Blondie

Blondie is an American rock band formed in New York City in 1974 by singer Debbie Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band were considered pioneers in the new wave genre from the CBGB scene of the mid-1970s, and drew notability for its eclectic mixture of musical styles, incorporating elements of punk, disco, pop, reggae, funk and early hip hop music.Although the band's first two albums, Blondie (1976) and Plastic Letters (1978), were successful in the UK and Australia, Blondie was regarded as an underground band in the US until the release of their critically acclaimed third album Parallel Lines (1978). Over the next two years, the band released a string of hit singles, including "Heart of Glass" (US No. 1), "One Way or Another", "Dreaming", "Call Me" (US No. 1), "Atomic", (UK No.1), "The Tide Is High" (US No. 1), and "Rapture" (US No. 1).Blondie disbanded after the release of their sixth studio album, The Hunter (1982). Harry continued to pursue a moderately successful solo career after taking a few years off to care for her partner Stein, who was diagnosed with pemphigus, a rare autoimmune disease of the skin. The band re-formed in 1997, achieving renewed success with their seventh album No Exit (1999) and their sixth number one single in the UK with "Maria" in 1999, exactly 20 years after their first UK number one single, "Heart of Glass".The group toured and performed throughout the world during the following years, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006. Blondie has sold over 40 million records worldwide and continues to actively perform. The band's eleventh studio album, Pollinator, was released on May 5, 2017, charting at number 4 in the UK. A new studio album, High Noon, is expected sometime in 2026.Inspired by the burgeoning new music scene at the Mercer Arts Center in Manhattan, musician Chris Stein sought to join a similar band. He joined the Stillettoes in 1973 as their guitarist and formed a romantic relationship with Debbie Harry, who was one of the band's vocalists, a former waitress and Playboy Bunny. Harry had been a member of a folk-rock band, The Wind in the Willows, in the late 1960s. In July 1974, Stein and Harry parted ways with the Stillettoes and Elda Gentile, the band's originator, forming a new band with ex-Stillettoes bandmates Billy O'Connor (drums; born 1953, died 2015) and Fred Smith (bass). Originally billed as Angel and the Snake for two shows in August 1974, they had renamed themselves Blondie and the Banzai Babies, and then shortened the band name to Blondie by October 1974, while Ivan Kral joined the band on guitar, as well as Tish and Snooky Bellomo on vocals, who, according to Harry, "sang backup with us, on and off for over a year and a half". The new name derived from comments made by truck drivers who catcalled "Hey, Blondie" to Harry as they drove past.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.