Deborah (''because that's my name'') Harry may be looking a little bit ragged round the edges, but can still pack a punch as a performer - as anyone who witnessed her 1998 Glasgow Barrowlands set with the reformed Blondie will surely testify. Born on July 1, 1945, in Miami, Florida, she was adopted at the age of three months by Richard and Catherine Harry and was raised in New Jersey. Of her teenage years she told Juke Magazine in 1977: ''I used to dress in black every day and pretend to be tough.''
Her twenties saw her doing the usual star-in-waiting jobs - working as a secretary, a cocktail waitress, and, of course, a Playboy bunny. In the sixties she became involved in New York's alternative music scene around Greenwich Village, and through work at a club called Max's she rubbed shoulders with the Andy Warhol set. She joined a succession of avant garde groups such as the First National Unaphrenic Church And Bank.
Her first break came when she recorded backup vocals with a bizarre folk/rock act called The Wind in the Willows who released one album in 1968 on Capitol Records. Then she did something which she has continued to do throughout her career - she stayed very quiet for years on end. In 1973 she started singing again with a group called the Stilettos. In October of that year she started dating Chris Stein, and together they went on to form Blondie with the original line-up of Fred Smith on bass and Billy O'Connor on drums.
The group made their debut at the New York punk haven CBGB's, but were not an overnight success. It was not until 1977 that they made any real real impact on the British charts when Denis went to No.2. Their first worldwide hit was Heart of Glass - a No.1 in America and Britain, establishing Blondie as the foremost New Wave band of the seventies. Subsequent No.1s included Call Me, The Tide is High, and Rapture.
However, as Debbie Harry grabbed all of the attention, the cracks began to show within the band and in 1981 she released her solo debut album, Koo Koo, produced by Nile Rodgers. It flopped, failing to impress the record-buying public or the critics. She returned to the fold, but in 1984, the continuing ill-health of Chris Stein forced the band to split.
Harry again slipped from view, this time to look after her seriously ill boyfriend. She did a little acting, appearing in Union City, Videodrome, Hairspray, Drop Dead Rock, and more recently, Heavy. In 1986, she released Rockbird which featured the UK Top 10 hit French Kissing in the USA. The album was a No.2 hit in Britain and a No.1 in Australia, but failed to do well in America. Debbie went quiet again, surfacing briefly to release an occasional single; Liar Liar was one of the more memorable.
In 1989, she teamed up with Tom Bailey and Alannah Currie of the Thompson Twins and returned to the top 20 with the album Def Dumb and Blonde and the single I Want That Man. The album did well in the US, went platinum in Australia, and was followed by a world tour. In 1990 she recorded Well, Did You Evah with Iggy Pop on the Red, Hot and Blue album. In 1993 she released Debravation, which included I Can See Clearly, Rain, Standing in my Way, and Stability.
In the late 1990s she went all serious and was featured vocalist with the experimental Jazz Passengers. It was around this time that she started to instruct people: ''Don't call me Debbie.''
Since 1998 she has been touring and recording with the reformed Blondie. So, catch her while you can, before she disappears again in a puff of peroxide.
n Deborah Harry stars in Tales from the Darkside - The Movie, ITV, 12.25am
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