Chris Stein

• Landscape — yes • Name — Chris Stein • Birth Name — Christopher Stein • Born — 5 January 1950 • Birthplace — Brooklyn, New York, U.S. • Years Active — 1970s–present • Genre — * New wave • pop rock • punk rock • Occupation — * Musician • songwriter • Instrument — * Guitar • bass • Current Member Of — Blondie

Stein was born to Jewish atheist parents in Brooklyn, New York, on January 5, 1950. He grew up in the Midwood section of Brooklyn and attended Midwood High School in Brooklyn, but he was expelled for his long hair. His father, Ben, was a Russian immigrant. His mother, Estelle, had Armenian-Romanian heritage. When Stein was 15 years old, his father died of a heart attack at the age of 55.

• Illustration — Stein performing with Blondie in 2011 In 1973, Stein became the guitarist of the Stillettoes and began a romantic relationship with Debbie Harry, one of the singers. In the summer of 1974, Stein, Harry, and the band's rhythm section left to start their own group which they eventually called Blondie. They soon became fixtures in the punk and new wave scene centered around CBGB and Max's Kansas City, and by the end of the decade achieved international stardom. Stein was co-host of TV Party, a public-access television cable TV show in New York City, that ran from 1978 to 1982. Blondie broke up in 1982, but reformed in 1997 and has been active off and on ever since. In addition to being the sole writer of the Blondie song "Sunday Girl", Stein co-wrote numerous hits with Harry, including "Heart of Glass", "Dreaming", "Island of Lost Souls", "Rapture", and "Rip Her to Shreds". Stein also ran the Animal Records label between 1982 and 1984. In 2015, Blondie members Debbie Harry and Chris Stein made a guest appearance alongside The Gregory Brothers in an episode of Songify the News, and they collaborated again to parody the 2016 United States presidential election debates.

In 1982, Stein was diagnosed with pemphigus vulgaris, a rare autoimmune disease of the skin, and was cared for by his then-partner Debbie Harry. Stein had developed a mild form of the disease, and was able to control it with a program of steroids. During his 13-year relationship with Harry, they both became addicted to heroin and the IRS seized their assets due to unpaid tax. While participating in a methadone treatment program, Stein said he became a "model patient," eventually earning the privilege of no longer reporting daily. After spending several years without leaving Manhattan, he visited writer William S. Burroughs for two weeks at his home in Lawrence, Kansas in 1986. Stein and Harry separated in February 1987; Stein attributed the breakup in part to them drifting apart and differing stages of recovery. Despite their breakup, they remained close friends, and Harry is the godmother of Stein's two daughters. In 1999, Stein married actress Barbara Sicuranza, with whom he has two daughters. Stein's daughter Akira struggled with substance abuse and died of a fentanyl overdose at the age of 19 in May 2023. In 2011, Stein described himself as "an animist. I'm kind of in there with the American Indians - I believe everything has a life force. I'm not an organised religion-type person." Stein has not toured with Blondie since 2019 due to heart issues, but has remained active with the band. About his health condition, he stated: "I've been dealing with a dumbass condition called Atrial Fibrillation or AFib which is irregular heartbeats and combined with the meds I take for it I'm too fatigued to deal."