There's Something About Harry

Debbie Harry proves her music is as timeless as her inimitable style.

- Tama Janowitz

She is our goddess—straight off Mt. Olympus— who never seems to stop or run short of energy. At 71, Debbie Harry is the quintessential eternal female rock star. More than 40 years after Blondie first jammed at Max’s Kansas City and CBGB, forever linking its front woman, Harry, to New York’s gritty music scene, 2017 has Harry and the band performing across the U.S. and Australia, in London and Dublin, and beyond. Blondie also released a studio album, Pollinator, their 11th, earlier this year. “Anybody who survives in the arts has to be insanely obsessed with doing it, and they have to not mind working hard,” Harry says. “It’s never a ‘gift’—it’s never ‘given’ to you— it’s inching and crawling into your situation.”

These days, Harry spends most of her week at her house in the country, where she moved years ago to look after her ailing father. It’s not far from the city, where she still maintains a home. “It’s a short drive,” she says. “I need to see my friends.”