Hello, I'm Kirstie Young. Thank you for downloading this podcast of Desert Island Disks from BBC Radio 4.

For rights reasons, the music choices are shorter than in the radio broadcast.

For more information about the program, please visit BBC.co.uk.

Radio 4. My cast away this week this week is the singer Debbie Harry.

As a child she used to dream that her mother was Marilyn Monroe and once said her

early goals were to be noticed and to be

famous. Well she did that. Her group Blondie sold more than 30 million albums

and had hit after hit. after hit heart of glass call me

Deney Dene all powered up the charts they had seven number ones here and

became the most successful American band ever in the UK and look, well that was ultra cool, a striking beauty with

platinum hair and a bit of a sneer. She used to hang out with the remones,

talking heads, David Bowie and Iggy Pop she was painted by Andy Warhill and fetted the world over

I think I really enjoyed the darker sight of things she says I wasn't content with being a white middle-class girl growing up and doing what was expected of her

So Debbie Harry you wanted to confound expectations or you just wanted to explore a different sort of life.

Which was it?

I think I knew that there was more to life than what I grew up with

and had a natural inclination for extremes. You know, my dad used to always say to me, you're up here or you're down there you know you must level out I don't think that I had

you know extreme mood swings or or that kind of thing but I have a lot of sensitivity and I appreciated going there.

And so here you are still performing. I'm wondering you know sometimes when people

have explored the highs and the lows

there reaches a point where they think no that's they want to close the door on that life

you know that ups and downs and on stage and the applause and then alone in the

...