Generally speaking, I like to note the 70th birthday of performers that I enjoy in this blog. Well, Debbie Harry, the lead singer of the group Blondie, no relation to Bumstead, turned 70 on July 1, and I totally missed it.
Blondie is an American rock band that Harry formed with guitarist Chris Stein. It took the band until its third album, Parallel Lines in 1978 before they became big in the United States. Their music is eclectic, including elements of punk rock, disco, pop, rap, and reggae.
Many of their songs were co-written by Harry and Stein, including “Heart of Glass”, “Picture This”, “Dreaming”, “Island of Lost Souls”, “Rapture”, and “Rip Her to Shreds”.
The group broke up in 1982, and Debbie Harry pursued a solo career with mixed results. She took a few years off to care for Chris Stein, “who was diagnosed with pemphigus, a rare autoimmune disease of the skin.”
Blondie re-formed in 1997 and performs and records to this day. The group, which has sold 50 million records worldwide, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006.
LISTEN to The Best of Blondie, which includes my favorites, including Heart of Glass, The Tide Is High, Hanging On The Telephone, Rapture, One Way Or Another (written by Harry and Nigel Harrison), and Call Me (written by Harry and Giorgio Moroder for the film American Gigolo).
