 Blondie sprang from the gritty loins of the New York punk scene in the early '70s. Deborah Harry (vocals) met Chris Stein (guitar) as a member of the all- girl tribute band, Stilletto. Debbie was soon lured away to form a new band along with Fred Smith (bass) and Billy O'Connor (drums). After using various names, they adopted the one that truck drivers shouted at Debbie in the street and, as Blondie, the band recorded a demo featuring "Platinum Blonde." When Smith left to join Television in 1975, Burke's optimism prevented the group from folding. His enthusiasm was infectious, and with Gary Valentine (bass) and Jimmy Destri (keyboards) on board they resumed rehearsing. The result was a perfect debut single, "X-Offender" (1976), released on Private Stock, with a spoken intro. by Harry. With confidence running high, they turned in some dynamic live shows and Private Stock asked produced an LP. Blondie (1977) expanded everything that had been condensed into "X-Offender." The group toured the US and flew to the UK to play dates with Television. On returning home they signed to Chrysalis and recorded Plastic Letters (1978) with Frank Infante replacing Valentine on bass, although the latter's "(I'm Always Touched By Your) Presence Dear" was one of the LP's highlights. After the recruitment of English bassist Nigel Harrison, Infante moved to guitar for the grueling world tour that preceded the magnificent Parallel Lines (1978). This album spawned four singles, "Hanging On The Telephone", "Picture This", "Sunday Girl" and "Heart Of Glass", the last of which was a No. 1 all round the world, even in the band's native America. Its follow-up, Eat To The Beat (1979), generated a ground-breaking video album with a promo to accompany each track. The cover of John Holt's "The Tide Is High" (1980) became Blondie's fifth UK No. 1 in two years, and was a taster for Autoamerican (1981), which also contained the early rap crossover single "Rapture." Both were American No. 1's, but the stand-outs were Chris's edgy film intro. "Europa" and Destri's "Angels on the Balcony."
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