As the lead singer of Blondie, Debbie Harry became one of the world's most recognisable pop stars, a punk rock icon who continues to inspire generation after generation of musicians. Blondie weren't an overnight success, existing for five years before they released their multi-platinum debut album Parallel Lines, and they weren't Harry's first band either, the singer having previously been signed to Capitol Records as a member of psych folk rock band The Wind In The Willows.
It would be fair to say that The Wind In The Willows didn't set the world on fire, disbanding after releasing their self-titled album in 1968. Officially a seven-piece band from the New York area, fronted by Wayne Kirby (vocals, double bass, piano, harpsichord, organ, vibes) the group also had an additional member - known only as Freddy - who is credited on their self-titled debut album as being their 'Spiritual Advisor'.
In a 2012 interview with Westchester Magazine, Harry described The Wind In The Willows as "a ‘baroque folk’ kind of thing with a small orchestra and weird instrumentation".
'It was actually one of my best friends from high school, her husband started the band, Paul Klein," Harry revealed during an interview with Rolling Stone's Music Now podcast in 2019. "He wrote all of the material I believe [Actually a number of the band's songs were co-written with either Wayne Kirby or lead guitarist Peter Brittain]. And originally I just started singing harmonies and back-ups, and it was very casual, and then it evolved into a recording situation... Artie Kornfeld, who was one of the people who started Woodstock festival, he was our producer. It was a smaller world."
In a 1977 interview with British music journalist John Tobler, conducted while Blondie were touring in England with fellow New York punks Television, Harry described The Wind In The Willows as " pretty awful actually".
"I didn't have anything to do with business or creativity in the band, I was just a singer a back-up singer," she stressed.
"There were two albums," she revealed, "the second one was never released. The second one I think was much better actually it was more rock and roll it was more…it could have done something because it was more up and more sounding like the Mamas and the Papas, who were very popular at the time."
In the same interview, Chris Stein noted that copies of the original Wind In The Willows album were selling in New York for £10, due to Harry's involvement with the record.
"Some sucker is gonna buy it," said Harry. "Let 'em."
In 2024, Wayne Kirby shared a never-released Wind In The Willows song, Suzy Snowflake, which he said was "the first professional recording ever made by Debbie H".
In a caption written on YouTube, he added, "Our group, The Wind in the Willows, recorded several cuts as a demo for A&M Records in 1967. Apparently, I have the only two-track tape of the session. I also just found the lyric sheets to songs for both the 1968 album and the 2nd ("lost") album we did for Capital Records: Buried Treasure (the first song ever written by Debbie); Hopeful Mood Blues (Kirby & Kline); Suzy Snowflake (Kirby & Kline); I Will Give You A Flower (Kirby); Scattered Leaves (DePhillips); and more."
Listen to Suzy Snowflake below.
