No Exit, Blondie, Beyond Records

Celine, Mariah and Shania, watch your sequined backs. 1999 is shaping up to be a very good year for veteran divas.

Cher, at 52, has scored her first U.S. top-10 hit in a decade with the disco ditty Believe, which grooved ahead of songs by the younger likes of Whitney Houston, Brandy and Sarah McLachlan. Now, original new-wavers Blondie, fronted by the still-icy-hot, 53-year-old Deborah Harry, are returning after a 17-year absence. (Harry has kept herself busy with indie movie roles, solo work and a stint with the Jazz Passengers).

No Exit...has already made a splash overseas. The first single, Maria, entered the U.K. charts at No. 1, making Blondie the first group to top the charts in three consecutive decades. The song is impossibly catchy, a wind-blown mix of heavenly hooks and bell-ringing pop nostalgia.

Stateside, it's quite possible Blondie will strike a similar chord. During the band's heyday in the late '70s and early '80s, Blondie defied categorization. The mix of rock, rap, punk and ska resulted in a string of enduring hits (Call Me, Rapture, The Tide is High and Heart of Glass) and a legion of artists were (and still are) influenced by the band's sound and Harry's inimitable style....

Source: Houston Chronicle, February 21, 1999
 

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