Harrison grew up in
Princes Risborough, a small town in the
Chiltern Hills. He was the bassist for the local band Farm, and later
recorded and toured with
Silverhead (fronted by
Michael Des Barres) He was also an uncredited session bassist for
The Runaways debut album when producer and manager
Kim Fowley refused to have Runaways bassist
Jackie Fox perform on the record. He was recruited to Blondie from
Nite City (former
The Doors' keyboardist
Ray Manzarek's short-lived band) in 1977, after the band recorded their second album
Plastic Letters without a regular bass player, and stayed until the band split after
Tracks Across America Tour '82. During his time with Blondie, Nigel Harrison contributed as a songwriter to every album he played on and also co-wrote several
hit singles with
Debbie Harry, such as "
One Way or Another", "
Union City Blue" and the band's last single with their most successful line-up, "
War Child", released in 1982. From 1982 to 1984 he was a member of the band Chequered Past, which also included two of his former bandmates: Des Barres, from Silverhead,
Steve Jones from The Sex Pistols and
Clem Burke, from Blondie. They released an eponymous album in 1984. Harrison was also music supervisor/producer for the soundtrack to the 1988 comedy
Tapeheads. When Blondie started to talk about re-forming in 1997, Harrison was initially asked to rejoin the group. He recorded demo tracks with the band for the album
No Exit (1999), but was dropped from the band before the record was finished. He and another excluded former member,
Frank Infante, brought a
lawsuit over the dispute, but were unsuccessful. Harrison was an A&R Executive at
Interscope Records and also did A&R work for
Capitol Records. Harrison later became the bass player for The Grabs, whose album
Sex, Fashion And Money was released in November 2005. In March 2006, Blondie, following an introductory speech by
Shirley Manson of
Garbage, were inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Seven members were invited to the ceremony, which led to an on-stage spat between the extant group and Infante, who asked during the live broadcast of the ceremony that he and Harrison be allowed to perform with the group, a request refused by Debbie Harry, who stated that the band's current line-up had already prepared and rehearsed for the performance. Harrison continues playing with various acts, including
The Rua on the 2015 album
The Essence. ==References==