Deborah Ann Harry (born Angela Trimble; July 1, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter and actress, best known as the lead vocalist of the band Blondie.

Their fifth studio album, Autoamerican (1980), produced hits including a cover of "The Tide Is High", and "Rapture", which is considered the first rap song to chart at number one in the United States.

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).

She released her second solo studio album, 1986's Rockbird, and starred in John Waters's cult dance film Hairspray (1988).

[11] Before beginning her singing career, she moved to New York City in the late 1960s, and worked there as a secretary at BBC Radio's office for one year.

[15] In the late 1960s, Harry began her musical career as a backing singer for the folk rock group The Wind in the Willows,[16] which released an eponymous album in 1968 on Capitol Records.

During this time, both Harry and Stein befriended graffiti artist Fab Five Freddy, who introduced them to the emerging hip-hop scene in the Bronx.

The album's cover art was controversial, showing Harry apparently with skewers through her face, and many stores refused to stock it.

The album was not as successful as their previous works, and a world tour was cut short due to slow ticket sales.

[41] Critic Howard Hampton noted in a retrospective that Harry "carries herself with the wry, burned-out, but still titillated instincts of a voyager buying a one-way ticket for the outer limits.

A vivid, smallish part can either anchor or undo a risky, conceptually spiky film like David Cronenberg's viscerally deranged phantasia: Harry's presence grounds it in acute, self-aware reality.

[43] In 1987, Harry starred opposite Alec Baldwin in the comedy mystery film Forever, Lulu, playing the title character.

The same year, Harry starred as Velma Von Tussle in John Waters's satirical dance film Hairspray.

"Maybe for Sure", a reworked version of "Angel's Song" she'd recorded for the Rock and Rule animated film, was the fourth single released from the album in June 1990 to coincide with a UK tour (her second in six months).

In 1992, Harry collaborated with German post-punk band Die Haut on the track "Don't Cross My Mind" and released the song "Prelude to a Kiss" on the soundtrack to the film of the same name.

Controversy surrounded the latter track's promotional video, which featured a man drowning in a water tank, resulting in its being banned.

In November 1993, Harry toured the UK with Stein, guitarist Peter Min, bassist Greta Brinkman, and drummer James Murphy.

Harry also reunited with Blondie keyboardist Jimmy Destri for a cover of Otis Blackwell's "Don't Be Cruel" for the 1995 album Brace Yourself!

The same year, she collaborated with Jazz Passengers' Bill Ware in his side project Groove Thing, singing lead vocals on the club hit "Command and Obey".

Another Jazz Passengers collaboration, "The City in the Sea", appeared on the Edgar Allan Poe tribute album Closed on Account of Rabies (1997).

In film, Harry co-starred with Pruitt Taylor Vince and Liv Tyler in James Mangold's directorial debut Heavy (1995), playing a misanthropic waitress at an upstate New York restaurant.

The four original members (Harry, Stein, Clem Burke and Jimmy Destri) began sessions for what would become Blondie's seventh studio album, No Exit (1999).

A techno cover of Stan Jones' "Ghost Riders in the Sky" was featured on the soundtrack to the 1998 film Three Businessmen, and was available on her website to download.

She also sang on the version of "Waltzing Matilda" recorded by Dan Zanes and Friends, released on the 2003 album House Party.

Working with production duo Super Buddha (who produced the remix of Blondie's "In the Flesh" for the 2005 Sound and Vision compilation), the first music to surface in was a hip-hop track titled "Dirty and Deep" in which she spoke out against rapper Lil' Kim's incarceration.

In 2010, Harry began a series of recordings (featuring solo songs and duets with Nick Cave and others) for The Jeffrey Lee Pierce Sessions Project.

In 2015, Blondie members Debbie Harry and Chris Stein made a guest appearance alongside the Gregory Brothers in an episode of Songify the News, and they collaborated again to parody the United States presidential election debates, 2016.

[63] She also contributed vocals to the track "I Will Never Stop Loving You", which was released as a single and featured on the 2024 Dandy Warhols album Rockmaker.

Harry's description of the white vehicle stripped on the inside and missing the passenger door handle matched the 1968 VW Bundy was driving, but authorities believed him to be in Florida at the time.

In a 2011 interview, Harry said that "After witnessing Elton John and his tireless efforts against HIV/AIDS", she had been inspired to make philanthropy her top priority.