Debbie Harry

Deborah Ann Harry (born July 1, 1945, in Miami, Florida) is Grammy Award winning, Golden Globe nominated American rock and roll musician from New Jersey. She originally gained fame as the frontwoman for the new wave band Blondie. Following this success, she went on to develop prolific careers as a solo musician and an actress.

Life and career
Harry was adopted at three months of age by a family from Hawthorne, New Jersey and attended Hawthorne High School. Prior to starting her singing career she moved to New York in the late 60's and worked as a secretary at the BBC Radio New York office for one year. Later, she was a waitress, a dancer in Union City, New Jersey, and a Playboy Bunny.

Early musical career
She began her musical career with the folk rock group, the Wind in the Willows. Harry then joined a girl-group trio, the Stilettos, in the early 1970s. The Stilettos' backup band included her eventual boyfriend and Blondie guitarist, Chris Stein. Harry and Stein formed the band Blondie in the mid 1970s, naming it after the catcalls men would give Harry while passing by in their cars. Blondie quickly became regulars at Max's Kansas City and CBGB's in New York City. After a debut album in 1976, commercial success followed in the late 1970s and early 1980s, first in Australia and Europe, then in the United States.

In Blondie
With her two-tone bottle-blonde hair, Debbie Harry quickly became a recognizable icon of punk style. Her look was further popularized by the band's early presence in the music video revolution of the era. The clip for 'Rapture' appeared within the first 24 hours of MTV's launch. Harry's strong stage persona of cool sexuality and streetwise style became so closely associated with the group's name that many came to believe the singer's name to be "Blondie", to her lasting chagrin. To complicate matters further, Harry has sometimes described "Blondie" as being the character she plays onstage with the band as well as the band's name. The difference between the individual Harry and the band Blondie was famously highlighted with a "Blondie is a Group" button campaign by the band in 1979.

Trivia

 * Harry entered the Guinness World Book of Records in 1999 as the "Oldest Female Singer to Reach No. 1 in the UK Chart." This happened when Blondie went to number one with "Maria" on February 13, 1999 at the age of 53 years and 227 days.


 * She is a strong advocate for LGBT rights and same-sex marriage Though she has stated that she identifies as mostly heterosexual, Harry has said she has had intimate relationships with both men and women.  She wass consequently featured in the 2007 True Colors Tour.

Current projects overview

 * Harry is one of the faces of MAC Cosmetics' Viva Glam VI campaign. The campaign donates every cent of the selling price of their iconic lipstick shades to the MAC AIDS Fund, which helps people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide.