Face It: A Memoir

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Gotthardt, Alexxa (November 21, 2017). "On His MTV Show, Andy Warhol Broke All the Rules". Artsy . Retrieved April 13, 2018. It is only recently, she says, that she has thought she might have liked to have had children (she is godmother to Stein’s two daughters.) “I sort of thought: ‘Gee, maybe it wouldn’t have been so bad to have kids.’ But I don’t know if I could have done it while I was working so much.” Because she would have had to give up some of her freedoms? “My natural inclination is to really throw myself into things. It wouldn’t be like I could hand over the baby. I would really want to be involved.” I am a love child,” she writes. Born Angela Tribble in 1945, Harry describes her birth parents as childhood sweethearts wrested apart by circumstance. They reconnected years later, but her mother didn’t learn her lover was married until she was pregnant, and three month-old infant Angela was adopted by a childless couple in New Jersey. There are some good stories here, though you may have heard a few of them before. Drawing on a series of exclusive interviews with longtime music critic Sylvie Simmons, Face It covers much of the same ground as Cathay Che’s 1998 Deborah Harry: The Biography, a book based on interviews Harry did with Che in the 1990s. Che’s bio includes more detailed accounts of recording sessions, film appearances, and the 1970s downtown scene, along with some of the same anecdotes that crop up in Face It. In 1973, Harry joined The Stilettos with Elda Gentile and Amanda Jones. Shortly thereafter, the band added guitarist Chris Stein, who became her boyfriend. [16] [17] In her memoir, Face It, Harry describes having been raped at knifepoint during a burglary of the home she shared with Stein. [18]

Face It: A Memoir by Debbie Harry | Goodreads

She recalls, “I really loved sex. I think I might have been oversexed, but I didn’t have a problem with that; I felt it was totally natural. But in my town in those days, sexual energy was very repressed, or at least clandestine. The expectation for a girl was that you would date, get engaged, remain a virgin, marry, and have children. The idea of being tied to that kind of traditional suburban life terrified me.”There is certainly more that I want to know--more details about Parallel Lines and Eat to the Beat, Blondie's two best albums (in my opinion) from the Early Era; more details about the transition from Eat to the Beat to AutoAmerican, which seems drastic even now, although it was probably something completely normal in the evolution of the band; more of her thoughts on the reaction to KooKoo, which even now seems mixed, despite it being something of a quirky, musical milestone in pop history. More, perhaps, about what she likes to read and listen to and whether she still paints. And some pics of her dogs would not be amiss. Also, I lost count of how many times she mentions how pretty she is/was. So, here's the deal... she's more than old enough to be my mother but I'm still old enough to have owned at least one album as a kid and one 45 (young people will have to Google that lol) and she was never considered pretty by any means during that time period. Not ugly, just "hard" or "rough". Maybe she was really pretty in the 60s or 70s but, still, who wants to keep reading that? There are a lot of descriptive scenes of New York in the 70's and name dropping of people of whom some I were familiar with but others that I had to look up. She is honest about the drug scene, her use, and the her life, with Chris Stein, and their struggle to make it without abolishing their punk mentality. That’s not really my intent, but I’ve been told I come off sounding that way. Still, these are my personal thoughts and I’m going to be straight up honest about them. The tone is chatty and personal (it read as if the editor let her have reasonably free rein), and I had to take frequent breaks to locate videos and photos mentioned in the narration. And while Debbie is very candid, there is a feeling some of the really good stuff was omitted which is validated near the conclusion when she admits there are more stories to tell but she is a "private person" and unsure if she'll divulge them at some future date. This reader hopes she does.

Debbie Harry - Wikipedia Debbie Harry - Wikipedia

Few women have been objectified as much as Harry. Her face – those killer cheekbones and heart-shaped mouth – is immortalised on Blondie album covers and in Warhol’s famous portrait. Was she always aware of men’s reaction to her? “I think we all have issues of self-esteem and I’m not clear of that,” she says, by way of an answer. “I also think that because it’s my occupation – to be a performer and to attract attention and to appeal to sexuality – it’s sort of a given in showbiz.” Your enjoyment of this book will increase with each one of the following criteria you can answer “Yes”: In June 1979, Blondie was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone. Harry's persona, combining cool sexuality with streetwise style, became so closely associated with the group's name that many came to believe "Blondie" was the singer's name. The difference between the individual Harry and the band Blondie was emphasized by a "Blondie is a group" button campaign by the band in 1979. [25] The band's success continued with the release of the platinum-selling Eat to the Beat album (UK No. 1, US No. 17) in September. [26]

I wasn’t there for that last night. I hope I saw them there but I can’t honestly say I did. It’s a blur. There was so much going on, and a lot of great artists hung out at Max’s. I distinctly remember meeting Stevie Winwood, and how adorable he was. Not to say that he’s not adorable now. I did get to see the Velvets when they reunited and played only two shows, and that was wonderful.