Debbie Harry: I'm not an icon

Debbie Harry says she struggles to think of herself as an icon and that she still can't believe how successful her career has been.

The Blondie frontwoman is the subject of a new photo exhibition at London’s Somerset House called Negative: Me, Blondie and The Advent of Punk.

Looking at the images from throughout her career, she says she is uncomfortable with the tag ‘icon.’ Harry, 69, tells Hello Magazine: “Someone like Judi Dench is a great icon. Icon is such a strange word and when they started using it about me, I thought it was kind of silly.

“It’s interesting, I suppose, that I ended up having such a different life than I ever thought. I’m happy that it worked. I didn’t really have an artistic upbringing, or background in music or anything.

“I just wanted to get into my own world. I had no way of knowing whether it would turn into a career. I was like a kid who was in some kind of weird candy store. It was great.”

Blondie drummer Clem Burke said earlier this year that the band’s career could be coming to a close, with Harry having hinted at retirement.

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.