Deborah Harry was born Angela Tremble on July 1, 1945 in Miami, Florida. At three months, she was adopted by Catherine (Peters) and Richard Smith Harry, and was raised in Hawthorne, New Jersey. In the 1960s, she worked as a Playboy Bunny and hung out at Max's Kansas City, a famous Warhol-inhabited nightspot. Her professional singing career sta...
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Deborah Harry was born Angela Tremble on July 1, 1945 in Miami, Florida. At three months, she was adopted by Catherine (Peters) and Richard Smith Harry, and was raised in Hawthorne, New Jersey. In the 1960s, she worked as a Playboy Bunny and hung out at Max's Kansas City, a famous Warhol-inhabited nightspot. Her professional singing career started in 1968 with a folk band called The Wind in the Willows. She sang backup on their first (and only) album. The band broke up shortly after failing to achieve commercial success or critical acclaim. In 1973, she met Chris Stein, who became her longtime boyfriend. They created Blondie in 1974 after they both were in the Stilletoes, a theatrical "girl group" band. Blondie struggled for a few years, then went on to be one of the most successful bands of the late 1970s and early 1980s, but the group broke up in 1982.Harry has released five solo albums, acted in several movies and television series and a few commercials (Gloria Vanderbilt Jeans, Sara Lee, Revlon). She has done many benefit shows in support of AIDS charities, a Broadway show ("Teaneck Tanzi"), poetry readings, and been one of the most notorious characters in the New York downtown scene. As of 1995, she was doing shows in the United States and Europe with the Jazz Passengers and Elvis Costello, filming two new movies (Heavy (1995) with Liv Tyler and Evan Dando and Drop Dead Rock (1996) with Adam Ant) and topping the dance charts with two newly remixed Blondie singles ("Rapture" and "Atomic"). Several Blondie tribute albums have been released and a Blondie remix album titled "Remixed, Remade, Remodeled" came out in 1995. Show less «
The only person I really believe in is me.
The only person I really believe in is me.
That was always what I felt was the beauty of rock 'n' roll, it was entertainment and showbiz yet it...Show more »
That was always what I felt was the beauty of rock 'n' roll, it was entertainment and showbiz yet it had the idea of the voice of the people, it had an essence to it which was socially motivated. Not that I want to change to world, you know? But it was sort of relevant to real life, it involved the real essence of poetry or the real essence of fine art. But it was also entertainment. That was the real vitality. Show less «
The only place left for rock to go is toward more girl stars. There's nothing left for men to do. Th...Show more »
The only place left for rock to go is toward more girl stars. There's nothing left for men to do. There's bound to be more male stars, but they can't express anything new. Show less «
I could be a housewife... I guess I've vacumed a couple of times.
I could be a housewife... I guess I've vacumed a couple of times.
[on how she would have dealt with fame starting out young] Gee, I don't know, I think I'd probably h...Show more »
[on how she would have dealt with fame starting out young] Gee, I don't know, I think I'd probably have been a better star, I think I would have gone for it in a much more showbiz kind of way. Which probably would have been better in the long run, you know? What I really wanted was to be was a beatnik, I really wanted to be an underground artist. That was really where my thrust was, being a pop star - I thought it was such bullshit, you know? I knew it was bullshit, I didn't really give a rat's ass about any of it, I wanted to be famous, but I didn't really care about carrying any of it on, you know. In a sense it would have been better if I had approached it in a more legitimate showbiz kind of way. Show less «
[on actress Kirsten Dunst playing her in a proposed biographical film]: She's a really sweet person....Show more »
[on actress Kirsten Dunst playing her in a proposed biographical film]: She's a really sweet person. I've met with her a couple of times and hung out with her socially. She's just a sweetie. She's probably capable of a lot of things she hasn't been asked to do yet, and doing something that's sort of left of center would be great for her. Show less «
[on current pop bands, 2014] I see a lot of people brimming with self-confidence that really don't h...Show more »
[on current pop bands, 2014] I see a lot of people brimming with self-confidence that really don't have anything to offer. I met a person who had the... I guess temerity is the word, to say that they were an idea person. If you're an idea person, carry out one of your ideas. Do them, do them. Don't just wait for someone. The work is where you get your shit together. Show less «
I'm very comfortable and happy with Chris, it's a good thing, something happens with our two minds, ...Show more »
I'm very comfortable and happy with Chris, it's a good thing, something happens with our two minds, which automatically just fits together. Even now everything is sort of parallel. We don't even think about it, it just happens. I think we're lucky that we actually found each other. I never expected anything like that to happen, I never knew that anything like that even existed. Show less «
(on her refusal to locate her birth parents) I know who I am, and it would be an insult to the Harry...Show more »
(on her refusal to locate her birth parents) I know who I am, and it would be an insult to the Harrys. Show less «
[on her status as a sex symbol back in her day] Being hot never hurts!
[on her status as a sex symbol back in her day] Being hot never hurts!
(from an early 1980s interview) Performing in front of a camera is a new adventure for me. It's a ne...Show more »
(from an early 1980s interview) Performing in front of a camera is a new adventure for me. It's a new and much more intellectual process. Music is more of the moment, more spiritual. It's an event! Show less «
[on the 1970s]: You know I always felt about that period, that all of those drugs that came around t...Show more »
[on the 1970s]: You know I always felt about that period, that all of those drugs that came around that wiped out a lot of us and obliterated a lot of stuff, was all politically sanctioned. I always felt that and Chris said that too; that a lot of people who really had something important to say or do were subdued. Show less «
Why should you force your brain cells to remember a lot of stuff when the most important thing you c...Show more »
Why should you force your brain cells to remember a lot of stuff when the most important thing you can do is to come up with new stuff? For me you know, I'm just writing now and trying to think of things that take the twist with a lot of the stuff. Why should I sit here and be chronological or like a time machine with old information? It doesn't make sense to me. Show less «
