Two years before Blondie became global superstars with the release of the album Parallel Lines and the No. 1 Billboard hit Heart of Glass, singer and frontwoman Debbie Harry was proposed to by one of the biggest rock idols of all time – and brutally turned him down.
In his new memoir, Under a Rock, band founder Chris Stein – who had a romantic relationship with Harry for 16 years at the height of their fame – reveals the meeting that took place when the band were the opening act for Iggy Pop’s US tour of 1977.
Amazingly, Stein writes, David Bowie played keyboards in Iggy’s band, even though he was already a big star in his own right.
“Our minds were blown,” he says.
“Bowie positioned himself on the side on stage right. He was quite generous in this situation and acted as a sideman because he loved Iggy. Everyone knew he was there, but he wanted Iggy to be the star. It was quite inspiring.
Harry’s legendary sex appeal was a crucial part of the band’s success
Debbie Harry visited her old flirtatious boyfriend in 1980, when he was performing as The Elephant Man on Broadway
‘One day Debbie told me that David had been alone with her and asked, “Can I fuck you?”‘
Stein was Harry’s lover at the time, but doesn’t seem offended, especially when she revealed her flirty response: “I don’t know, do you?”
He writes: ‘That really happened; I guess he thought it couldn’t hurt to ask.
“It didn’t affect Debbie’s opinion of him; of course she still thought highly of him.
‘Iggy tried to hit on her too, but she did it in a nice way; she gave them both a chance, so to speak.”
Harry and Stein met in a New York bar in 1973 and quickly became both lovers and bandmates.
Their hits together included Call Me, which was featured on the soundtrack for the Richard Gere film American Gigolo, The Tide is High and Rapture.
The band unexpectedly split when Stein was diagnosed with the life-threatening genetic disease pemphigus vulgaris, and Harry put her career on hold and spent four years nursing him back to health.
Debbie Harry makes a pop promo for the single I’m Always Touched By Your Presence Dear in 1978
Debbie Harry and Chris Stein met in a New York bar in 1973 and quickly became lovers and bandmates
Parallel Lines proved to be the band’s breakthrough album in the US, reaching number six on the Billboard charts and spawning the hits Heart of Glass, Sunday Girl and One Way or Another
One day Bowie was alone with Debbie and asked, “Can I fuck you?”
Blondie’s biggest hits were Call Me, The Tide is High and Rapture
Their romance ended in the late 1980s, but they are still good friends and musical partners. For example, she wrote the foreword for his memoirs.
In her 2019 autobiography Face It, she described how Bowie exposed himself to her during a cocaine frenzy in New York.
She wrote: ‘After they did the slap, David pulled out his c**k — like I was the official c**k checker or something. Because I was in an all-male band, maybe they thought I was really the c**k-check lady.
‘David’s size was infamous and he loved to show it off on both men and women. It was so funny, cute and sexy.
She said that rather than being offended, she was amused. ‘It was very funny. I didn’t touch it. But I thought, well – very funny.
“I guess I felt a little flattered, you know? He is one of the great men I admire in the music world, clearly a genius.’
In her own 2019 autobiography, Face It, Harry described how Bowie exposed himself to her during a cocaine frenzy
The couple were together for sixteen years, during the height of their fame, and she cared for him during a life-threatening illness.
Debbie Harry reunited with Bowie in 2003 when he toured Britain
Stein has been married for 26 years, but he and Harry remain close (they were photographed together in 2014)
In another incident, Bowie is said to have serenaded Tina Turner with a version of her hit ‘Proud Mary’ while completely naked – except for her body one of her wigs.
Stein has been married to actress Barbara Sicuranza for 26 years and the couple had two daughters together, Valentina and Akira. Tragically, Akira died of a drug overdose last year, at the age of 19.
He pays tribute to her in the book, writing: ‘The family was crushed. It was the hardest thing I have ever had to deal with and have to deal with.
‘There is a tendency to present stories of personal addiction as colorful “war stories,” art produced by pain and addiction. I know I have glorified the addictions of artists I looked up to.
‘I thought I was portraying my own drug experiences in a negative light to our children, but I feel guilty that any conversations may have been misinterpreted.
“I miss her terribly. We miss her terribly.”
Under a rock by Chris Stein is published by St Martin’s Press