Deborah Harry on Blondie's Past and Future
MIAMI BEACH -- There is no entourage when
Deborah Harry enters a room. It's a world away from the
days 20 years ago when Harry defined New York's fanciful
new wave scene; when she was muse to Warhol and
seductress of all Manhattan.
Though she is once again the undisputed
centerpiece of Blondie, Harry is less a celebrity
and more a workaday musician than she has
ever been 霠performing earnest concerts,
introducing her new music to radio programmers,
taking her vitamins, and trying to get as much
rest as her schedule allows. The recent tour has
taken her all over the world this year, including a
stop on Miami's South Beach, where she'll
perform again on New Year's Eve as part of an
international spectacle to be aired by ABC, the
BBC, and other networks.
Among her many charms is the elegant, almost
serene manner in which she presents herself
offstage 霠a complete turnabout from the nightly
hell-raising she orchestrates in concert. In person
she projects instant warmth, much as she does
when she's acting in films and on television. And
it's clear that this reunion has been a time of
critical success, personal reflection, and solid
commercial returns. She makes it clear right off
that Blondie did not reunite for the fame and
fortune, but doing well sure is fun.
In fact, there were more reasons to stay apart than
to get back together, but eventually her former
partner and bandmate Chris Stein wore her
down.
"I thought it was a stupid idea, that he was mad,
completely off his rocker; that he had just slipped
a few gears," Harry says. "But little by little, he
just sort of convinced me."
Chief among her worries was that a reconstituted
Blondie could turn out to be a lazy cash-grab, a
walk down the greatest-hits aisle with nothing
new to offer.
"You know, I think it's fine to sort of go out there
and bang that old gong. I don't think it would be
fair not to play that stuff," she says of classic
Blondie cuts such as "Call Me," "Heart of Glass,"
and "The Tide Is High." "It's fun and it is very
rewarding to have the fans loving it. But to make
it real, it has to be current."
So with the promise that they would indeed
create something new, Harry acquiesced, going
back to Blondie with Stein, keyboardist Jimmy
Destri, and drummer Clem Burke. The band's
early guitarist, Frank Infante, and bassist Nigel
Harrison were not asked to return, and Harry
won't discuss the uninvited players, both of whom
initiated legal action when they learned they
would not be included.
There are now two albums to show for Blondie's
rebirth: the well-received 1999 studio set No Exit
and the brand new Blondie Live, a chronicle of
this year on the road. The live set inevitably
includes lots of familiar hits, and for that Harry
does not apologize.
"We are proud of what we've done. They're really
good songs. In some cases we've reworked them
and rearranged them and brought them into a
different time period."
But it's not as easy to get a song on pop radio.
Despite its effervescent hook, making a hit out of
"Maria," the first single from No Exit, took a lot of
work in a market dominated by teens. And
though she agrees there is always room for a
handful of veteran voices on the air (comebacks
by 50-somethings Santana and Cher come to
mind), she says her band has another problem in
that it's tough to classify.
"We created our own dilemma," she says of
Blondie's penchant for dabbling in everything from
rap to disco, reggae to rock, punk to pop. "In an
age of specialization, we were always taking
things and mushing them together. You know,
the guys were teenagers, some of them, when
we started. We had a difficult situation. I was the
lead singer, I was the pretty girl, I had the blond
hair, and I got all the focus."
The attention left her guilt-ridden, on edge, and
full of anxiety. "Now we all sort of know who we
are and who each other is. It's more relaxing.
More fun. Our ambitions are in a better place.
There's no insecurity about having a position in
the band. I can understand the tragedy of Kurt
Cobain. I know it personally. I look back and
think, 'My God.' I really admire kids today that
have such massive success and can hold on. I
am completely in awe of Madonna. She's able to
take that success and live with it and remain
sane. I say that with a smile, you know."
These days Harry has no struggle with her own
sanity, enjoying side gigs as a sometime jazz
singer and a contentment in the pop spotlight
that eluded her years ago. "I'm proud of it now.
I'm very proud to be Blondie. And you know, I
know that I am Blondie." 霠Deborah Wilker
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