full of herself. She just seems forever cool.
Jacel
Debbie’s work with The jazz Passengers were another wonderful facet of her music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=290Va_vhRYk
AxelFoley
@Wapiti:
I believe you are correct. It also featured Fab 5 Freddy, who was the original host of Yo! MTV Raps.
Omnes Omnibus
An odd juxtaposition.
piratedan
twas a helluva time when Blondie broke thru, it was like the anti-disco revolution, even tho their monster hit stole from the genre shamelessly, you could tell that these guys were just slumming there when you heard their follow up and other album cuts…. those of you that lived thru it when you were looking for anything on the radio that wasn’t Donna Summer, The Bee Gees or Barry Manilow, these guys helped make music be what mattered again…
now time to go cue up Sunday Girl again to listen to her sing in French…. sigh…..
Omnes Omnibus
I know just what you mean.
FastEdD
The horrors are so bad, that discussing Blondie is a breath of fresh air. The melody from Call Me is an ear worm that never leaves. I love it.
phein65
@AxelFoley: It was also the ONLY rap song played on VHS1.
Sister Golden Bear
@piratedan:
Debbie and Chris loved the energy of disco, and were amused to no end by how many of their fans hated “Heart of Glass” because it was a disco song. They thought it was punk AF to play it at CBGB for punk crowds.
zhena gogolia
I love the Bee Gees.
frosty
I loved (and still do) Blondie. What other band started with girl-group songs, moved on to reggae, rap, rock, and disco and made it all great listening?
I saw them in 2019 in, oddly enough, the same theater in the town where I grew up, where I took my dates to see movies.
Clem Burke was a great drummer. RIP
frosty
@JWR: The 70s were just Used Weird from the 60s … until Springsteen, then CBGB, Blondie, Talking Heads, Elvis Costello etc. Then it’s like “Wow, this is new weird!” Then the 80s ramped it up.
Betty
@zhena gogolia: Coincidentally I was just listening to the BeeGees, the early songs, not the disco era.
laura
Often ignored is the caring Debbie Harry did for her darling fella Chris Stein. Caring is hard and carers deserve thanks and recognition.
Eric S.
I saw “Debbie Harry” in the title and briefly panicked before I got to “An Inspiration”.
Now, back to read the post.
lowtechcyclist
Mick Jagger, one of the biggest names of the mid-1960s British Invasion, is 81. (Turns 82 this month.) It’s hard to grok that Debbie Harry, who came along so much later, is practically the same age as Mick and only a few years younger than Bob Dylan, fercryinoutloud.
I am a huge Blondie/Deborah Harry fan. There’s a whole bunch of Blondie songs I can listen to in my head anytime at all. I was sad to hear of Clem Burke’s passing; I don’t know much about music, but even I could tell his drumming was something special.
lowtechcyclist
@zhena gogolia:
So does my wife. I love her anyway.
Eric S.
@JWR: There was a lot bad in the 70s. Not all of it. And definitely not Blondie!!
(There was a lot of bad pop culture in every decade/era.)
Chief Oshkosh
@frosty: Eh…that wasn’t my experience. 70s included most of Led Zeps stuff, a lot of Pink Floyd’s stuff, Queen, Elton John, Fleetwood Mac, Billy Joel, Dire Straits, Warren Devon…sure some of them started in the late 60s, but 60s, 70s, those are just numbers.
Matt McIrvin
There was great music all through the 70s. The stuff at the top of the pop charts was just often dire, once the last embers of the 60s faded, but that’s true in just about any era. Even the Top 40 stuff got a bit better when disco happened.
And then the last part of it was really the beginning of the 80s, music-wise. Punk and New Wave suddenly appearing.
RevRick
@Trollhattan: Will it? Will the pop music of the 60s, 70s, 80s carry on for decades? I doubt it. And the reason why I doubt it is that people don’t sing it, they listen to it. Singing songs reinforces the impact in the brain. Singing produces endorphins. Being entertained is passive.
One of the alarming trends I find in worship is fewer people are singing. It reflects a culture that expects to be entertained.
Tell me, what were the pop hits of the 1920s, 30s, 40s? Who were the top performers?
Kristine
@frosty:
Um…Bowie. T-Rex. Solo Lou Reed.
Ruckus
@Anne Laurie:
I’m not much younger than Debbie Harry.
I always like to hear that people older than me did some fine, creative things because a lot of creative life has changed rather significantly in my lifetime. As I’ve said previously I made tools for others to make things with and made things that one might never have seen. Anyone seen bone saw blades? I’ve cut the teeth on a lot of them. Have samples I can see from where I’m sitting. The list goes on and on.
azlib
I listen to Blondie when I ride my bike. She is quite the talent.
BellyCat
Just wanted to see this again. Happiest of Birthdays to a transformative musical/cultural pioneer!
Paul in KY
@Omnes Omnibus: True! Another great album (underappreciated, I think) is Autoamerican
Ramalama
I saw Debbie Harry perform in a jazz bar in Cambridge MA after Blondie. Can’t recall the name of the band but they did this incredibly vibey and warped version of The Tide is High. The concert was great but the remake of the song was incredible.
Small space but crowded, Debbie walked through the crowd to get off stage and a woman near me stopped her and gushed, “ba ga ba da I love you,” and Debbie paused and then said, “Put er there,” and shook the fan’s hand.
Yeah!
Matt McIrvin
@RevRick: The pop music of the 60s, 70s, 80s HAS ALREADY carried on for decades. The best of it, at least, and some of the most memorable sludge. The Age of Disco started 50 years ago! Paul McCartney found out 19 years ago whether we’d still feed him when he was 64, and the Beatles themselves are now past that age.
Centuries might be a tall order.
Matt McIrvin
By the way, in other music news: The story you may have heard that Donald Trump is suing Bruce Springsteen for defamation seems to be false AI-generated slop.
I think it got a lot of traction just because the Indian newspaper, The Economic Times, picked it up, but you’ll notice that other mainstream news organizations haven’t. Expect a lot of this kind of legit-washing.
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
Oh thanks. I think I posted that hear. Probably from that newspaper.
lowtechcyclist
@Matt McIrvin:
My my, hey hey… 😊