The iconic and impossibly hip and timeless Blondie will hit Hard Rock Live at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino on March 25 at 7 p.m. Blondie’s 2012 North American Tour is in support of the band’s ninth studio album, Panic of Girls. At the show, fans can expect to hear new tracks in addition to classic favorites. Tickets are on sale, now.
Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006, Blondie has sold more than 40 million albums, globally, featuring numerous hits over the course of four decades including “X-Offender,” “One Way or Another,” “Heart of Glass,” “Rapture” and “Call Me.”
Blondie emerged as one of the great pop icons of New York’s late ’70s new wave punk scene. With great rock hooks and ironic lyrics, not to mention a hip definitive sense of style, the band’s lead singer, Deborah Harry, went from the pages of Punk magazine to being on the cover of just about every mainstream publication on the newsstands.
The original Blondie was formed in 1974 by art student/guitarist Chris Stein and ex-folkie and ex-Max’s Kansas City waitress, vocalist/songwriter Deborah Harry. Drummer Clem Burke and keyboard player Jimmy Destri joined in 1975. The band played the fabled New York downtown circuit of CBGB’s, Max’s Kansas City and Mothers, amassing a major following before releasing their first self-titled album in 1977 and touring in support of Iggy Pop and David Bowie.
In the summer of 1977, they released their second album, Plastic Letters, that yielded the #2 UK hit single “Denis.” Next up was Parallel Lines with the single “Picture This” going to #12 in the U.K. and the follow-up, “Hanging on the Telephone,” hitting #5. Blondie had their first #1 record in the U.S. with “Heart of Glass,” which also sold over a million copies in the U.K., with the album moving more than 20 million copies worldwide. The fourth single from Parallel Lines, “Sunday Girl,” also hit #1 in the U.K.
In 1979, the band’s fourth album, Eat to the Beat, was released, along with the first-ever album-length video. The album spawned the #2 UK hit “Dreaming” and the #1 U.K. single, “Atomic.” Two months later, they scaled the U.S. charts a second time with “Call Me,” from the film, American Gigolo. Before the end of the year, Eat to the Beat was certified platinum. Also certified platinum, Autoamerican produced the #1 U.K. and U.S. smash, “The Tide Is High.” Debbie released her first solo album, Koo Koo, produced by Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards of Chic and featuring a cover by H.R. Giger, the Academy Award- winning sci-fi artist who created the Alien creature.
The Hunter (1982) included the single “Island of Lost Souls,” their final U.S. hit before Chris Stein was felled by a rare and often fatal genetic disease, which led to a sudden hiatus for the group. Harry went on to appear in numerous films and plays and to create music in various contexts while other members pursued solo interests.
Sixteen years later, the band reunited with No Exit, the seventh Blondie studio album, highlighted by the hit “Maria,” which went to #1 in 14 countries. Other releases include The Curse of Blondie, Blondie’s Live By Request CD and DVD, Greatest Hits: Sight and Sound CD/DVD and The Best of Blondie, of which one of the RIAA-certified platinum plaques for the album was auctioned-off to raise money to help the legendary CBGB’s club in an attempt to stave off eviction from its downtown New York City location.
Tickets cost $69, $59 and $49*; all seats are reserved and available at all Ticketmaster outlets online at www.ticketmaster.com or charge by phone: 1-800-745-3000. Doors open one-hour prior to show start time. *Additional fees may apply