Face It: A Memoir

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During a Blondie hiatus, she embarked on an acting career, appearing in lead roles in the neo-noir Union City (1980) and in David Cronenberg's body horror film Videodrome (1983). Time flies when you're sleepwalking through life in pointless meetings and unsatisfying relationships.

Debbie Harry Is Staying Put The Tide Is High (Really), but Debbie Harry Is Staying Put

She discusses her childhood, early years in New York City, the near-chance meetings that led her to form a few bands that led to Blondie. She seems warm and tries to ask me as many questions as I ask her – I can’t decide if it is her enduring curiosity or a deflection technique. Madonna, Courtney Love, Lady Gaga, Babes in Toyland, Bikini Kill, Shonen Knife, Sleater Kinney, Pussy Riot, Angel Olsen and countless others didn’t need to mail Debbie Harry examples of their fan art.

I wanted an emotional biography about one of the coolest bands of that era, with personal details about how they and Debbie Harry herself came to be. In an arresting mix of visceral, soulful storytelling and stunning visuals that includes never-before-seen photographs, bespoke illustrations and fan art installations, Face It upends the standard music memoir while delivering a truly prismatic portrait.

Face It: Debbie Harry Has Had A Happy and Lucky Life Face It: Debbie Harry Has Had A Happy and Lucky Life

So, fans of Debbie Harry, those who will brook no criticism of her, maybe you’ll want to skip this review. Some of Blondie’s most celebrated recordings are cover versions, such as The Tide Is High or Hanging on the Telephone.I just said: ‘I’m not hurt, I’m alive, I’m doing what I want to do, I have a wonderful boyfriend’ – and that was it. It follows the familiar celebrity memoir pattern of a) spending a little too much time regaling us with stories from the person's childhood (the only truly interesting thing I gleaned from this, which I was previously unaware of, is that Debbie Harry was adopted) and then b) documenting their rise to fame as something that they casually ambled into, rather than through a combination of hard work and crazy good luck.