Blondie are to be this year's recipients of the NME’s 'Godlike Genius' Award. The band will also be performing live at the awards ceremony.

Blondie's iconic frontwoman, Debbie Harry, pictured in 2011Blondie's iconic frontwoman, Debbie Harry, pictured in 2011

The announcement was made yesterday on the NME’s website with editor Mike Williams says: "As they celebrate their 40th anniversary, there could be no other band more worthy of being honoured as NME's Godlike Genius 2014 than Blondie.” He described their contribution to popular music as, “they re-wrote the rulebook in the late 70s by dragging punk rock to the top of the charts, and their classic songs still sounds as fresh as ever today. Everyone from Iggy Pop, Lily Allen, Lady Gaga and Julian Casablancas have looked to Debbie Harry for inspiration – she's the most iconic frontwoman rock'n'roll has ever produced.”

He finished by saying that the “NME is hugely proud, not to mention extremely excited, to be honouring her and Blondie with our most coveted award in 2014.” Blondie are one of the few American groups to be honoured with the award.

Blondie were one of the most famous groups to emerge from the iconic New York CBGB’s punk scene. They found mainstream success with singles such as ‘Heart of Glass’, ‘Atomic’ and ‘Call Me’. They were also one of the first groups to draw mainstream attention to the emerging hip-hop scene, name checking Fab Five Freddy and Grandmaster Flash in their 1981 single ‘Rapture’. Front woman Debbie Harry is remembered as one of the decades biggest sex symbols, she went on to have a solo career as well as trying her hand at acting before the band made a comeback in 1999 with the single ‘Maria’ which became a UK number one hit.

Blondie, this year's NME Godlike Genius Award winners are celebrating their 40th anniversaryBlondie, this year's NME Godlike Genius Award winners are celebrating their 40th anniversary

Last year the award was giving to The Smith’s guitarist Johnny Marr, other recipients include The Clash, The Cure, Manic Street Preachers, Dave Grohl and Noel Gallagher. The NME Awards with Austin, Texas will take place on February 26 at the O2 Academy in Brixton, London.