’70s Rock Band Blondie Shares Announcement About Late Drummer’s Posthumous Project: ‘A True Force of Nature’
Clem Burke’s memoir is coming to a bookstore near you.
parade.com
By Craig Rosen – Trending News Writer – 14th April 2026
Key Points
*Clem Burke’s memoir, ‘The Other Side of the Dream,’ to publish May UK, September US.
*The book was finished posthumously with help from Kathy Valentine and features a Fred Armisen foreword.
*Burke once reflected, “I’ll see you at the bookstore,”
The memoir written by late Blondie drummer Clem Burke prior to his death last year at the age of 70 has a publication date.
The Other Side of the Dream: My Life in and out of Blondie will be published on May 7 in the U.K. and Sept. 8 in the U.S. by HarperCollins. The announcement was made in a joint post on the official Instagram accounts of Blondie and Burke.
“For anyone who knows pop culture and rock & roll, there was only one Clem—Clem Burke: a true force of nature, an unmistakable personality, an icon. His deeply personal memoir, The Other Side of the Dream (My Life In and Out of Blondie), is now available for pre-order,” reads the announcement. It was posted along with the book’s cover featuring a photo of the late drummer by Bobby Grossman, and a pair of drumsticks.
View this post on Instagram
Burke’s onetime romantic partner and longtime friend Kathy Valentine of the Go-Go’s also shared the news in a post on her official Instagram account in which she urged fans to pre-order the book.
“This book was Clem’s last major work and testament to his life and I am so proud to have helped make sure it got finished and published,” she wrote. “@clem.burke would have been all over the place promoting and meeting fans and readers—he would have been great at this part and would have loved every minute of it.”
View this post on Instagram
The book features a foreward by former Saturday Night Live star Fred Armisen.
Prior to Burke’s death, he and Blondie singer Deborah Harry remained the band’s only active original touring members.
Aside from performing in Blondie, Burke played briefly with the Ramones as Elvis Ramone and worked with a bevy of other artists including Eurythmics, Bob Dylan, Bob Geldof, Iggy Pop, Joan Jett, The Fleshtones, The Romantics, Dramarama, and the Go-Go’s.
When I interviewed Burke for TIDAL in 2022, he told me about the book in the works. “I’ve been working on a memoir, which is almost a cliche, because everyone’s got a book, but I have been working on a memoir and eventually it will come out,” he said at the time.
Back in September 2025, Valentine revealed in her Substack that she helped oversee copy edits on Burke’s memoir. When contacted via email, she declined comment further until the book was officially announced by the publisher, but confirmed, “He worked on it for years. I’m just helping out.”
During my 2022 interview with Burke, which was tied to the release of the Blondie boxed set, Against the Odds: 1974-1982, I mentioned to Burke that I once saw him browsing in the music books section of a Bookstar store in Studio City, Calif., but didn’t want to bother him.
When our interview was concluding, I asked the drummer if he had anything to add. “I’ll see you at the bookstore,” he responded.
With the publication of The Other Side of the Dream: My Life in and out of Blondie, we’ll all have a chance to see Clem Burke in a bookstore soon.
