Debbie Harry

Deborah Ann Harry, born Angela Trimble on July 1, 1945, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Blondie. Labeled the "Queen of New Wave" by American Songwriter, Harry achieved major international success with the band, scoring four number-one singles on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart between 1979 and 1981.

Born in Miami, Florida, Harry was adopted at three months old by Catherine and Richard Harry and raised in Hawthorne, New Jersey. She learned of her adoption at four years old. Harry attended Hawthorne High School, where she was voted "Best Looking" and graduated in 1963. She earned an Associate of Arts degree from Centenary College in 1965. After moving to New York City in the late 1960s, she worked various jobs, including serving as a secretary at the BBC Radio office, a waitress at Max's Kansas City, a go-go dancer, and a Playboy Bunny.

Harry began her musical career in the late 1960s as a backing vocalist for the folk rock group The Wind in the Willows, appearing on their 1968 debut album. In 1973, she joined the band The Stillettoes, where she met guitarist Chris Stein. Harry and Stein departed in 1974 to form Angel and the Snake before renaming the group Blondie, named after a catcall frequently directed at Harry. The band performed regularly at New York City venues like CBGB and Max's Kansas City before releasing their self-titled debut album in 1976.

Blondie achieved worldwide commercial success with their 1978 album Parallel Lines, propelled by the hit single "Heart of Glass." Their success continued with the albums Eat to the Beat in 1979 and Autoamerican in 1980. These releases spawned multiple number-one singles, including "Call Me," "Atomic," "The Tide Is High," and "Rapture," which became the first rap-oriented song to reach number one on the U.S. Billboard charts.

In 1981, Harry launched a solo music career with the album KooKoo, produced by Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards. Following a hiatus with Blondie caused by internal struggles and Stein's illness, she released further solo albums, including Rockbird in 1986, Def, Dumb and Blonde in 1989, and Debravation in 1993. Alongside music, she built an acting career, appearing in feature films such as Union City (1980), David Cronenberg's Videodrome (1983), John Waters's Hairspray (1988), Body Bags (1993), and Heavy (1995).

Blondie reunited in the late 1990s, releasing the album No Exit in 1999 and The Curse of Blondie in 2003. Harry continued taking roles in independent films throughout the 2000s, including Deuces Wild, My Life Without Me, Spun, and Elegy. With Blondie, she later recorded and released the studio albums Panic of Girls in 2011, Ghosts of Download in 2014, and Pollinator in 2017.