Decades of Debbie

BLONDIE SINGER IS STILL MAKING MUSIC AS SHE TURNS 80

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ONE way or another, punk icon Debbie Harry is turning 80 on Tuesday. She shot to fame in the mid-1970s, dazzling the world with her striking looks and vocals as the frontwoman of Blondie. But the singer has always been something special.

CHILDHOOD

BORN Angela Trimble, Debbie was adopted at three months old by Richard and Catherine Harry. They renamed her Deborah Ann Harry and raised her in New Jersey. As a child, she was a "tomboy" who loved playing in the woods next to her house.

She knew she was adopted from the age of four and often used to fantasise that her birth mum was Marilyn Monroe.

Debbie eventually tracked down her biological mum in the mid-1980s. A concert pianist, identified via a private detective, she wasn't keen to have a relationship with her famous daughter.

TEENS

Naturally brunette with a touch of ginger, Debbie started dyeing her hair at the age of 12. She experimented with shades of violet before settling on the platinum blonde that became her signature.

Voted "best looking" girl at Hawthorne High School, New Jersey, she was never short of attention. She'd eventually name her band after the "Hey blondie!" catcalls that followed her wherever she went.

20s

After graduating from art school in 1965, Debbie moved to New York to pursue fame and fortune.