Debbie Harry on the trailblazing influence of Marilyn Monroe
Fronting the punk and new wave legends Blondie, Debbie Harry is an icon in her own right. Her image and her music blossomed from its sleazy New York punk beginnings to a globally recognised pop superstar. However, Harry has attested to the fact that she would have been nothing without the influence of Marilyn Monroe.
Debbie Harry was something of a rarity in the New York punk scene. Playing her first gig with Chris Stein as Blondie at the age of nearly 30, she was considerably more experienced and experienced than the dirty young punks of the CBGB scene. Despite this, Harry and the band had to spend a good few years polishing their craft before achieving mainstream success with their third record, Parallel Lines, in 1978.
Aside from the fantastic musical performance and songwriting, one of the things that made Blondie so successful was their strong image. The frontwoman of Debbie Harry, with her signature platinum blonde hair and powerful control over the audience, was responsible for a large part of Blondie’s success. A natural redhead, Harry’s iconic look was heavily inspired by Marilyn Monroe, “her influence on me, and on a lot of women, is very pronounced”, she once revealed in a 1987 interview.
Reportedly, the Blondie singer had grown up idolising Monroe, even once dreaming that the iconic actress was her real mother. Both women were favourites of legendary artist Andy Warhol, and there are certainly parallels between the careers of Monroe and Harry. Due to the ‘blonde bombshell’ characters she often played, Monroe struggled to be taken seriously as an actress or public figure, much like how Debbie Harry and Blondie had not been taken seriously in the early punk scene due to having a female lead singer.
Nevertheless, Harry affirmed that the clichés surrounding blonde women had certainly diminished since Marilyn’s heyday. Harry explained in a television interview, “People couldn’t get over the fact that she was so adorable and so lovely and so voluptuous and so attractive and so magnetic, to see that she offered a lot of qualities and a lot of things of value. I think that those days are gone.”
Harry had always been inspired by film actors throughout her career. The lead singer has an extensive filmography herself, getting into acting around the same time that she began performing with Blondie. Her credits include various obscure American B-movies and failed comedy films, though notable highlights include the Cronenberg classic Videodrome and John Waters’ Hairspray.
There is no doubt that Marilyn Monroe influenced an entire generation of women and young girls. As such a global icon, her influence is still felt today over six decades since her death. Her effect on a young Debbie Harry not only provided New York with one of their most enduring punk stars but also gave the world an iconic pop star who still commands audiences with her powerful performance and strong look.
