Rockbird

Album information

Rockbird was Harry's second solo album, and came four years after the split of Blondie in 1982. Harry had largely put her music career on hold during the mid-1980s in order to look after boyfriend Chris Stein who had been diagnosed with a serious illness. The album was produced by Seth Justman, a key member of the J. Geils Band. Released in November 1986, there were four variations of the album artwork with the lettering in either green, orange, pink and yellow (with slight variations due to printing techniques).

The album peaked at #32 in the UK, and remained in the charts for 11 weeks. Although one of her lowest charting solo albums in the UK to date, it was actually the highest selling and was certified "Gold" by the BPI in January 1987 for sales in excess of 100,000 copies. Due to lack of record company promotion, the album was far less successful in the US, peaking at #97 on Billboard's album charts.

A stylised version of the album's cover photo features on the cover of some editions of the book "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".

Singles

Three singles were released from the album, "French Kissin' in the USA", which reached #8 in the UK, and is Harry's only solo top 10 single in that country, as well as "In Love With Love" and "Free to Fall", which reached #45 and #46 respectively. "French Kissin'" also reached #57 on the US Billboard Hot 100, and #3 in Australia.

Track listing

Side A:

1. "I Want You" (Deborah Harry, Toni C.) — 4:28
2. "French Kissin' in the USA" (Chuck Lorre) — 5:14  Listen 
3. "Buckle Up" (Deborah Harry, Seth Justman) — 3:46
4. "In Love with Love" (Deborah Harry, Chris Stein) — 4:34  Listen 

Side B:

1. "You Got Me In Trouble" (Deborah Harry, Seth Justman) — 4:18
2. "Free to Fall" (Deborah Harry, Seth Justman) — 5:31  Listen 
3. "Rockbird" (Deborah Harry, Chris Stein) — 3:09
4. "Secret Life" (Deborah Harry, Chris Stein) — 3:46
5. "Beyond the Limit" (Deborah Harry, Nile Rodgers) — 4:37

Personnel

Deborah Harry — lead vocals, backing vocals all tracks except "French Kissin'"

Jimmy Rip — guitar all tracks

Toni C. (Antoinette Colandero) — additional guitar "I Want You"

Phil Ashley — drum and bass programming & keyboards "I Want You", "French Kissin'", "In Love With Love", "Rockbird" & "Secret Life", keyboards "You Got Me In Trouble" & "Free To Fall"

Seth Justman — drum and bass programming & keyboards "I Want You", "French Kissin'", "In Love With Love", "Rockbird" & "Secret Life", keyboards "Buckle Up", "You Got Me In Trouble", "Free To Fall" & "Beyond The Limit", backing vocals all tracks except "French Kissin'"

Magic Dick — harmonica "I Want You"

James White — saxophone solo "I Want You"

Jocelyn Brown — backing vocals "I Want You", "French Kissin'", "You Got Me In Trouble" & "Free To Fall"

Connie Harvey — backing vocals "I Want You", "French Kissin'", "You Got Me In Trouble", & "Free To Fall"

La-Rita Gaskins — backing vocals "I Want You", "French Kissin'", "You Got Me In Trouble", & "Free To Fall"

Crispin Cloe — alto saxophone, baritone saxophone; solo "French Kissin'"

Gordon Gottlieb — percussion "French Kissin'", "Buckle Up", "In Love With Love", "Secret Life" & "Beyond The Limit"

Neil Jason — bass "Buckle Up", "You Got Me In Trouble", "Free To Fall", "Secret Life" & "Beyond The Limit"

Yogi Horton — drums "Buckle Up", "You Got Me In Trouble", "Free To Fall" & "Beyond The Limit"

The Uptown Horns — "Buckle Up", "You Got Me In Trouble" & "Beyond The Limit"

Paul Litteral — trumpet

Arno Hecht — tenor saxophone

Bob Funk — trombone

Cookie Watkins — backing vocals "Buckle Up"

Judith Spears — backing vocals "Buckle Up"

Fonda Rae — backing vocals "Buckle Up"

Jay Siegel — backing vocals "In Love With Love"

Chris Stein — additional guitar "In Love With Love", "Free To Fall" & "Rockbird", bass and drum programming "In Love With Love", "Rockbird" & "Secret Life"

Mickey Curry — drums "You Got Me In Trouble"

Bill Scheniman — additional percussion and backing vocals

Production

Seth Justman — producer & arranger

Chris Stein — additional arrangement "In Love With Love", "Rockbird", "Secret Life"

Bill Scheniman — recording, mixing

Kyle Davis — production coordinator

Jack Kennedy — assistant sound engineer

Rick Slater — assistant engineer

Ken Collins — assistant engineer

Ken Steiger — assistant engineer

Jon Goldderger — assistant engineer

Kent Wagner — assistant engineer

John Alters — assistant engineer

David Avidor — assistant engineer

Michael O'Haro — assistant engineer

Greg Calbi — sound mastering

Stephen Sprouse — cover design

Andy Warhol — background painting

Paula Greif — art direction

Christiaan — hair

Linda Mason — make-up

Guzman (Constance Hansen & Russell Peacock) — photography

Recorded at Mayfair Recording, Unique Recording, Electric Lady Studios, Sorcerer Sound, Power Station, A & R Recording, AMC Mission Control, Boston Mass.

Mixed at Counterpoint Studios, NYC