Realizing Debbie Harry’s Role In Blondie Became Texas’ Turning Point, Alan Pell Recalls
In a recently surfaced BBC Radio Scotland interview, where Alan Pell from Mercury Records and music journalist Billy Sloan talked about the making of Texas‘ fourth studio album ‘White on Blonde,’ the pair also discussed how Blondie became a guiding light for Texas.
Blondie’s unique style and sound have had a significant influence on the music scene, and their lead singer Debbie Harry added to the band’s powerful presence with her striking look and strong vocals. Besides that, she has also been a great role model for young female artists who wanted to pursue a career in music.
So, it is not surprising that many singers, including Talking Heads’ Tina Weymouth, cited Harry as one of their biggest inspirations. It seems like there was another band that took Blondie and Harry as their role model, as Pell and Sloan revealed in a newly surfaced conversation.
Pell recalled that he was with the band Texas while they were recording at home one night. Then, he told the Texas members that they should follow Blondie as an example, which became Texas’ turning point. According to Pell, everybody knew Blondie was a band, but it was eventually Debbie Harry and the rest, as she was the most prominent member.
Here is what Alan Pell said about Blondie:
“I do remember being in a house one night when they were recording with the band. We got talking about Blondie, and I do remember saying that you guys should take a leaf out of the whole Blondie book, which is like Blondie were a great band, and everyone knew that Blondie were a band, but it was basically Debbie Harry and the rest to the outside world.”
Sloan then added:
“It was almost as if overnight walk up to the fact that they had this great frontwoman and the group.”
So, like Blondie, Texas is also led by a female lead vocal, Sharleen Spiteri. It looks like they’ve followed in the footsteps of Blondie as a role model, although they couldn’t be commercially successful as them. Texas has still been actively making music and touring in different parts of the world.
