Face It: A Memoir

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a b c d e f Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19thed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p.245. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.

Debbie Harry: ‘It wasn’t a great idea to be as Blondie’s Debbie Harry: ‘It wasn’t a great idea to be as

Her collaboration and friendship with Warhol continued and she was his first guest on the MTV show Andy Warhol's Fifteen Minutes. The first episode opened with Harry announcing the theme: "Sex, Vegetables, Brothers and Sisters". [31] Harry is a survivor. There isn’t much she would have done differently, she says. “We all make mistakes, but the thing is to learn from them. And make different mistakes.” Rohan, Virginia (June 18, 2007). "North Jersey-bred and talented too". The Record (Bergen County) . Retrieved June 25, 2007. Debbie Harry: Class of 1963, Hawthorne High School [ dead link] All of that said, Debbie Harry is an icon, and although I didn’t get much of a feel for who she is, deep down, I still love her music and was glad I had the chance to learn a bit more about her history. Harry was born Angela Trimble on July 1, 1945, in Miami, Florida. [2] At the age of three months, she was adopted by Catherine (née Peters) and Richard Harry, [3] gift shop proprietors in Hawthorne, New Jersey, and renamed Deborah Ann Harry. Harry learned of her adoption at four years old. At first she decided against locating her birth parents, [4] but nonetheless, in the late 1980s, [5] located her birth mother, a concert pianist, who chose not to establish a relationship with Harry. [6] In her memoir, she recalls being a tomboy, spending much of her childhood playing in the woods adjacent to her home. [7]Early in her new memoir— Face It, written in collaboration with Sylvie Simmons—Debbie Harry recounts an anecdote from her childhood: “One visit, when I was a baby, my doctor gave me a lingering look. And then he turned in his white coat, grinned at my parents, and said, ‘Watch out for that one, she has bedroom eyes’.” a b Harrington, Richard (November 30, 1986). "Debbie Harry, On Beyond Blondie". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on October 9, 2019. Blondie was always a different type of band – their look and attitude screamed at you from every album cover. They were never as loud and fast as the Ramones or as influential as Patti Smith, but their music was irresistible. Early in the book, Debbie talks about the difficulties that Blondie had in getting a record deal. Seymour Stein from Sire Records had seen Blondie dozens of times, but didn’t consider them for Sire. In his memoir, he confesses that he didn’t think Blondie could write good songs. Of course, within a few years Blondie had become a veritable powerhouse of hit songs that topped the charts around the world.

Face It by Debbie Harry | Goodreads Face It by Debbie Harry | Goodreads

Harry said of her relationship with Warhol, "I think the best thing [Andy Warhol] taught me was always to be open to new things, new music, new style, new bands, new technology and just go with it. Never get mired in the past and always accept new things whatever age you are." [32] 1981–1996: Solo work and acting [ edit ]That’s not really my intent, but I’ve been told I come off sounding that way. Still, these are my personal thoughts and I’m going to be straight up honest about them.

Face It by Debbie Harry | Waterstones

Although I was a little underwhelmed by the book, and I may have made it sound worse than it really was, I’m still glad I read it. There are plenty of interesting, juicy bits of information, lots of sex and drugs, and it was fun to hear Debbie talk about her hair colors and fashion styles over the years. Her work as an actress was far more accomplished than I realized and I enjoyed hearing about her movies, although I don’t think I’ve seen anything she played in. I think Debbie has lived quite a colorful life and deserves her place in music history and as a pop culture icon. Deborah Harry starts in recounting her early years in New Jersey and how her adoption shaped her view of her world as evidenced by one of her more poignant reflections, '...everybody was trying to do the best they could for me. But I don't think I was ever truly comfortable. I felt different; I was always trying to fit in.' There are a lot of descriptive scenes of New York in the 70's and name dropping of people of whom some I were familiar with but others that I had to look up. She is honest about the drug scene, her use, and the her life, with Chris Stein, and their struggle to make it without abolishing their punk mentality. Debbie Harry talks about aging and her regret at not having children". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on January 11, 2022 . Retrieved October 28, 2019.Blondie reformation and solo output [ edit ] Harry performing with Blondie at Roskilde Festival, 1999 Harry didn't seem to be connected to the the book at all and there was nothing that felt personal or overly interesting in the entirety of the book. Furdyk, Brent (August 3, 2019). "Blondie Singer Debbie Harry Details Horrifying Sexual Assault In The 1970s". Entertainment Tonight. Archived from the original on August 7, 2019. During this time, both Harry and Stein befriended graffiti artist Fab Five Freddy, who introduced them to the emerging hip-hop scene in the Bronx. Freddy is mentioned in "Rapture". [27] Through Fab Five Freddy they were also able to connect with Grandmaster Flash [28] who is played by Jean-Michel Basquiat in the video. [27] "Rapture" became the first rap-oriented song to reach No. 1 in the US Billboard charts. [29] Grandmaster Flash said Harry "opened up so many doors for hip hop" by mentioning him in Rapture. [30] I enjoyed this a lot because I can answer yes to all of these questions. I was pretty young in the 1980s so I did not get into that scene during its heyday. But, in the 90s, my friends and I were all about late 70s and 80s alternative music. I listened to a lot of Blondie and many of the other acts she talks about in this book. I regret that I never got to see CBGBs or witness the late 70s music scene in New York – even though it sounds like it was not an “if” but a “when” I would have been mugged or beaten up! It is amazing how harrowing and interesting day to day life was for Harry as she spent her formative years in New Jersey and New York City – and she mentions several times that this was before they cleaned it all up.