Debbie Harry: In memoir, she remembers her Miami roots

When Debbie Harry set out to write her memoir “Face It,” her band mate and former romantic partner Chris Stein joked that writing a memoir was much better than getting a face tattoo.

“That’s his sense of humor. He’s a funny one,” Harry said of Stein.

The front woman and founder of Blondie, a band that pioneered the early American new wave and punk scenes of the mid 1970s and 1980s, said that the most difficult part about writing “Face It” was giving the public access to some very private chapters of her life.

Harry was born Angela Trimble in a Miami-Dade hospital before her birth mother put her up for adoption. Six months later, Richard and Cathy Harry made her part of their family and gave her a new name: Deborah.

Harry explains her origins simply:

“I am a love child,”

The book details other turning points in her life. Meeting Stein and their up-and-down relationship, forming the band that later would be known as Blondie, her launch to fame, having to file for bankruptcy at the height of her musical career, her debut in film and struggling with heroin addiction.

But for Harry, there is a particularly noteworthy memory, and it was the moment she met David Bowie.

Harry still remembers being “absolutely gobsmacked” when Blondie was asked to open a show for David Bowie and Iggy Pop during the Idiot World Tour in 1977.

“We were all in awe of this man, this creative genius and artist, I never really hung out with him other than when we were on that tour,” Harry said. “But I was more of an acquaintance, we were never really friends. We were lucky that they asked Blondie to do the tour because it was a huge milestone for us.”

When the two of them walked on stage during our sound check, “I felt like ‘Oh my god.’”

When asked why she didn’t publish a memoir sooner, Harry said that now had seemed like the right time to do it. “I’m at the right age. I’m not dead yet and I still have all my marbles,” Harry said. “It’s taken a while to get it all done and written. It’s not like I stopped working to write a memoir.”

But she also felt that writing the book had given her a sense of closure on a lot of issues.

“We all have extreme life experiences,” Harry said. “I’ve read stuff in other memoirs and I wish I had been able to say that I invented the cure for cancer, but obviously I haven’t.”

Harry’s memoir is very fan-centric, an idea she conceptualized with artist, director and longtime Blondie collaborator Rob Roth. Illustrations sent to her by Blondie fans over the years take center stage in the book, and Harry said the art that featured in “Face It” is only a handful of what she has at home in boxes and decorating her walls.

“I loved the idea because I always wanted the book to have a sort of interactive quality, and with the fan art I think it does,” Harry said. “Although if this book has a message, it would probably be both tenacity and what not to do,” she said laughing.

During Blondie’s golden years, the music landscape was constantly changing to allow new sounds and performers to break through, which is ultimately the focal point of Harry’s book. When asked which Blondie album or song is her favorite, there is a long pause and Harry ultimately sighs. “That is an impossible question. I just can’t answer that, “ she said.

Harry admits that looking back, she wished that she had included more personal anecdotes about the many musicians, actors and artists she’s met and befriended over the years. “This book is sort of a broad sweep. You just don’t realize how much goes on every single day,” Harry said.

Just recently, she recalls being in London for the Graham Norton Show. Harry was scheduled to appear alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton, who were there to promote the film “Terminator: Dark Fate.”

“I suddenly remembered that I had met Arnold once at an Oscar party that was thrown by Vanity Fair magazine,” Harry said. “Seeing him again was sort of sweet, a kind of full circle.”

When talking about the musical landscape of recent years, Harry leans toward New Zealand folk singer Aldous Harding and the all-female Japanese band CHAI. “I know how difficult it is to put a band together,” Harry said. “This group (CHAI) is truly amazing, and they sound so good.”

But when it comes to her own status as a musical icon, Harry is pragmatic. “For me, iconography is more of a visual thing. For many people, it includes a relation to music, and your performance. I’m proud of that. My god, why wouldn’t I be?”

In recent years, she has found a new calling in being a voice for the LGBTQ community. Harry said that speaking out in favor of equal rights doesn’t have to do with having many friends among the community, but more along the lines of placing people’s humanity above what they choose to do sexually.

“I believe that we are entitled to our freedom, and that sexuality is nobody’s business but your own,” Harry said. “As long as you’re not hurting anyone, that’s your privilege as a human being. It’s not my place to judge anyone because of whom they choose to love.”

Among her future projects, Harry isn’t counting on writing another book, but she does not shoot the idea down. Right now, she’s fully immersed in book promotion, which will bring her to Miami on Wednesday for a book talk as part of the Miami Book Fair. But Harry is also focused on writing new music and making her way into the recording studio again.

“I’m always trying to keep active,” Harry said. “Kind of in permanent work mode, I suppose. There’s never been any other way for me.”

adelgado@pbpost.com

@litadriana

What: “An Evening With Debbie Harry.” Harry will be accompanied by Blondie band member Chris Stein. Rob Roth will moderate the event.

When: 8 p.m. Wednesday Nov. 20

Where: Chapman Conference Center, Building 3, 2nd Floor, Room 3210. 300 NE, 2nd Ave., Miami.

Tickets are $20.

IF YOU GO