Deborah Harry

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C'est chic, Le Freak!

Debbie's first solo venture was in 1981 right off the back of three consecutive #1 hits with Blondie and a couple of Platinum selling albums. Bizzarely she went to disco producers Bernard Edwards and Nile Rogers of Chic to make a Gothic funk album incorporating rap and all sorts of experimental sounds and lyrics. This album is littered with odd ideas and the artwork is even stranger with Ms Harry's face being pierced with pins! It was banned in the UK! Even sans artwork it still made a reasonable #8, but then sank like a stone, selling over 60,000 copies (Silver) on the way mind. While I don't think the album is brilliant by any means it does have  its moments, particularly the funky Jam Was Moving. The major problem with this set is that the producers never managed to make the vocals and the music mix, it constantly sounds like poor old Debs is shouting over some funk instrumental she unearthed in a trendy record shop. I quite like Jump though.

Disco Debbie

After the demise of Blondie she recorded a single with Giorgio Morroder who'd help give Blondie a #1 hit with Call Me. The single, Rush Rush, from the Scarface soundtrack was a big old flop despite it being a brilliantly trashy early 80's synth pop gem. The soundtrack version uses a different vocal and is a bit slower than the superior single version, so be on your look out for that! Next up she starred in Videodrome which while not a major theatrical success was a big hit on video.

After awhile out of the limelight she came back with a full album, Rockbird, now signed to Geffen Records in the US, although still with Chrysalis in the UK. It's, a fun pop album with some very bubble gummy moments. The lead single French Kissin' In The USA was a Top 10 hit in the UK in late 1986. In 1987 she got Stock Aitken Waterman to remix her next single, In Love With Love. Sadly it flopped, but it was a big club hit and undoubtedly one of her best solo singles. A further single Free To Fall, a nice ballad failed to make an impression. The album did go Gold though.
  

  
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"What I really want I just can't buy..."

Some more movies followed, Forever Lulu, a bad Desperately Seeking Susan clone and the magnificent comedy Hairspray in 1988. A flop remix album was released soon after and she began recording her next album shortly afterwards. Def Dumb & Blonde, her third solo disc was released in 1989, the lead single I Want That Man becoming a decent sized pop hit in the UK. The album went Silver but didn't hang around too long, despite excellent reviews. The rock/rap stormer Get Your Way was ripe for a club mix and a single, but instead a tender ballad, Brite Side was chosen as the second single, followed by remixes of Sweet and Low (by PWL) and Maybe For Sure (by Pascal Gabriel), both flopped.



By this point Debbie was known as Deborah and started making a few more movies, of particular interest is the sleaze-tastic Intimate Stranger in which Deborah plays a phone sex worker who attracts the attention of a serial killer. It's beyond words, she even sings a few songs in it, as she is really a struggling rocker just paying the bills! Deborah was appalled by the results of the film, maybe she thought the way a fine actress such as herself delivered lines like: "You could see me there with no panties on, oooh you could see my thing" in a cooing sultry was in some way classier than anyone else doing it. Around this time a Deborah/Blondie best of was released in the UK and went Gold.

"I can go all the way..." (to the bargain bin)

Her fourth album Debravation was released in 1993. Now with a new label, Sire in the US, but still with Chrysalis in the UK, Deborah unleashed a fabulous pop/dance single in the shape of the exquisite I Can See Clearly. It had a lovely video, but sadly times had moved on and the UK music scene had moved on to crappy grunge and rock groups. There wasn't much room for Debbie amongst the crowded girly pop arena where she was probably fended off by the latest Kylie or Madonna hit. The album didn't do well flopping hard in the US, but still making the UK Top 30. The album was mostly rock/pop so a great rock cut like Standing In My Way might have been a safer bet. The second single, Strike Me Pink, a beautiful but commercially deadly ballad killed the project stone dead. The video featured Deborah looking as dyketastic as possible drowning a bloke in a suit. A statement about what she thinks of men or an anti-capitalist protest, you decide!

Comeback Queen!

Some very dodgy collaborations, some couple of tragic remixes of Blondie hits and a few movies later Debbie was back riding on the top of the charts and record books when Blondie scored a very unlikely #1 hit with Maria in 1999. Successful tours, another Top 20 hit and a gold album later Deborah has struck out on her own once again. In 2006 she recorded a duet with Moby entitled New York New York, it got a little bit of airplay but sadly flopped Her new album Necessary Evil is out now and includes the sublime single Two Times Blue (with remixes by the SoulSeekerz, if you can imagine it).

- Jamie
  

 

 

 

 

 In Love With Love (1987)

I Can See Clearly (1993)

Rapture/Maria/No Exit (1999)

 

 

 

 

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