Chris Stein

{{Expand section|date=August 2020}}

file:Blondie - Chris Stein - Zwarte Cross 2011.jpg

In 1973, Stein became the guitarist of the Stillettoes and began a romantic relationship with Debbie Harry, one of the singers. In the summer of 1974, Stein, Harry, and the band's rhythm section left to start their own group which they eventually called Blondie. They soon became fixtures in the punk and new wave scene centered around CBGB and Max's Kansas City, and by the end of the decade achieved international stardom. Blondie broke up in 1982, but reformed in 1997 and has been active off and on ever since. In addition to being the sole writer of the Blondie song "Sunday Girl", Stein co-wrote numerous hits with Harry, including "Heart of Glass", "Dreaming", "Island of Lost Souls", "Rapture", and "Rip Her to Shreds". Stein also ran the Animal Records label between 1982 and 1984.{{cite web|url=http://www.answers.com/topic/chris-stein?catainment |title=Chris Stein: Information from |publisher=Answers.com |date=January 5, 1950 |access-date=August 11, 2013}}{{cite news |last=Tannenbaum |first=Rob |date=August 22, 2022 |title=Once More Into the Vaults: Blondie on the Music That Defined Its Legacy |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/22/arts/music/blondie-against-the-odds.html |access-date=2022-09-03 |issn=0362-4331}}

In 2015, Blondie members Debbie Harry and Chris Stein made a guest appearance alongside The Gregory Brothers in an episode of Songify the News, and they collaborated again to parody the 2016 United States presidential election debates.{{citation|url=http://www.rttnews.com/2698295/blondie-s-debbie-harry-and-chris-stein-moderate-auto-tuned-first-presidential.aspx|access-date=24 October 2016|date=1 October 2016|title=Blondie's Debbie Harry And Chris Stein 'Moderate' Auto-Tuned First Presidential|work=RTT News}}{{Citation |last=The Gregory Brothers featuring Blondie |title=TRUMP VS. CLINTON (ft. Blondie) - Songify 2016 |date=27 September 2016 |work=Songify the News |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95AR87ciruc |access-date=2024-05-23 |publisher=YouTube}}

A photographer, Stein documented the early New York City punk music scene, the visual allure of Debbie Harry{{cite web|url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/debbie-harry-photographs-chris-stein-punk-1976/|title=The punk centrefold: Debbie Harry photographed by Chris Stein, 1976|website=Faroutmagazine.co.uk|date=June 25, 2019 |access-date=September 20, 2020}} and Blondie, and his collaborations with artists including Andy Warhol and H.R. Giger.{{cite web|url=http://forward.com/articles/129213/picture-this/ |title=Picture This: Blondie's Unofficial Photographer |date=July 7, 2010 |publisher=Forward.com |access-date=June 3, 2014}} Stein's photography was published in September 2014 by Rizzoli in his book, Chris Stein / Negative: Me, Blondie, and the Advent of Punk.{{cite web|url=http://www.rizzoliusa.com/book.php?isbn=9780847843633 |title=Chris Stein / Negative: Me, Blondie, and the Advent of Punk |publisher=Rizzoli International |date=September 23, 2014 |access-date=October 23, 2014}}{{cite web|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/blondies-chris-stein-shares-stories-behind-his-punk-photographs-20141002 |title=Blondie's Chris Stein Shares Stories Behind His Punk Photographs |publisher=Rolling Stone |date=October 2, 2014 |access-date=October 23, 2014}} Stein was a contributing photographer to Punk magazine between 1976 and 1979 - often using it to promote Blondie.

The book Negative: Me, Blondie and the Advent of Punk was launched with in an exhibition curated by Jeffrey Deitch at the Chelsea Hotel's Storefront Gallery in New York City alongside images by the likes of Mick Rock, Bob Gruen, Annie Leibovitz and Robert Mapplethorpe, which also coincided with the fortieth anniversary of the formation of Blondie.{{Cite web |last=Bengal |first=Rebecca |date=2014-09-22 |title=As Blondie Turns 40, a Look Back Through Chris Stein's Lens |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/09/22/blondie-40th-anniversary-photographs-chelsea-chris-stein/ |access-date=2023-12-12 |website=T Magazine |language=en-US}} There was also an exhibition{{cite web|url=https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/whats-on/chris-stein-negative-blondie|title=Chris Stein/Negative|date=December 29, 2016|website=Somersethouse.org.uk|access-date=September 20, 2020}} at Somerset House in London. Some of the photographs in Negative have also been published in the Debbie Harry, Chris Stein and Victor Bockris co-authored volume Making Tracks: The Rise of Blondie, first published by Elm Tree, London (1982). Making Tracks was later reissued by Da Capo, New York (1998).

Stein's photography has also been shown in an exhibition at the Morrison Hotel Gallery, West Hollywood in August 2013;{{cite web |last=Appleford |first=Steve |title=Blondie Guitarist Reveals Rare Seventies Photos |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/blondies-chris-stein-reveals-trove-of-rare-seventies-photos-249287/ |website=Rollingstone.com |date=August 12, 2013 |access-date=September 20, 2020}} in a joint exhibition with Eddie Duggan at the University of Suffolk (April–May 2017), entitled A la recherche du punk perdu,{{cite web |url=https://www.uos.ac.uk/events/%C3%A0-la-recherche-du-punk-perdu-images-m%C3%A9moires-and-1970s |title=À la recherche du punk perdu: Images, memories and the 1970s | University of Suffolk |access-date=June 1, 2017 |archive-date=September 5, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170905002152/https://www.uos.ac.uk/events/%C3%A0-la-recherche-du-punk-perdu-images-m%C3%A9moires-and-1970s |url-status=dead}} and in an exhibition in a Blondie 'pop-up' shop in London's Camden Market,{{cite web|url=https://www.camdenmarket.com/events/new-blondie-pop-up-shop-and-exhibition|title=Blondie Pop Up Shop and Exhibition - April 29th - May 3rd 2017|website=Camdenmarket.com|access-date=September 20, 2020}} linked to the 2017 Blondie performance at the Roundhouse.

A second book of Stein's photography, H.R. Giger: Debbie Harry Metamorphosis: Creating the Visual Concept for KooKoo, chronicling the collaboration between himself, Debbie Harry, and H.R. Giger for Harry's 1981 solo album was published by Titan Books on April 18, 2023.{{cite web |title=H.R. Giger: Debbie Harry Metamorphosis: Creating the Visual Concept for KooKoo |url=https://titanbooks.com/71187-giger-debbie-harry-species-creating-the-visual-concept-for-kookoo/ |publisher=Titan Books |access-date=23 May 2024}}

Stein authored a third book, Under a Rock, a memoir that he wrote himself over the course of a few years.{{Cite web |last=Stein |first=Chris |date=15 November 2023 |title=Here we go. |url=https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=878964100260331&id=100044402470459&set=a.286254436197970 |access-date=23 May 2024 |website=Facebook}} It was published on June 11, 2024, by St. Martin's Press, an imprint of Macmillan Publishing.{{cite web |title=Under a Rock |url=https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250286727/under-a-rock |publisher=Titan Books |access-date=23 May 2024}}

Stein was born to Jewish parents in Brooklyn, New York, on January 5, 1950.{{cite web|url=https://www.thejc.com/culture/music/interview-chris-stein-1.24451 |title=Interview: Chris Stein | The Jewish Chronicle |publisher=Thejc.com |date=June 30, 2011 |access-date=January 13, 2022}} He grew up in the Midwood section of Brooklyn and attended Midwood High School in Brooklyn, but he was expelled for his long hair.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VScwbwVi2cwC&q=%22Chris+Stein%22+%22midwood%22&pg=PA110|title=Love Goes to Buildings on Fire: Five Years in New York That Changed Music Forever|first=Will|last=Hermes|date=September 4, 2012|publisher=Macmillan|isbn=9780374533540|access-date=September 20, 2020|via=Google Books}}{{cite web |url=https://www.thejc.com/culture/music/interview-chris-stein-1.24451 |title=Interview: Chris Stein - the Jewish Chronicle |access-date=December 27, 2019 |archive-date=December 25, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191225105934/https://www.thejc.com/culture/music/interview-chris-stein-1.24451 |url-status=dead}} Stein was co-host of TV Party, a public-access television cable TV show in New York City, that ran from 1978 to 1982.{{cite web|url=https://www.wmagazine.com/story/glenn-obrien-dies-tv-party-blondie-chris-stein/|title=Glenn O'Brien Remembered by Blondie's Chris Stein, Co-Host of the Legendary TV Party|website=Wmagazine.com|date=April 10, 2017 |access-date=September 20, 2020}} In 1983, Stein was diagnosed with pemphigus vulgaris, a rare autoimmune disease of the skin. He was cared for by his then-partner Debbie Harry, and he has since regained normal function. Stein had developed a mild form of the disease, and was able to control it with a program of steroids.{{cite web |date=February 13, 2005 |title=Struck by her presence – Music |url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/Music/Struck-by-her-presence/2005/02/11/1108061863621.html |access-date=June 3, 2014 |publisher=www.theage.com.au}}

While in Blondie, Stein and Harry maintained a romantic relationship but never married. The couple went their separate ways in 1985, but have continued to work together on a professional basis.{{cite news |date=May 5, 2017 |title=Parallel lives: Deborah Harry and Chris Stein on Blondie's legacy |newspaper=Financial Times |url=https://www.ft.com/content/613ec6ec-3011-11e7-9555-23ef563ecf9a |access-date=September 20, 2020}} In 1999, Stein married actress Barbara Sicuranza, with whom he has two daughters.

In July 2023, Stein said that one of their daughters had died in May. She had struggled with substance abuse, and overdosed.{{cite web |url=http://mysteriousmysteries.com/about.html |title=My Mysterious Mysteries ++ Barbara Sicuranza |access-date=September 17, 2016 |archive-date=September 20, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160920115108/http://mysteriousmysteries.com/about.html |url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=http://archive.blondie.net/2005_05_01_blondie_chris_stein_archive.php |title=Official Blondie Web Site: Chris Stein |publisher=Archive.blondie.net |date=May 13, 2005 |access-date=August 11, 2013}}

Stein has not toured with Blondie since 2019 due to heart issues, but has remained active with the band and is a major contributor to a forthcoming Blondie album.{{cite web |last1=Taysom |first1=Joe |title=Debbie Harry says Chris Stein is a "major contributor" to new Blondie album |url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/debbie-harry-says-chris-stein-is-a-major-contributor-to-new-blondie-album/ |website=Far Out Magazine |access-date=23 May 2024 |date=17 June 2023}} About his health condition, he stated: "I've been dealing with a dumbass condition called Atrial Fibrillation or AFib which is irregular heartbeats and combined with the meds I take for it I'm too fatigued to deal."{{cite web|url=https://www.smoothradio.com/artists/blondie/chris-stein-uk-tour-heart-health/ |title=Blondie's Chris Stein is forced to pull out of UK tour with heart issues |website=Cduniverse.com |access-date=April 23, 2022}}

• List of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees

{{reflist}}

• [http://chrisstein.nyc Chris Stein official website]
• [http://www.blondie.net Blondie official website]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20160515154551/http://www.rednight.net/rednight/home.html Rednight.net]
• {{IMDb name|0825421}}
• {{discogs artist|Chris Stein}}

{{Blondie}}

{{2006 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Stein, Chris}}

Category:1950 births

Category:Musicians from Brooklyn

Category:American new wave musicians

Category:American punk rock musicians

Category:American rock guitarists

Category:American male guitarists

Category:Blondie (band) members

Category:Jewish American musicians

Category:Living people

Category:Jews in punk rock

Category:Midwood High School alumni

Category:Guitarists from New York (state)

Category:20th-century American guitarists

Category:American rock songwriters