On the 12th of October, 1974, Blondie appeared at CBGB’s in New York City, under the name Blondie for the first time. The name is derived from comments made by truck drivers who catcalled “Hey, Blondie” to Harry as they drove by.
Blondie is an American rock band co-founded by singer Debbie Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band was a pioneer in the American new wave scene of the mid-1970s in New York. Blondie was regarded as an underground band in the United States until the release of Parallel Lines in 1978. Over the next five years, the band achieved several hit singles including “Heart of Glass”, “Call Me”, “Atomic”, and “The Tide Is High”. The band became noted for its mix of musical styles from disco and pop to reggae.
Blondie disbanded after the release of its sixth studio album, The Hunter, in 1982. Debbie Harry continued to pursue a solo career, but the band re-formed in 1997. They released the number one single „Maria“ in the United Kingdom in 1999, exactly 20 years after their first UK No. 1 single “Heart of Glass”.
Blondie was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006. The band’s eleventh studio album, Pollinator, was released on May 5, 2017.
Studio albums:
Blondie (1976); Plastic Letters (1977); Parallel Lines (1978); Eat to the Beat (1979); Autoamerican (1980); The Hunter (1982); No Exit (1999); The Curse of Blondie (2003); Panic of Girls (2011); Ghosts of Download (2014); Pollinator (2017)
Blondie photo: Michael Ochs archives/ Getty images