Debbie Harry has taken up knitting.
The Blondie frontwoman, 76, previously battled heroin addiction and was one of the biggest hell-raisers in music, but she has changed her ways over the years and revealed she’ll be bringing her knitting needles and yarn with her when she returns to the road.
Speaking to Johnny Marr for The Big Issue, Debbie said: “I’m curious about how I will respond to being back out on the road, since I haven’t done it for a couple of years.
“I’ve had to change behaviour over the years, and behaviour is very hard to change.
“On tour these days I do what the women on the front during the French Revolution would do. I sit there knitting and rocking back and forth.
“That’s what I do. I will be bringing my knitting needles with me.”
The ‘Heart of Glass’ hitmaker previously revealed she quit drugs because she found obtaining them “a drag”.
The singer insisted she didn’t need to go to rehab to get clean as she simply got tired of the effort it took to source the narcotics.
She said in 2020: “Drugs are a funny thing. The thing that drove me away from taking them was having to acquire them and what a drag that was. It was kind of a full-time occupation and a waste of time. It became unpleasant. Luckily for me I was able to handle the withdrawal.”
These days, the ‘Call Me’ hitmaker is much more health-conscious, working out twice a week and eating a diet of “mainly raw foods” but she thinks getting older is “horrible” and she has “some dissatisfaction” with her life.
Asked if she’s happier now than she was in her 20s, she said: “There’s [still] some dissatisfaction and hopelessness. It varies by the day.”
When she began her career, Debbie admitted she was a much more “reserved” performer.
She said: “I was more shy and guarded in real life.
“When I started performing I was reserved and charming and sexy and then I realised I had to grab. I had to grab the audience, grab their attention.
“Once I realised that, there was no going back.”