Jimmy Destri

Jimmy Destri (born James Mollica, April 13, 1954) is an American musician and the original and longest-serving keyboardist for the band Blondie.

Destri is of Italian descent. His father was a novelist who also wrote screenplays and eventually advertising copy to support his family while his mother was a housewife. He has a sister, Donna Destri, who is also a singer and did backing vocals for Blondie and Jimmy's own solo record. Destri grew up in Borough Park, Brooklyn, and was raised in his grandmother's house. His uncle played drums for Joey Dee and the Starlighters. He attended Catholic schools and went to Bishop Ford Central Catholic High School, but dropped out to form his first band. He played keyboards in the rock band Blondie, and was one of the principal songwriters for the band along with Chris Stein and Debbie Harry. He rejoined Blondie in 1997. Destri ceased touring with the band in 2004, but remained an official member for several more years. After he stopped playing with Blondie he worked full time as a drug counselor/therapist at the outpatient recovery center Carnegie Hill Institute in New York City. In April 2020, he went back to practice as a drug counselor/therapist at Seabrook in New Jersey. In 2025, in July, some time after the death of his friend and former bandmate Clem Burke, Destri announced that he was being treated for throat cancer.

Destri became interested in music in the late 1950s and early 1960s due to his uncle's being a drummer with Joey Dee and the Starlighters. He formed his first band, the 86 Proof, in high school and they performed in local schools. He played in a group named Milk and Cookies in the early 1970s, but was dismissed from the band just before they relocated to the UK. He joined Blondie in 1975, using the Farfisa organ as his main instrument.

As Blondie's career progressed, Destri became increasingly interested in synthesizers, and added them with his Farfisa to the overall band's sound. His sister, Donna Destri, sang backing vocals on the 1979 Blondie song "Living in the Real World" and on the album No Exit.

Destri produced Going Up by Joey Wilson for Modern Records, released in October 1980.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.