Before Blondie, Debbie was in a forgettable folk rock group The Wind In The Willows before becoming part of The Stilettos with Blondie guitarist Chris Stein in the early 1970s. Her strong stage personality of cool sexuality and street-wise style became so closely associated with Blondie the band that many confused Harry herself as "Blondie" - as a solo artist - to her lasting chagrin. This is unfortunate because Blondie, the band, laid down a rich legacy of experimental tracks, situationist lyrics and DIY weirdness which makes them interesting as a musical group. Among her notable vocals are "Heart of Glass" (a New-Wave/Disco crossover) and the rap on "Rapture" (the first rap song to top the US charts). Harry fans list her Yoko Ono-esque screams on "Victor" and delivery of such classics as "Atomic", "Call Me", "The Tide Is High", and "One Way or Another" as other outstanding vocal performances. In 1981 (see 1981 in music), Harry began a solo career, but then entered a temporary retirement (1983-1985) to help nurse Chris Stein, back to health after he was diagnosed with a rare genetic disease called Pemphigus. With Stein's recovery, she returned as a musician and actress. Deborah Harry currently resides in New York City. Acting roles Some of her notable film roles were in Videodrome (1983), Rock & Rule (1983) an animated movie where she did vocals opposite Robin Zander of Cheap Trick, and John Waters' Hairspray (1988), where she played the big-haired and villainous Velma von Tussle, paired with Sonny Bono. She has also had notable roles in such films as Spun, Cop Land and My Life Without Me She also guest starred on the first episode of Sabrina, the Teenage Witch and Wiseguy . She had a voice role in the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City as a cab dispatcher, and sang "Ghost Riders in the Sky" over the closing credits of Alex Cox's film Three Businessmen. Solo career Harry has since released solo albums, performed with the avant-garde jazz group the Jazz Passengers, released two new albums with Blondie - No Exit (1999) and The Curse of Blondie (2004), and come on to be one of the biggest Gay icons in the world. One of the biggest Gay anthems in the U.K is "I Want That Man", from her 1989 solo album Def, Dumb and Blonde. In 1995, Debbie recorded two songs with Argentinian ska band Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, most notably on the Lennon-McCartney song Strawberry Fields Forever. Debbie Harry became the prototype for successive strong women in popular music such as Madonna, Courtney Love, Gwen Stefani and any number of contemporary pop princesses. Up to that point, rock had been a heavily male-dominated field, with women trivialized as backup singers or groupies. Many women musicians have acknowledged Debbie Harry's pioneering role.

Albums See also Blondie discography Koo Koo (1981) Rockbird (1986) Def, Dumb and Blonde (1989) The Complete Picture - The Very Best Of Deborah Harry And Blondie (1991) Debravation (1993) Singles Year Song US Hot 100 US Dance US Modern Rock UK singles Album 1981 "Backfired" 43 29 - 32 Koo Koo 1981 "The Jam Was Moving" 82 - - - Koo Koo 1983 "Rush, Rush" 105 28 - - Scarface soundtrack 1986 "French Kissin'" 57 - - 8 Rockbird 1986 "In Love With Love" 70 1 - - Rockbird 1988 "Liar, Liar" - - 14 - Married To the Mob soundtrack 1989 "I Want That Man" - - 2 13 Def, Dumb and Blonde 1989 "Kiss It Better" - - 12 - Def, Dumb and Blonde 1990 "Sweet and Low" - 17 - - Def, Dumb and Blonde 1993 "I Can See Clearly" - 2 - 23 Debravation 1997 "Command and Obey" (Groove Thing featuring Debbie Harry) - 42 - - - 1999 "Command and Obey" (remix) (Groove Thing featuring Debbie Harry) - 49 - - -