DECEMBER 2019 - AudioFile
Debbie Harry is best known for her vocal work as a singer, but here the musician becomes a narrator to regale us with stories of her unique life as the lead female singer of Blondie in the mid-to-late 1970s. Fans of the group will be delighted that this book is punctuated with cameos by her band members Clem Burke and Gary Valentine, who pepper the drug-filled escapades with their gruff sense of humor. Listeners who grew up listening to punk music will be riveted by this tell-all behind-the-scenes romp of Harry's colorful life. She holds nothing back as she shares with frank honesty the toll of fame, drugs, and financial ruin. M.R. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
07/22/2019
The singer of the New Wave band Blondie and star of art-house movies Videodrome and Hairspray looks back on lots of sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll in this rough-and-tumble memoir. Harry recounts her plunge into bohemian New York in the 1960s and her navigation of the music scene as it shifted from hippiedom to disco to punk. It’s a story of creative ferment, as she infused the burgeoning punk aesthetic into her own glammed-up style—Marilyn Monroe with “a dark, provocative, aggressive side”—and used Method acting techniques to hone her singing while slogging through gigs in gloriously grungy clubs including CBGB’s and L.A.’s Whiskey a Go Go . Her portrait of Blondie’s success in the late ’70s feels less effervescent, full of wearisome touring and business wrangles. Harry offers a frank look at her life on the edge, including “oversexed” erotic adventures, a mugging and rape that she shrugs off (“the stolen guitars hurt me more”), an attempted abduction by a man she thinks may have been serial killer Ted Bundy, and unapologetic drug use. (“Heroin was a great consolation,” she reflects of a period when she supplied herself and her hospitalized bandmate and boyfriend Chris Stein with the narcotic.) The narrative rambles, but Blondie fans will love its piquant atmospherics and the energy and honesty of Harry’s take on her singular saga. (Oct.)
Arizona Republic
“The book is a great read full of humor, pathos, bittersweet reflection.”
The Guardian
Face It makes for an engaging and occasionally surprising read.
New Statesman
Harry writes with a certain cool…She is one magnificent broad. The worship continues.”
Los Angeles Times
[An] insightful new memoir…the most distinctive quality in Harry’s book is her sangfroid. At each dramatic turn — and there are plenty — she remains unflappable.
THE WASHINGTON POST
Readers, both familiar and unfamiliar with Harry’s career, will enjoy this memoir...She was a young woman who fell under the spell of New York and made herself into the performer she always knew she’d become, one who went on to cast her own spell on millions of listeners.
USA TODAY
Harry’s new memoir is a post-punk bijou that rewards her devotees.
PENELOPE GREEN
Ms. Harry is a plain-spoken rock goddess.
DECEMBER 2019 - AudioFile
Debbie Harry is best known for her vocal work as a singer, but here the musician becomes a narrator to regale us with stories of her unique life as the lead female singer of Blondie in the mid-to-late 1970s. Fans of the group will be delighted that this book is punctuated with cameos by her band members Clem Burke and Gary Valentine, who pepper the drug-filled escapades with their gruff sense of humor. Listeners who grew up listening to punk music will be riveted by this tell-all behind-the-scenes romp of Harry's colorful life. She holds nothing back as she shares with frank honesty the toll of fame, drugs, and financial ruin. M.R. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2019-07-03
The iconic singer reveals her legendary journey.
In this whirlwind tour of her life, Harry, one of the most photographed faces in music, deploys an irreverent style well suited to her story. Her tales of life before, during, after, and beyond her time with Blondie are intermixed with interludes that capture the eclectic and electric passion she has for the creative process. In a narrative that feels simultaneously heartfelt and spontaneous, Harry recounts close encounters with violence and harassment with the same immediacy as the moments that catapulted Blondie to worldwide fame. Harry doesn't focus on the challenges of being a woman in the music industry but rather on the collaborations that fueled her creativity. Though her sound and style influenced rock, and especially women in rock, there's refreshingly little self-congratulation in these pages. Instead, readers will find reflection on life with a budding band and an uncensored view of what it took to succeed. Whether she's recounting her experiences making clothes, waitressing, meeting artists, or playing early gigs at CBGB, Harry's intimate portrait often reads like a love letter to a bygone version of New York City. The narrative reflects the energy of the punk and new wave scene as the author weaves personal stories with entertaining descriptions of partying and playing with the likes of the Ramones, Andy Warhol, Iggy Pop, and David Bowie. There is no shortage of notable cameos in Harry's chronicle of her journey to stardom, and she maintains effervescent senses of humor and grace throughout. From small venues to world tours, bankruptcy to gold records, this account of life behind the fame offers a candid view of the hard work, big breaks, and tough times that came before and after celebrity. The co-founder of Blondie, Chris Stein, provides the introduction.
A wild ride of fame, friendships, music, and drugs sure to appeal to Blondie fans and 1970s rock in general.
