Band anniversary: ​​Did you know? Fun facts about Blondie

The band Blondie is considered a pioneer of the American new wave and punk movement of the late 1970s. Their face: Debbie Harry.

First number one rap

With the song “Rapture” in March 1981, Blondie became the first band to make a rap number one in the US charts. A few weeks earlier, Debbie Harry had made room for the group The Funky Four Plus One More in her appearance on the TV show “Saturday Night Live” – ​​the performance is considered the first rap act on US television.

Blonde for decades

Constant dyeing also takes its toll on Debbie Harry’s hair. She recommends keeping a bit of the dark roots in “InStyle”: “If you don’t let the dye come into contact with your scalp, it gives your hair more strength. But it will probably still break, no matter what.”

Playboy Bunny

Before her Blondie days, Debbie Harry – who still had darker hair at the time – worked as a waitress in the New York Playboy Club. She later described working as a “bunny” as an “interesting experience”. Unlike some of her colleagues, however, she did not want to become a “career bunny”, she once added in an interview.

Debbie Barbie

Decades after her start in New York music clubs, the Blondie frontwoman finally arrived in the mainstream of American children’s rooms: in 2009, a Debbie Harry Barbie doll conquered the market. Much to her delight, as she confirmed.

Escaped from death

The whole Blondie project almost came to nothing. In the early 1970s – before she even started out as a musician – Debbie Harry, according to her own account, almost became a victim of the notorious serial killer Ted Bundy, who lured her into his car. She was able to open the car door and free herself.

But the musicians even had “Blondie is a band!” printed on badges to dispel the misunderstanding that the name only refers to frontwoman Deborah Harry. In fact, she said, people shouted “Hey, Blondie!” after her on the streets of New York, which became the inspiration for the band name.