Blondie frontwoman Debbie Harry says that fellow rock icon David Bowie once exposed himself to her after she gave him cocaine.
In an excerpt of her new memoir Face It published in The Sunday Times, the 74-year-old punk pioneer claims that the incident occurred during Blondie’s first major tour, during which time they opened for Iggy Pop as he promoted his 1977 album, The Idiot. Bowie, who had produced the LP, stepped back from his usual place in the spotlight and joined the tour as Pop’s keyboard player.
The combination of Bowie, Pop, and Blondie — fresh out of the punk rock incubator of downtown Manhattan’s infamous CBGB club — ensured that partying took place with great regularity. “One time David and Iggy were looking for some blow,” Harry writes in the book. “Their connection in New York had suddenly died and they were out.”
But the boys were in luck, as Harry happened to have a gram of the drug. Not a fan of the substance herself — “It made me jittery and wired and it affected my throat,” Harry explained — she decided to share with her tour mates. “They just sucked it right up in one swoop,” she says.
That’s when things took a turn with the late star. “After they did the blow, David pulled out his c— — as if I were the official c— checker or something. Since I was in an all-male band, maybe they figured I really was the c— check lady,” she continued. “David’s size was notorious, and he loved to pull it out with both men and women. It was so funny, adorable and sexy.”
In the book, Harry admitted that she wasn’t offended by the gesture. “It was just very funny. I didn’t touch it. But I did think, well — it’s very nice…I guess I was sort of flattered, you know? He’s one of the great men that I admire in the music world, clearly a genius.”
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Elsewhere in the memoir, Harry spoke of the early days of Blondie when she says she was the victim of a violent assault.
In a section of the book, which was first reported by The Sun, Harry recounted that one night she and her then-boyfriend guitarist Chris Stein were accosted by a man at Stein’s home in New York City.
The unidentified robber “poked round searching for anything worth anything,” she wrote.
She wrote that the man then “piled up the guitars and Chris’ camera and then untied my hands and told me to take off my pants,” according to the outlet.
“He f—ed me. And then he said, ‘Go clean yourself,’” Harry wrote.
Harry shrugged off the attack, per The Sun.
“The stolen guitars hurt me more,” she wrote.
The incident is believed to have taken place before Blondie gained mainstream success in the 1970s. It is not known whether or not Harry reported the rape to police.
Since emerging on the scene, Blondie has been recognized for being pioneers in the punk rock scene.
The group is most known for their 1978 album Parallel Lines.
Following its release, the band went on to drop several hit singles including “Heart of Glass,” “Call Me,” “Rapture” and “The Tide Is High.”
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The band broke up in 1982 and Harry embarked on a solo career.
She released KooKoo in 1981 and Rockbird in 1986. Blondie reformed in the ’90s and toured this summer.
Face It is out Oct. 1 and published by Harper Collins.
