The Gary Valentine listed in Wikipedia is not the Gary Valentine who was a member of Blondie, and the link between the Blondie and current Gary Valentine entries should be discontinued. Gary Valentine - real name Gary Lachman - was born in Bayonne, New Jersey in 1955. He was a member of Blondie from 1975 - 1977, leaving to start his own group the Know in 1978. He also played guitar with Iggy Pop and Lora Logic, and had a second group, Fire Escape. His songs have also been recorded by Annie Lennox and Tracy Ullman.
Lachman/Valentine wrote the Blondie songs "X-Offender" and "I'm Always Touched by Your Presence, Dear." He was involved in the Blondie reunion in 1996-1997 and in 2006 was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Lachman is now a writer, having published 8 books, mostly centering on the history of ideas: these include: Turn Off Your Mind: The Mystic Sixties and the Dark Side of the Age of Aquarius; A Secret History of Consciousness; A Dark Muse: A History of the Occult; In Search of P.D. Ouspensky; The Dedalus Book of the Occult: The Garden of Hermetic Dreams; Into the Interior: Discovering Swedenborg; and Rudolf Steiner: An Introduction to His Life and Work. He is a journalist and critic, writing for UK and US journals the Guardian, Independent on Sunday, Fortean Times and others. As Gary Valentine he is the author of New York Rocker: My Life in the Blank Generation, a memoir of his years as a musician in the CBGB scene in NY, as well as later years with Blondie, the Know, and Iggy Pop. He is also a radio presenter for the BBCs Radio 3.
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