Joe spent a few minutes with Debbie Harry while
she was on her Necessary Evil tour. Despite a mildy difficult
telephone connection, he managed to wake her one chilly December
morning while her tour bus was winding through the Smokey Mountains
in North Carloina. She was down to earth, modest and was very
kind to this nerd-boy with a thirty-year-old crush.
She called me "hun."
* sigh*
J: Hi Debbie
DH: Hello
J: Hi, how are you today?
DH: Okay, how are you?
J: Great! Where are you now?
DH: We're in North Carolina in the Smokey Mountains.
J: Okay. I didn't think you'd be up this early
. . . you're busy touring.
DH: (chuckle) I didn't think I'd be up this early
either, hun!
J: So a couple of questions I wanted to ask,
first I have to say I'm a long time fan and when your Parallel
Lines album came out, I bought it, and the first 12 inch single
I bought with Heart of Glass . . .
DH: Oh thank you
J: I'm a huge fan. You were ...
(we lost Debbie - assistant gets her back on the line...)
J: So I guess the Smokeys makes it a little bit
spotty with the phones; are we on a cell phone or a land line?
DH: Sorry, I'm in a tour bus.
J: Gotcha! What I started to say was you are
like the first independent, liberated, sexy rock and roll queen,
and that's pretty good title to have.
DH: Oh thank you! I thought Tina Turner was!
J: Tina was there, but you got the pop success
first. And not knocking Tina but I think even Tina, she did it,
but it was inlive performances. She didn't have that crossover-pop
radio success that you achieved until later on.
DH: uh huh (with a very modest reluctance)
J: I kinda think Madonna looked at you and thought,
'how can I compete with that?' and she started wearing her underwear
on the outside.
But anyway, a couple of some questions I want to ask . . . you
were, being the blond pretty woman-pretty girl- you were Blondie
before you were in the band I guess. How do you settle in your
mind between Debbie Harry, Deborah, Blondie the band and Blondie
the little girl?
DH: I don't think there's really anything to really
think about. It's just that, you know, I have just a lot of identities
I suppose.
J: I guess that my question is who is the woman
who's at home, when your not touring and things like that, what's
on your mind . . . what do you do? And I know you've been touring
for a long time and - well, busy I should say, not just touring.
DH: Well, just ah, either I'm relaxing or hanging
out with my friends somewhere - go see a band. I'm really into
it - I'm a rock and roll animal.
J: I always, again, looking at you from where
I am here in the Philadelphia area, I always thought it would
be so fun to be you.
DH: It's not bad!
J: I did read that you - did you know Andy Warhol?
DH: yea
J: Wow that must have been so interesting- we
have Andy Warhol paintings in our office up on our wall.
DH: really?
J: Well, PRINTS. He defined pop culture in this
half of the century.
DH: He was a genius - yea.
J: Another person you worked with was Andy Kaufman.
DH: I did. Another Andy, yea.
J: I guess you were in a show that lasted - I
guess a night on Broadway or off Broadway?
DH: No, we ran for about six weeks off Broadway, and then they
brought it up to Broadway and it opened and closed in one night.
I think they should have left it run downtown because it real
kind of downtown show.
J: Gotcha
DH: But for some reason they decided to move uptown and they couldn't
sustain it.
J: Now regarding Andy, he was another cultural
icon, a lot of people said he was a very unusual character. I
guess you rehearsed with him; did you get to know him a little
bit?
DH: Not very much - just a little tiny bit. He was very quiet
in those days. He was just concentrating on working on the show
- he was a nice guy actually.
J: Okay. Now through your career, you've gone-
you're into the electronic advance now. You've definitely evolved.
How do you get yourself going creatively? You've been busy for
30 years - 40 years actually. That's pretty exciting.
DH: That's what I do. That's the way my mind works.
J: That's definitely good because you've always
kept things fresh. You know, you've dabbled with the old school
reggae with "The Tide Is High"; you introduced a lot
to a lot of different people musically. "Rapture" -
I remember when I heard that I thought that was a pretty funny
song, a pretty good song. And I know last year they did a "Rapture/Riders
on the Storm" remix. What do you think of that?
DH: I think it worked out pretty well.
J: Were you involved in that at all? I don't
know anything about that outside of hearing it.
DH: yea - it was done by a DJ and we heard it and
like it so we put it on an album.
J: Oh okay, I read that there is a movie coming
up with Kirstin Dunst...
DH: No - that's not true.
J: Oh it's not true. See, I'm reading stuff and
it's not true. What caused that to spread? I read it in several
places.
DH: Yea I know.
J: What's the story? Never was gonna happen or
not gonna happen?
DH: It neither here nor there. It was just a conversation that
got publicized.
J: Oh, okay. Well thank you for clearing that
up.
DH: Ridiculous gossipy things.
J: Well, it not like juicy sex gossip, I just
read it like a news story. It's funny how things go. Now you named
the album and the tour "The Necessary Evil" tour. How'd
you get the name or what occurred to you with that?
DH: It's just, I thought it was something everybody could relate
to.
J: Correct. "Necessary Evil". I like
it a lot. It's got a little connotation to it.
DH: Of course.
J: I know in the pre-Blondie days you were in
a band called the Stilettos, which I guess is a theatrical girly
group?
DH: It was a trio, a girl trio.
J: Was it a stage show? I couldn't find much
on it.
DH: No there was really nothing much happening with it, it was
really early on. It was sort of like the pop version of the Dixie
Chicks or something like that.
J: Okay
DH: We just worked locally in New York and never
really- nothing really ever happened with it.
J: Now how old were you when you decided you
know, 'I want to be a singer, I want to be on stage'?
DH: I was still a little girl.
J: Was there anybody you looked up to at that
age that you said, "Aw I wanna be like her' or any thing
or any girls that inspired you that way?
DH: I don't think it was any one particular one;
it was just the whole idea in general.
J: Okay. I know you worked as a playboy bunny
because I read that everywhere. Were there any other unusual jobs
you have before that?
DH: No, not especially. I think I had a lot of different little
jobs to you know, fill in and pay the rent and stuff. Whatever
I could find, ya know?
J: That's pretty neat. Once you achieved your
success with "Parallel Lines" did you - were you looking
into the future with that? Did you put some money aside? Or did
you live the good life while it was there? How did you handle
it business wise?
DH: Well, I don't think we handled it very well, actually. We
first somehow managed to stay in business, ya know. It is a funny
business.
J: Yea. Do you still get - I don't know if this
is too personal but - do you still get a residual or anything
on songs like "One Way or Another" or whatever, that
I still hear on the radio and I see in movies.
DH: Yea we still get our royalties and our authorship
as the writers, so. . .
J: That's always good. Now you're in the Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame. Was there ever any doubt that you wouldn't
make it?
DH: I didn't really think about it that much. I suppose it was
a presence of time, actually.
J: What are your plans for after this tour? Going
home to do a little relaxing?
DH: I hope so.
J: Where is your home these days?
DH: New York City.
J: New York City - your favorite place I imagine.
DH: Well that's where all my friends are, you know. Sometimes
it seems like a harsh environment but the people are wonderful
and there's a lot to do there. Everybody comes to New York at
some point.
J: Yea we're up there occasionally.
I was supposed to see you on Friday, unfortunately I had car trouble
so missed you at the Keswick in Philly. I'm very for that - I
wanted to personally apologize.
DH: What happened?
J: My car - my starter went. So it didn't get
fixed until the next day, but next time you're in the area, I'm
definitely going to go up to see you.
DH: Well you missed a good show and there was even a fist fight.
J: Aww man, I always miss the good ones!
DH: Yea it was really funny. I don't know what they were getting
mad at but they - this man and this woman - they really went at
it.
J: Whoa that's pretty cool. Were they near the
font where you could see them?
DH: Yea, they were right in front!
J: Oh well, I guess they add some spice to your
day.
DH: Well not really. I mean, we were in the middle
of a song and I had some guests on the show and I looked at my
partner, I was doing a duet with Guy Furrow, I looked at him and
he looked at me and "damn!" ya know.
J: I guess that can be distracting. Which makes
me think of another question. Again, being the iconic, beautiful
blond woman on the stage, what's been your strangest fan experience?
DH: Oh gee I don't know.
J: I bet you've had a lot.
DH: A lot, yea. It's hard to bring up one particular strange one.
J: okay
DH: Some very lovely things and some very sort of
odd things.
J: Yea, I can imagine. Like I said, everything
that I've known about you - you must have just such a fun life.
Which is good, you can't ask for more than that.
DH: I think I've had my fair share of fun, but I also work very
hard. The fortunate thing I think is that I really love what I
do. I think that's a blessing. I think a lot of people in their
lives don't do what they absolutely love to do.
J: I agree with you. I have two jobs and I love
both of them. That does make a difference. My dad hated his job
and he's not here anymore.
DH: Yep.
J: So, I don't want to take up too much more
of your time. Are you gonna have naptime while your on the bus
or are you up for the day?
DH: Well, I don't know. (chuckling)
J: Okay, I wanna thank you very much for your
time. Have a great rest of your tour. And next time you're in
the Philly area or even New York area I will definately try to
come up and say "Hi".
DH: Okay
J: Thank you very much.
DH: Take care!
J: bye
