The seeds for this band honoring the rock legacy of Blondie were planted when Nashville based singer Stephanie Cease saw a picture of Debbie Harry, looked at an old picture of her mother and noticed a striking resemblance. Her mother, a former beauty queen and one time Miss Indiana, had been told for years she resembled Debbie Harry and since Stephanie resembled her mother so much and was a huge fan of Blondie’s music, she thought “why not?”.
Stephanie started her career singing in the early 90’s with rock,pop,and r&b cover bands. She moved to Germany in the mid 90’s and continued her career there where she entered a televised casting show called “Popstars” in 2000. From 7000 girls in Germany she made it to the top 10. From there she fronted several Corporate Bands and sang many songs by Shania Twain, leading to a successful period working as a Shania Impersonator. This also led to her spot on the CMT show “Still the King” with Billy Ray Cyrus where she played the character Dania Von Twang, a German Shania Impersonator. Upon moving back to the states to marry her high school sweetheart Jeff, she wanted to try something new and exciting like bleaching her hair blonde and and singing Blondie songs in a tribute band.
Drummer Neil Pond drives Blondme’s propulsive grooves drawing from years of experience in the studio, on stage and on the road with bands such as The Boilers, 615 Rewind, Beatnix and The Rockin’ Bones. (Ask him about playing with Charlie Daniels, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Tommy Tutone, teaching Billy Ray Cyrus how to play Marco Polo, and ice skating in Central Park with Shania Twain). He and Blondme’s lead singer Stephanie Cease were both formerly in Nashville’s iconic ‘80s tribute band Max Headroom.
On keyboards and guitar is Stephanie’s husband, Jeff Cease. Jeff has long been a journeyman guitarist who currently plays with Eric Church and was a member of The Black Crowes during the bands early days. His musical roots include a strong interest in the New York/CBGB’s music scene of the late 1970’s, so when he heard of his wife’s plans for Blondme, he eagerly offered his services, as well as the services of two of his collaborators from his touring world, Michael Smith and Ben Rigby.
On guitar and backing vocals is Michael Smith. Michael was a founding member The Why Store, a band that made quite a splash in its hometown of Muncie, Indiana where some of the band members attended Ball State and began their career playing clubs and functions around the Indiana area.
After a couple of independent releases and much touring and hard work, the band was picked up by MCA Records where they released two albums as well as a live recording on the label. Michael then spent years working in a high profile position for musical manufacturer Peavey and is now a key member of the Eric Church touring organization.
Rounding out the band on bass and backing vocals is Ben Rigby. A sound engineer by day and bass player by mid day/early evening, Ben has been lurking in the background of the industry for decades; getting his big break in LA Dragnet as a sound editor eventually leading to his most infamous credit as lead audio director of the commercials for “HeadOn: Apply Directly To The Forehead”.
The fast paced business of topical analgesics was too much for Ben, so he decided to live a quiet life in Nashville and start a family while touring in the country music circuit as a front of house audio engineer. Knowing he completed the necessary first two pages of Mel Bay’s guide on how-to-play bass, friends and coworkers Michael Smith and Jeff Cease recruited Ben to join Blondme. As a founding member of the quintet, Ben looks forward to each chance he gets to melt faces across this land through the power of Blondie.
BlondeMe was born in the spirit of bringing exciting new life to the music of Blondie with forceful, faithful cover versions of greatest hits ("Call Me," "One Way or Another," "Rapture," "The Tide is High") and fan-favorite deep cuts ('X Offender," "Atomic," "In the Sun," "The Hardest Part") across the spectrum of Blondie in the 1970s and '80s—a crowd-pleasing mix of rock, punk, disco, reggae, ska and more.