Debbie Harry - Solo Albums

Solo Albums

Harry has released five solo albums. She began her solo career in 1981 with KooKoo. Produced by Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards of Chic, the album peaked at No. 28 in the US and No. 6 in the UK; it was later certified gold in the US and Silver in the UK. "Backfired", the first single from the album, had a video directed by H. R. Giger (who also created the album's front cover featuring Harry's face with metal skewers through it) and climbed to No. 43 on the Billboard Hot 100, No. 29 on the Hot Dance Club Songs and No. 32 on the UK Singles Chart. "The Jam Was Moving" was lifted as the second single and peaked at No. 82 in the US. After Blondie split up in 1982, Harry's solo output slowed down as she cared for ailing partner Chris Stein. She released the single "Rush Rush" in 1983 (taken from the film Scarface), but this was unsuccessful. A new single, "Feel The Spin" (taken from the film Krush Groove) was released as a limited 12" single in 1985, but again was unsuccessful.

In 1986, Harry released her second solo album on Geffen Records called Rockbird, which peaked at No. 97 in the US and No. 31 in the UK (where it has been certified Gold for 100,000 sales by the BPI). The single "French Kissin' in the USA" gave Harry her only UK solo top 10 hit (No. 8) and became a moderate US hit (No. 57). Other singles released from the album were "Free to Fall" and "In Love with Love", which hit No. 1 on the US Dance Charts and was released with several remixes.

Her next solo venture was the album Def, Dumb and Blonde in 1989. At this point Harry reverted from "Debbie" to "Deborah" as her professional name. The first single "I Want That Man" was a hit in Europe, Australia, and on the US Modern Rock Charts. The success of the single propelled the album to No. 12 on the UK chart where it earned a Silver disc. However, with little promotion from her record company in the US, it peaked at No. 123. She followed this up with the ballad "Brite Side" and the club hit "Sweet and Low". "Maybe for Sure", a track originally recorded by Blondie for the Rock and Rule animated film, was the fourth single released from the album in June 1990 to coincide with a UK tour (her second in six months). "Kiss It Better" was also a Top 15 Modern Rock single in the US.

From 1989 to 1991, Harry toured extensively across the world with former Blondie guitarist Chris Stein, Underworld's Karl Hyde, and future Blondie bassist Leigh Foxx. In July 1991, she played Wembley Stadium supporting INXS. In 1991, Chrysalis released a new "best of" compilation in Europe entitled The Complete Picture: The Very Best of Deborah Harry and Blondie, containing hits with Blondie as well as solo hits. The collection reached No. 3 in the UK album chart and earned a Gold disc. The album also included her duet with Iggy Pop on the Cole Porter song "Well, Did You Evah!" from the Red Hot + Blue AIDS charity album produced by the Red Hot Organization and released at the end of 1990.

Harry's fourth solo album, Debravation, appeared in July 1993. The album's first single was "I Can See Clearly", which peaked at No. 23 in the UK and No. 2 on the US dance charts. This was followed by "Strike Me Pink" in September. Controversy surrounded the latter track's promotional video, which featured a man drowning in a water tank, resulting in it being banned. US editions of the album feature two additional tracks recorded with pre-recorded music by R.E.M.: "Tear Drops" and "My Last Date (With You)," a remake of a 1961 Skeeter Davis hit.

In November 1993, Harry toured the UK with Stein, Peter Min, Greta Brinkman and James Murphy . The set list of the Debravation Tour featured an offbeat selection of Harry material including the previously unreleased track "Close Your Eyes" (from 1989) and "Ordinary Bummer" (from the Stein-produced Iggy Pop album Zombie Birdhouse; a track that, under the moniker "Adolph's Dog," Blondie covered in 1997). Tentative plans to record these shows and release them as a double live CD never came to fruition. However, a cover of The Rolling Stones' "Wild Horses" is available as a bootleg. At the end of 1993, Chrysalis released the Blondie rarities collection Blonde and Beyond, which featured the previously unreleased tracks "Scenery" and "Underground Girl". In early 1994, Harry took the Debravation tour to the US. In the UK, Harry's long tenure with Chrysalis Records also came to an end after lacklustre sales of Debravation, but the label released all of Blondie's albums and Harry's KooKoo album (for the first time on CD) as remastered editions with bonus tracks.

As Blondie had reconvened in the late 1990s, it was several years before Harry resumed her solo career. In 2006, Harry started work in New York City on tracks for her fifth solo album Necessary Evil (2007). Working with production duo Super Buddha (who produced the remix of Blondie's "In the Flesh" for the 2005 Sound and Vision compilation), the first music to surface in was a hip hop track entitled "Dirty and Deep" in which she spoke out against rapper Lil' Kim's incarceration.

Throughout 2006, a number of new tracks surfaced on Harry's MySpace page, including "Charm Alarm", "Deep End", "Love With A Vengeance", "School for Scandal" and "Necessary Evil", as well as duets she recorded with Miss Guy (of Toilet Böys fame). These were "God Save New York" and "New York Groove". A streaming version of the lead single, "Two Times Blue", was added to Harry's MySpace page in May 2007. On 6 June 2007, an iTunes downloadable version was released via her official website.

Harry joined Cyndi Lauper's True Colors Tour for the Human Rights Campaign. She is a strong advocate for gay rights and same-sex marriage. Though she has stated that she identifies as mostly heterosexual, Harry has said she has had intimate relationships with both men and women.

Harry's fifth solo album, Necessary Evil, was released in 2007 on Eleven Seven Music after Harry completed both a solo tour of the US in June 2007 and a European tour with Blondie in July 2007. The first single, "Two Times Blue", peaked at No. 5 on the US Dance Club Play chart. The album peaked at No. 86 in the UK and No. 37 in the US Billboard Top Independent Albums chart.

To promote the album, Harry appeared on various talk shows to perform "Two Times Blue". She also started a 22-date US tour on November 8, lasting until December 9, playing small venues and clubs across the country. On January 18, 2008, an official music video for "If I Had You" was released. Harry announced in September 2012 that she would be doing a solo tour as of January/February 2013. The tour would consist of a one woman show and Harry would perform songs from her solo career that have never been sung live and songs that Blondie do not do.