Just looking at the band on stage, you could very clearly tell that Blondie was named for founding member and lead singer extraordinaire, Debbie Harry. Heart of Glass, Rapture, Call Me, The Tide is High, and more huge hits helped begin the new wave scene of the mid/late 70s. This is our Deep Dive into Blondie:
- The band had its roots in the famed club CBGB in New York City, having formed along the same time as other CBGB favorites The Talking Heads, Patti Smith, The Ramones, and the New York Dolls
- The band’s first major success came from their single Heart of Glass, featured on the album Parallel Lines, which sold over 20 million copies
- Debbie Harry has always thanked Marilyn Monroe for her sense of style. She suggested the name for the band, inspired by the many catcalls she received from men after she bleached her hair
- Before Harry’s time in the band, she made money as a Playboy bunny in the NYC Playboy Club from 1968-1973
- Debbie Harry and the band’s guitarist Chris Stein were in a serious relationship for many years. They apparently broke up on the same day their friend and fan Andy Warhol died: February 22, 1987, though Harry and Stein continued to professionally work together afterward
- A number of pressures led to the breakup of Blondie by 1982. The media focused on Harry to the point where the rest of the group felt like they didn’t exist. With their popularity waning, the money coming in for tours and album sales also began to slow. Band morale was reportedly low, and bickering broke out. But the coup de grace was when Stein was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease that causes huge blisters. He managed to get cured after a long struggle, but the band was already at rest officially by the end of 82
- Blondie briefly re-formed in the late 1990s to early 2000s, and again in the late 2000s, with the original members including Debbie Harry. In 2008, they toured alongside Pat Benatar
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