The 1970s heroin ‘scene’
‘On the Lower East Side in the 197Os,
heroin became very social. It wasn’t like
people were sneaking off and doing
it – you’d go to somebody’s house and
they’d go, “ Would you like some?”
and we were all saying, “Oh, sure.”
You’d develop what they would call a
chippy – a little habit. Then years later,
I think it became more of a necessity.
Self-medication, as they say. I got sick
of the routine of it, the rat race of it, the
constant hassle of finding stuff. You
always have to find more heroin. I got
tired of it and just said, “OK, enough.”’Warhol’s muse
‘I don’t think Andy and I were
“friends” friends – we were more
acquaintances. Andy had a way
of embracing the new. He was
curious and had such a tremendous
capacity. The man was a genius.
I don’t know if he initiated [painting
my portrait] or if it came through
his management. He took a lot [of
photos]. He was softly spoken, and
he would say, “OK, turn a little to the
left.” He was easy to talk to for me.
[The portrait I have by him of me] is a
really strong orange yellow colour.’
Face It by Debbie Harry is out nowELLE.COM/UKNove mbe r 2O19Photography: Bobby Grossman, Allan Tannenbaum, Chris Stein, Nick Wiesner, Robin Platzer, Roberta Bayley, courtesy of the Harr y family, courtesy of Debbie Harr y’s personal collection, Gett y Images.
The allure of Chris Stein
‘Fame was always something I wanted. It was 1973
and I was doing a show with my first band, the Stilettos.
Chris [Stein] was in the audience. I met him after the
show – he was with a girlfriend. I found him very attractive,
I loved the way he looked. He had long hair and wore black
eyeliner. Then our bass player dropped out and Chris was
available. Chris and I separated from the Stilettos – we
wanted to do straight rock. The first Blondie song we
made wasPlatinum Blonde, and we took it from there.’ELLEPlayThe beginnings of rap
‘I loved what I saw [in hip hop] initially- Fab 5 Freddy was like the roving
ambassador. We’d go to parties where
kids would have turntables – they’d be
spinning, then somebody would do a rap.
We were lying around in the studio; Chris
was smoking pot and said, “I’m going to
write a song called Rapture and we’ll put
a rap in it.” Chris primarily wrote the rap.
I filled in one or two lines and wrote the
song around it. A lot of people said
“Rap can’t last”, and “This is really bad”.’
Inside Studio 54
‘I remember going to Studio 54 and
getting drunk. And not really knowing
how I got drunk, and ending up in a
pile of bodies. I don’t think I went there
a lot – it wasn’t my scene. We were
more downtown rockers. The time
that I do remember [most] specifically
was when Andy threw the party for
Interview magazine. I was on the
cover and I met Truman Capote- I was so starstruck I could barely
talk. I think he was high. With the
loud music you couldn’t really talk.’
AT THE DISCO
Debbie at Studio 54 with
its co-founder Steve Rubell
(front) and friends in 1980THE BAND
Left: Debbie with
Blondie co-founder
Chris SteinTHE INSPIRATION
Debbie with artist
Andy Warhol
in 19851O7