Debbie Harry's glory years – in pictures

Debbie Harry’s fame-hungry days with Blondie are revealed in a captivating behind-the-scenes book and exhibition by her former partner and band co-founder Chris Stein.

Chris Stein

  • Debbie Harry posing on a rooftop in New York.
    Debbie Harry posing on a rooftop in New York.

  • “This is Debbie on the Bowery in New York, in the mid-70s, wearing a Stephen Sprouse dress – one of his earliest creations,” says Chris Stein.
    Debbie Harry on the Bowery in New York wearing a Stephen Sprouse dress, one of his earliest creations, in the mid-seventies.

  • “That’s rock journalist Lester Bangs carrying Debbie during a shoot for Punk magazine, New York, 1978,” says Stein. “He wrote a book about Blondie that veers between condemnation and affection. His outrage at Debbie’s overt use of sexuality is really naive in retrospect (and ironic looking at the photo). But he was a great character.”
    Lester Bangs carrying Debbie Harry Blondie during a shoot for Punk magazine, New York, 1978.

  • With Chrissie Hynde in 1980. “One of the UK music papers set up a sort of summit with the top rock women of the day. Kate Bush was invited but didn’t show up.”
    Debbie Harry Blondie with Chrissie Hynde in 1980.

  • “Deb, in what is most likely a Halston dress, shot in a hotel room, where we set up a blue paper backdrop.”
    Debbie Harry by Chris Stein

  • In the book’s introduction, Harry says: “Chris’s sense of humour and easy, relaxed personality made me feel relaxed, too, and eventually, I started to like being shot by him. Because of our personal relationship, I think, Chris’s pictures of me are the most real and unguarded and ultimately revealing.”
    Debbie Harry by Chris Stein

  • “UK tabloids don’t push the limits of credibility any more than their American counterparts,” says Stein, “but in a way they got there first. Here, Debbie is reading about sexism under the ayatollah.”
    Debbie Harry Blondie with the Sun Chris Stein

  • “Debbie during a video shoot for Picture This, circa 1978. She was constantly asked: ‘How does it feel to be a sex symbol?’”
    Debbie Harry Blondie during a video shoot for "Picture This", c.1978. Chris Stein

  • Debbie in a Plastic Letters outtake in Los Angeles circa 1977. “In these pictures for the second Blondie album, she is dressed in a pillowcase wrapped with red duct tape.”
    'Debbie Harry in a Plastic Letters outtake, Los Angeles c.1977'. In these pictures for the second Blondie album Debbie is dressed in a pillowcase wrapped with red duct tape'.

  • A photoshoot for Creem magazine in 1976.
    Photoshoot for Creem magazine, 1976. Debbie Harry Chris Stein

  • In a vintage motorcycle jacket in 1976. “I recall debating whether we should spend the few hundred dollars it must have cost,” says Stein. “She probably still has it.”
    'Debbie in a vintage motorcycle jacket, c1976'. Debbie Harry Blondie Chris Stein

  • “Debbie with a frying pan after a fire burned down our apartment. That blue dress was allegedly worn by Marilyn Monroe in The Seven Year Itch, but it got badly singed. Fortunately, Debbie’s cats were OK.”
    Debbie Harry Chris Stein flat fire pan frying

  • “By 1975,” says Stein, “we were plunging ahead with the band and I was taking pictures of everything around me, among them Debbie. I was always aware of her astonishing looks and the effect she had on people.”
    Debbie Harry Blondie Chris Stein

  • In a hotel room in Europe in 1977.
    Debbie in a hotel room in Europe c. 1977. Debbie Harry Blondie Chris Stein

  • “This 1978 shot was used for the cover of one of the UK’s weekly music papers.”
    'Debbie in a jean jacket, c.1978. This shot was used for the cover of one of the weekly music papers in the UK'. Debbie Harry Blondie Chris Stein
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