1974–1978: Early career Inspired by the burgeoning new music scene at the
Mercer Arts Center in
Manhattan, musician Chris Stein sought to join a similar band. He joined the Stillettoes in 1973 as their guitarist and formed a romantic relationship with Debbie Harry, who was one of the band's vocalists, a former waitress and
Playboy Bunny. Harry had been a member of a folk-rock band,
The Wind in the Willows, in the late 1960s. and
Fred Smith (bass). The new name derived from comments made by truck drivers who catcalled "Hey, Blondie" to Harry as they drove past. By the spring of 1975, O'Connor had left the music business and Smith replaced
Richard Hell in
Television, while Kral eventually joined the
Patti Smith Group. Blondie became regular performers at
Max's Kansas City and
CBGB. In June 1975, the band's first recording came in the way of a demo produced by
Alan Betrock. To fill out their sound, they recruited keyboard player
Jimmy Destri in November 1975. In July 1977, Valentine decided to leave the band and form his own group, the Know; he was replaced by
Frank Infante. The first album was re-released on the new label in October 1977.
Rolling Stones review of the debut album observed the eclectic nature of the group's music, comparing it both to
Phil Spector and to
the Who, and commented that the album's two strengths were
Richard Gottehrer's production and the persona of Debbie Harry. The band's first commercial success occurred in Australia in 1977, when the music television program
Countdown mistakenly played their video "
In the Flesh", which was the B-side of the single "X-Offender". In a 1998 interview, drummer Burke recalled seeing the episode in which the wrong song was played, but he and Stein suggested that it may have been a deliberate subterfuge on the part of Meldrum. Stein asserted that "X-Offender" was "too crazy and aggressive [to become a hit]", while "In the Flesh" was "not representative of any punk sensibility. Over the years, I've thought they probably played both things but liked one better. That's all." In retrospect, Burke described "In the Flesh" as "a forerunner to the
power ballad". The single reached number two in Australia, and the album entered the Australian top twenty in November 1977. In February 1978, Blondie released their second album,
Plastic Letters (UK number 10, Stein is credited with lead guitar, bass, e-bow and vibes.
Plastic Letters was promoted extensively throughout Europe and Asia by Chrysalis Records. made Blondie one of the first American new wave bands to achieve mainstream success in the UK. The album's first two singles were "
Picture This" (UK number 12) "Heart of Glass" was released in early 1979 and the disco-infused Although some critics condemned Blondie for "selling out" by dabbling in disco, the song became a worldwide success and one of the biggest selling singles of 1979. Blondie, photographed by
Annie Leibovitz, was featured on the cover of
Rolling Stone magazine in June 1979. The band returned to the studio with Chapman to record their next album in the summer of 1979. At the end of the year, the show filmed at the Apollo theatre in Glasgow was broadcast by the BBC on the
Old Grey Whistle Test. In the summer of 1980, the band appeared in a bit part in the film
Roadie starring
Meat Loaf. Blondie performed the
Johnny Cash song "
Ring of Fire", and the live recording was featured on the film soundtrack and on a later CD reissue of the
Eat to the Beat album. Blondie took a break for most of 1981. Debbie Harry appeared on
Saturday Night Live in February 1981 as both the guest host-actor and as a singer, with Stein and Burke backing her during musical performances. Harry and Destri both released solo albums. Stein worked on Harry's album
KooKoo (UK number six, US number twenty-eight) produced by
Nile Rodgers and
Bernard Edwards.). The album also included "For Your Eyes Only", a track the band had been commissioned to write and record for the
1981 James Bond film of the same name, which was rejected by the film's producers who ultimately chose another
song with the same title recorded by
Sheena Easton. In June 1982, Harry contributed backing vocals to
the Gun Club's second album,
Miami, being credited as "D.H. Lawrence Jr". Stein produced the record, and is credited as "bongos" and "cover photos/design". The Gun Club's singer
Jeffrey Lee Pierce was a fan, emulating Harry's hairstyle and founding the West Coast Blondie Fan Club, before becoming friends with the band in New York. For the brief North American tour (July to August 1982) to promote the
Hunter album, guitarist Infante was replaced with session musician Eddie Martinez. Also added to the live lineup were second keyboardist Abel Domingues and a three-man horn section comprising Douglas Harris, Joseph Kohanski, and Arthur Pugh. In 1983, Stein was diagnosed with the life-threatening illness
pemphigus, and Harry cared for him. Harry embarked on solo career in the mid-1980s, including two singles—the 1983 track "Rush Rush" from the film
Scarface, and the 1985 track "Feel The Spin"—released while she continued to feature in films. Harry released the album
Rockbird in 1986, with active participation from Stein. The album was a moderate success in the UK where it reached gold certification and gave her a UK top 10 hit with "
French Kissin'". Meanwhile, Burke became a much-in-demand session drummer, playing and touring with
Eurythmics for their 1986 album
Revenge, and Destri maintained an active career as a producer and session musician.
Chrysalis/
EMI Records also released several compilations and collections of remixed versions of some of their biggest hits. Harry continued her moderately successful solo career after the band broke up, releasing albums in 1989 and 1993 which helped keep the band in the public eye. In 1990, she reunited with Stein and Burke for a summer tour of mid-sized venues as part of an "Escape from New York" package with
Jerry Harrison, the
Tom Tom Club and the
Ramones. In 1996, Stein and Harry began the process of reuniting Blondie and contacted original members Burke, Destri, and Valentine. Valentine had by this time moved to London and become a full-time writer under his real name,
Gary Lachman—his
New York Rocker: My Life in the Blank Generation (2002) is a memoir of his years with the band. Reportedly, long-time bassist Nigel Harrison (Valentine's eventual replacement in the late 1970s) was considered to fill the role for the reunion and even contributed to some new demos with the group, but ultimately he and fellow former member Frank Infante did not participate in the reunion, with the two unsuccessfully suing to prevent the reunion under the name Blondie.
No Exit reached number three on the UK charts became Blondie's sixth UK number one single He intended to work on their 2011 album
Panic Of Girls, but did not contribute as either a songwriter or a musician on the finished product, nor to any future Blondie release. In 2005, a new CD/DVD hits package titled
Greatest Hits: Sight + Sound was released, peaking at number 48 in the UK.
2008–2012: Parallel Lines 30th Anniversary Tour and Panic of Girls in
Saratoga, California in 2012 On June 5, 2008, Blondie commenced
a world tour to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Parallel Lines with a concert at Ram's Head Live in Baltimore, Maryland. The tour covered some Eastern and Midwestern US cities throughout the month of June. In July, the tour took the band overseas to Israel, the UK, Russia, Europe and Scandinavia, wrapping up on August 4, 2008, at Store Vega in Copenhagen, Denmark. Inspired by attendances for the tour,
Burke and Carbonara both told interviewers in 2008 and 2009 that the band was working on another record, which would be their first new album since the release of
The Curse of Blondie in 2003. Carbonara described it as "a real Blondie record." Blondie undertook a North American tour of mid-sized venues with
Pat Benatar and
the Donnas in the summer of 2009. Following the tour, in October, the band began recording sessions for their ninth studio album with producer Jeff Saltzman in
Woodstock, New York. After playing with the band for over a decade, both Foxx (bass) and Carbonara (guitar) were elevated to official membership status with Blondie. Keyboard player
Matt Katz-Bohen, who had replaced Destri, was also made an official member, making Blondie a six-piece band. In December 2009, the band released the song "
We Three Kings" to coincide with the Christmas holiday. The new album, to be titled
Panic of Girls, which was being mixed at the time, was said to be ready to follow in 2010. Stein stated that Dutch artist
Chris Berens would provide the cover art. In April 2010, it was announced that guitarist Carbonara had amicably left Blondie to pursue other projects and was replaced by
Tommy Kessler (the finished
Panic of Girls album credits both Kessler and Carbonara as official members). In June 2010, Blondie began the first leg of a world tour named "Endangered Species Tour", which covered the UK and Ireland, supported by UK band
Little Fish. The set lists featured both classics and new material from the forthcoming
Panic of Girls. After a break in July, the tour resumed in August and covered the US and Canada over the course of six weeks. Blondie then took the "Endangered Species Tour" to Australia and New Zealand in November to December 2010, co-headlining with
the Pretenders. It was first revealed that the band's album was going to be released first in Australia through the Australian
Sony label in December 2010, but Sony later backed out of the deal, leaving the album still unreleased. The album's release date was finally set for mid-2011 without the involvement of a major record label. The album was first released in May 2011 as a limited edition "fan pack" in the UK with a 132-page magazine and various collectible items, before being released as a regular CD later in the summer. The lead single "
Mother" was released beforehand as a free download. A music video for the song was released on May 18, 2011. It was directed by Laurent Rejto and features cameos by
Kate Pierson from
the B-52's, James Lorinz (Frankenhooker),
Johnny Dynell,
Chi Chi Valenti,
the Dazzle Dancers,
Rob Roth, Barbara Sicuranza,
Larry Fessenden, Alan Midgette (Andy Warhol's double), The Five Points Band, Guy Furrow, Kitty Boots, and Hattie Hathaway. A second single from the album, "What I Heard", was available as a digital release in July 2011. On August 20, 2011, Blondie performed a live set for "
Guitar Center Sessions" on
DirecTV. The episode included an interview with program host
Nic Harcourt. The band continued to tour regularly into 2012. A concert in New York City was streamed live on YouTube on October 11, 2012. The same week, the band listed three previously unreleased songs recorded during the
Panic of Girls sessions ("Bride of Infinity", "Rock On", and "Dead Air") on Amazon.com which were made available for free download in the US, and in the UK via the band's official website. Another track, "Practice Makes Perfect", was also made available as a free download in November 2012.
2013–2023: Ghosts of Download and Pollinator On March 20, 2013, Harry and Stein were interviewed on the radio show
WNYC Soundcheck in which they confirmed they were working on a new Blondie album and previewed a new song entitled "
Make a Way". In June and July 2013, the band held a "Blast Off Tour" of Europe. The US "No Principals Tour" followed in September and October 2013. The album
Ghosts of Download was released in May 2014 as part of a two-disc package titled
Blondie 4(0) Ever to coincide with the band's 40th anniversary. The package also includes
Greatest Hits Deluxe Redux, a compilation of re-recordings of Blondie's past singles. The band's official worldwide 40th anniversary tour began in February 2014. Blondie recorded a concert for
PBS's
Soundstage to be aired some time in 2016 and included two new tracks, "My Monster" and "Gravity". In 2015, Blondie members Harry and Stein made a guest appearance alongside
the Gregory Brothers in an episode of the
YouTube series
Songify the News, where they collaborated again to parody the
2016 US presidential election debates. In January 2017, it was announced that the band would support
Phil Collins at Dublin's Aviva Stadium on June 25, 2017, as part of his
Not Dead Yet tour. The band also toured Australia and New Zealand on a co-headlining tour with
Cyndi Lauper. In the March 2017 issue of
Mojo magazine, the band announced that their eleventh studio album,
Pollinator, would be released on May 5, 2017. The album was recorded at The Magic Shop in
SoHo, New York City, and featured songs written by the likes of
TV on the Radio's
David Sitek,
Johnny Marr,
Sia,
Charli XCX, and
Dev Hynes.
Pollinator spawned hit singles "
Fun" and "
Long Time" and embarked Blondie on a promotional tour in North America, South America and Europe. The album peaked at number four in the UK and is Blondie's most successful studio album since
No Exit. In October 2020, Harry and Stein appeared in
Schmoyoho's parody of the
2020 US presidential debates between vice presidential candidates
Kamala Harris and
Mike Pence in a song titled "One Heartbeat Away", where they played the role of moderators. On October 20, 2020, Blondie announced that they would be embarking on a ten-date arena tour of the UK in November 2021 with
Garbage as the opening act. The tour was postponed until April 2022 due to the
COVID-19 pandemic.
Johnny Marr, formerly of
the Smiths, replaced Garbage on the tour. Additional dates were subsequently added in the US. In April 2022, prior to the launch of the UK/US tour, it was announced that Stein would be unable to tour with the group due to heart issues. "I've been dealing with a dumbass condition called
Atrial Fibrillation or AFib which is irregular heartbeats and combined with the meds I take for it I'm too fatigued to deal", Stein said. He was replaced by Andee Blacksugar. Bassist Foxx, too, was absent due to a back injury. Former
Sex Pistols bassist
Glen Matlock filled in for Foxx. Matlock also recorded with the band for the forthcoming Blondie album. Blondie performed at the
22nd Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in April 2023.
2024–present Upcoming twelfth studio album, High Noon In a June 2024 interview for BBC Radio 6 Music, Harry and Stein stated that Blondie's upcoming twelfth album will be released in Spring 2025. This was followed up on November 6, 2024 by images posted onto Stein's and Blondie's official social media, showing Harry in the recording studio, captioned 'Whatever. Blondie album next year. Alea iacta est'. However, the album has yet to be released. Exactly fifty years after first joining Blondie, drummer Clem Burke died of cancer on April 6, 2025. On August 19, 2025, the band revealed that the new studio album
High Noon would be released in the spring of 2026, and will feature drums recorded by Burke before his death. ==Style and legacy==