- So Debbie Harry wrote down her life. Why is that exciting?
Because Deborah Ann "Debbie" Harry singer and copywriter of the US band Blondie, who created their own style of music from rock, punk, disco, reggae and rap and in the seventies and eighties with hits like "Heart of Glass" and "Atomic "was successful. The platinum-blond Harry describes himself as a punk at 74 and has made several solo albums. She is not only a style icon, who initially made her outfits from pillowcases, trash and tape, but also became a feminist role model in the rock music business. In the book she remembers: "An artistically self-determined woman in clearly female and not male connoted clothes was then a clear border crossing". In addition, she sang of things that were unworkable for women at that time: "Instead of begging him submissively, but please come back home, I gave him a huge kick in the butt, threw him out and kicked myself afterwards in the butt," she describes her attitude in the role as blondie singer.
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- How is your balance sheet made?
Astonishingly sober: "You do certain things, if you are lucky, you learn from them, and then you move on". What she wanted to learn? To express oneself artistically, "to become better in what I did, to find my place in life and to gain control over it." As far as creativity and artistic expression are concerned, it has been taken for granted that she also matured as a frontwoman and found her place in the rock business and in general. But control? "Not really, I had the kind of control you have when you've had your life contracted into strangers hands and tied to the head of a rocket." Here, Harry plays on lousy deals with record labels and managers, which led Blondie to be at the zenith of their failure broke - in conjunction with drug addiction and the serious illness of Blondie co-musician Chris Stein. The 13-year love affair with Chris Stein forms the common thread in "Face It," with Harry anecdotes about the legendary CBGB music scene, the Andy Warhol art scene, raids, a stalking ex-lover, and a rape.
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Autobiography of the Blondie singer: "Dirty Harry"- What are the most amazing facts?
1. Debbie Harry, also known as "Dirty Harry" thanks to her humor, loves wrestling and starred in 1983 in the wrestling musical "Teaneck Tenzi" alongside Andy Kaufman. For that she fed herself kilos on it, trained hard and was perpetuated several times: "We had to sing while we worked our way through from one ring corner to another." Unfortunately, the musical was a flop and was discontinued immediately after the premiere on Broadway. Harry was more successful in the same year with her starring role in the sci-fi horror film "Videodrome" by David Cronenberg.
2. Blondie played in the CBGB for seven months straight every weekend in 1975 - for beer. It was "the time of lived experiments - no tricks, just the pure, unadulterated life right out of the gut."
3. Looking for a drummer, Blondie checked out 50 drummers in one day. Just as the fiftieth was playing, Patti Smith snowed in, moaning that he was playing too loud and aggressive, and went off again. Blondie still took him. It was Clem Burke who drummed with Blondie until today.
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DISPLAY
Debbie Harry
Face it: The autobiography
Publishing company:
Heyne Verlag
Pages:
432
Price:
EUR 25,00
Translated by:
Philip Bradach, Frank Dabrock, Harriet Fricke, Torsten Gross
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- What would we rather not have known?
From Harry's obsessive compulsions, such as collecting cut fingernails and hair from the brush, which she washed down on tour in hotel rooms in the loo to destroy evidence: "If I could, I would soak up any lost skin cells and flush them down as well." The mere thought of leaving a mark scares her into fear.
- How can it be read?
The book is based on exclusive interviews with the music journalist and musician Sylvie Simmons, who has already written highly praised biographies of Leonard Cohen or Serge Gainsbourg - it reads accordingly closed. Moving are moments in which Debbie Harry remembers dead friends like William S. Burroughs, Joey Ramone or Divine or their personal 9/11. The fact that she does not always feel like having navel shows detailed descriptions that she abruptly strangles (as it is about the separation of Chris Stein or band-struggles). At the end of the book she says: "Since I'm a very private person, I've probably kept a few things for myself." Sounds a bit like Cliffhanger.
- What else can we expect from her?
Well, a "Face it 2"? Otherwise, Debbie Harry and Blondie worry about the decline of bee populations and "the survival of humanity". And: Debbie Harry continues to sing - she hopes women's hostility in the music industry will still be in the bag for a long time.