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| Birth Name(s) : Deborah Ann Harry |
Date of Birth: N/A |
| Status:
Single
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Partner:
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| Profession:
Vocalist, Musician, Actress |
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Full Deborah Harry Biography
Deborah Ann Harry (born July 1, 1945, in Miami, Florida) is a singer-songwriter and actress most famous for being the lead singer for the punk rock/new wave band Blondie. Following Blondie's success, she went on to moderate success as a solo artist.
With her two-tone bottle-blonde hair, Debbie Harry quickly became a recognizable icon of punk style. Her look was further popularized by the band's early presence in the music video revolution of the era. She was a continued regular at Studio 54 and was associated with Andy Warhol. The clip for 'Rapture' appeared within the first 24 hours of MTV's launch. Harry's strong stage persona of cool sexuality and streetwise style became so closely associated with the group's name that many came to believe the singer's name to be "Blondie". The difference between the individual Harry and the band Blondie was famously highlighted with a "Blondie is a Group" button campaign by the band in 1979. To complicate matters further, Harry sometimes described her character in the band as being named "Blondie", as in this quote from the No Exit tour book:“Hi, it's Deb. You know, when I woke up this morning I had a realization about myself. I was always Blondie. People always called me Blondie, ever since I was a little kid. What I realized is that at some point I became Dirty Harry. I couldn't be Blondie anymore, so I became Dirty Harry.”
After a final tour of Europe with The Jazz Passengers in the summer of 1998, Deborah Harry resumed duties as lead vocalist of Blondie. Prior to the release of No Exit, the band completed a sold out tour of Europe. Dates at London's Lyceum Theatre were recorded by the BBC and aired on national BBC Radio 1. A week prior to the release of No Exit, the lead single "Maria" debuted at number one in the UK, making Harry the oldest female singer to reach No. 1 in the UK, a record she still holds. "Maria" hit #1 in 14 different countries, the top 10 on the US Dance Charts, and Top 15 on the US Adult Top 40 Charts. No Exit debuted at No.3 in the UK and #17 in the US, where it is very close to gold certification, and Blondie announced dates for a major Arena tour that summer during which they played the Glastonbury Festival and Party in the Park in London. "Nothing Is Real but the Girl" was another UK Top 30 hit, while the title track was released as a single to coincide with further arena dates in November of that year.
Deborah Harry's fourth solo album, Debravation, appeared in July 1993. The album's first single was the Baker-produced "I Can See Clearly", which peaked in the UK at #23 and #2 on the U.S. dance charts. This was followed by "Strike Me Pink" in September. Controversy surrounded the latter track's drowning man video, which was banned and subsequent record company promo cancelled. U.S. editions of the album feature two additional tracks recorded with pre-recorded music by REM: "Tear Drops" and "My Last Date (With You)".
To promote the album, Harry appeared on various talk shows to perform Two Times Blue. She will also start a 22 date US tour on November 8, lasting until December 9, playing small venues and clubs across the country. It is unknown whether or not she'll continue the tour in Europe.
In 1983 Harry teamed up with Giorgio Moroder (with whom she had worked previously on Blondie's "Call Me") on the song "Rush Rush", which was featured in the film Scarface (and later, the Grand Theft Auto III radio station "Flashback FM"). Harry's single "Feel The Spin", produced by John "Jellybean" Benitez, was released in 1985. That song, along with the whole soundtrack to the film Krush Groove, peaked at #5 on the U.S. Dance Charts. The song's "uno dos tres quatro" intro has been sampled on a number of records, including S'Express' "Theme from S'Express".
Aside from writing and recording material for Blondie, Harry pursued a number of solo projects. She appears on the 2001 Bill Ware album Vibes 4 singing the track 'Me and You' as well as on ex-Police guitarist Andy Summers's album, Peggy's Blue Skylight on the track "Weird Nightmare". A techno cover of Stan Jones' "Ghost Riders in the Sky" was featured on the soundtrack to the film Three Business Men and was available on her website to download. Harry sings on two tracks on Andrea Griminelli's Cinema Italiano project; "Amarcord" and "You'll Come To Me", as well as on a tribute album reinterpreting the music of Harold Arlen, on which she sings the title track "Stormy Weather". In May 2002, she accompanied The Jazz Passengers and the BBC Concert Orchestra in a performance of her jazz material at the Barbican Centre in London. In 2003, she was featured vocalist on the song "Uncontrollable Love" by electro-clash dance producers Blow Up.
Following the release of Rockbird, Harry took a number of acting roles including the villainous Velma Von Tussle in John Waters' Hairspray (1988). A cover of the The Castaways' "Liar Liar" from the soundtrack to the film Married to the Mob was released as a single in the U.S. Harry's version of Micheal Jay's "Mind Over Matter" was also recorded in this period, but never released. She also starred in the film Intimate Stranger in which she played a telephone sex worker pursued by a serial killer.
She played the lead in the 2005 short film I Remember You Now, directed by Henry S. Miller, and worked with the same director again in his 2007 psychological thriller Anamorph. |
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