Two years before Blondie became a global superstar, with the release of the album Parallel Lines and the No. 1 Billboard hit Heart of Glass, singer and frontwoman Debbie Harry received a proposal from one of rock’s biggest idols. all times, and she blatantly rejected him.
In his new memoir, Under a Rock, founding band member Chris Stein (who was romantically involved with Harry for 16 years at the height of his fame) reveals the encounter, which occurred when the band were the opening act on Iggy Pop’s US tour in 1977.
Surprisingly, Stein writes, Iggy’s band featured David Bowie on keyboards, even though he was already a big star in his own right.
“We were speechless,” he says.
‘Bowie stood on one side of the stage, to the right. He was quite generous in this situation, acting as a chaperone because he loved Iggy. Everyone knew he was there, but he wanted Iggy to be the star. He was very inspiring.
Harry’s legendary sex appeal was a crucial part of the band’s success.
Debbie Harry visited her flirtatious old friend in 1980, when he was starring as The Elephant Man on Broadway.
‘One day Debbie told me that David had been alone with her and asked her: “Can I fuck you?”
Stein was Harry’s lover at the time, but doesn’t seem to have taken offense, particularly when she revealed his flirtatious response: “I don’t know, can you?”
He writes: ‘That really happened; I guess she thought it wouldn’t hurt to ask.
‘It didn’t affect Debbie’s opinion of him; she, of course, still thought very highly of him.
‘Iggy flirted with her too, but she was nice about it; she gave them both vouchers, so to speak.
Harry and Stein met in a New York bar in 1973 and soon became lovers and bandmates.
Their hits together included Call Me, which appeared on the soundtrack of Richard Gere’s film American Gigolo, The Tide is High, and Rapture.
The band unexpectedly broke up when Stein was diagnosed with pemphigus vulgaris, a potentially fatal genetic disease, and Harry put his career on hold and spent four years nursing him back to health.
Debbie Harry doing 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 soon became lovers and bandmates.
Parallel Lines proved to be the band’s breakthrough album in the US, reaching number 6 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 her, ‘Can I fuck you?’
Blondie’s biggest hits include Call Me, The Tide is High and Rapture.
Their romance eventually failed in the late 1980s, but they remained close friends and musical collaborators: she wrote the foreword to his memoirs.
In her own 2019 autobiography, Face It, she described how Bowie exposed himself to her during a cocaine frenzy in New York.
She wrote: ‘After they gave him the blowjob, David took out his penis, like I was the official penis checker or something. Since he was in an all-male band, maybe they thought I was in charge of penis checking.
‘David’s size was noticeable and he loved showing it off with both men and women. He was so funny, adorable and sexy.
He said that far from being offended, he found it funny. ‘It was very funny. I didn’t touch it. But I thought, well, very nice.’
I guess I was a little flattered, you know? ‘He is one of the great men I admire in the world of music, clearly a genius.’
In his own 2019 autobiography, Face It, Harry described how Bowie exposed himself to her during a cocaine binge.
The couple were together for 16 years, during the height of his fame, and she cared for him during a life-threatening illness.
Debbie Harry met Bowie again in 2003, when he was on tour in the United Kingdom.
Stein has been married for 26 years, but he and Harry remain close (they are photographed together in 2014)
In another incident, Bowie is said to have serenaded Tina Turner with a version of his hit. ‘Proud Mary’ completely naked, except for one of her wigs.
Stein has been married to actress Barbara Sicuranza for 26 years and the couple had two daughters, Valentina and Akira. Tragically, Akira died last year from a drug overdose, aged just 19.
He pays tribute to her in the book and writes: ‘The family was devastated. It was the hardest thing I have ever dealt with and am dealing with.
‘There is a tendency to present stories of personal addiction as colourful ‘war stories’, art produced out of pain and addiction. I know I glorified the addictions of artists I admired.
‘I thought I had presented my own experiences with drugs in a negative way to our children, but I am plagued by guilt that any discussion could have been misinterpreted.
‘I miss her so much. We miss her terribly.’
under a rock by Chris Stein is published by St Martin’s Press