Debbie Harry is planning her 80th birthday: The rock icon takes stock of her life

Debbie Harry spoke to The Times about aging. The Blondie frontwoman is currently preparing for her 80th birthday and reveals the worst thing about getting older: “Everyone is already gone.”

The musician talks about how it feels to have outlived many of her friends. “I don’t walk around every minute thinking, oh my God, I’m going to be 80 – but that’s kind of how I feel,” she admits. “My mother always said that in her head she was 25, and I feel the same way.” Constantly thinking about aging “can be your downfall.”

But she is not wistful. Harry doesn’t “really want the same kind of life I had when I was younger” because she’s already put that behind her. “That’s the nice thing about getting older – you know what it’s all about now,” said the “Call Me” singer. “You have it in your heart and in your soul and in your memories… or does that sound like an excuse? Should I go out and party every night?”

In view of her big birthday on July 1st, she wanted to “have a great party with everyone”. But when she thinks about the party guests, she becomes thoughtful: “The worst thing about getting older is that everyone is already gone.” Harry remembers: “In the 1980s or maybe 1990s there was a show at CBGB’s Gallery (a former New York punk club, editor’s note). I walked around the room and 50 percent of the musicians were in the photos disappeared – and that was years ago.”

The American singer explains elsewhere in the “The Times” interview that she doesn’t want to go on stage again herself. At this stage in her life she “no longer has the nerve” to perform live. “Experience is key,” she emphasizes.

Looking back, the musician says: “It wasn’t all luck, but I feel like I’ve been treated very generously by the capricious finger of fate and I’m just happier than before. I tried very hard to do something and it I succeeded. Having some success is a great elixir of life.”