FACE IT
By Debbie Harry
I honestly think I’d be a bit scared if I met Debbie Harry. When she describes herself as having ‘a woman’s body with a man’s brain’ I get what she’s driving at. Harry’s not the girlie type. Learning how she came to be like that is an eye-opener.
The singer who sneered and pouted her way through Denis Denis and Sunday Girl didn’t act like the traditional girl in a boys’ band – she was one of them. The fact that she was beautiful was only a part of her allure – she was also steely strong and untouchable and following her eventful trajectory is fascinating, although sometimes grim.
Harry struggled for years before finding fame and lived through challenges that make your hair stand on end, yet she describes them dispassionately. Apart from heroin addiction and a near-miss with serial killer Ted Bundy, she was also a victim of stalking, violence, robbery and rape and eventually lost her house and virtually everything else to the tax man.
If you find Harry fascinating you’ll love this. Now in her mid-70s she looks back on her resilience with pride. “I’ve accomplished more in my life than was ever expected of me. What am I proudest of? Even trying to do it, that was a major step. But also sticking with it through everything”. We hear you.
Marina Gask