Debbie Harry, musician, actor and activist, is best known as the singer and front person of the punk/New Wave/pop band Blondie. After the group broke up in the early 80s, Harry embarked on a successful solo career, recording five solo albums. The band regrouped in 1998 and their most recent release is Pollinator (2017). Meanwhile, in parallel to her music work, Harry developed an acting career with over 30 film roles and several television appearances. In her memoir Face It (Dey Street Books) she blends first-person essays, interviews conducted by journalist Sylvie Simmons, never-before-seen photographs, illustrations and fan art installations to recount in intimate detail, in all its grit, grime, and glory, the downtown scene of 1970s New York City, a time and a place where Blondie played alongside the Ramones, Television, Talking Heads, Iggy Pop and David Bowie and interacted with artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat. The book traces her path from commercial success and heroin addiction, to her partner and Blondie’s guitarist and co-founder Chris Stein’s near-death, bankruptcy, Blondie’s breakup, her acting career and the return of the band. But it also includes stories such as weekends with William S. Burroughs and her attempted abduction by serial killer Ted Bundy as well as her advocacy work for environmental causes and LGBTQ rights. She has said that in putting this book together, “I realized I have led a very full life.”
Harry will be joined in conversation by Chris Stein, and artist and director Rob Roth.