Biography

Guitarist and songwriter Chris Stein was born on January 5, 1950, in Brooklyn, New York City. He's the only child of father Ben and mother Estelle. Stein originally wanted to be an Egyptologist, but shifted his interest to music after his parents bought him his first guitar at age 11. Chris attended P.S. 199 for grades one through six, went to junior high school at Andres Hudde, and was kicked out of Midwood High School during his junior year in 1965 for having long hair. (He finished high school at the Quintanos School for Young Professionals.) In the early '70s, Stein joined the glam-rock group the Stilettos, which featured Debbie Harry as its lead singer. After the Stilettos fell apart, Stein and Harry formed the hugely popular and successful punk/New Wave band Blondie. Stein wrote the hit song "Sunday Girl," plus co-wrote with his one-time girlfriend Harry such Blondie songs as their breakthrough disco smash "Heart of Glass," "Dreaming," "Rapture," "Picture This," "Rip Her to Shreds," and "Island of Lost Souls." He ran the label Animal Records from 1982 to 1984. In 1982, Blondie broke up, mainly because Stein was diagnosed with a rare and often fatal skin disease, pemphigus. Stein eventually made a full recovery after a long battle with this illness. He not only composed the scores for the films Union City (1980) and Pie in the Sky: The Brigid Berlin Story (2000), but also was a co-composer on the scores for the movie Wild Style (1982) and the TV special When Disco Ruled the World (2003). In the late '90s, Stein and Harry relaunched Blondie; the group has recorded two albums and continues to perform in concert all over the world. Stein is also a longtime photographer; his pictures have been used as album artwork by Lydia Lunch and Dramarama. Chris Stein lives in New York City with his actress wife, Barbara Sicuranza, and their two daughters, Akira and Valentina.