The Story of Chrissie Hynde and The Pretenders

From day one, rock music has been associated with guys, but what we most overlook, is that even girls can rock. I could count, off my fingers, just how many bands there are with a female member who, more often than not, is the leader: Heart, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, Blondie, the Pixies, the Talking Heads, and...The Pretenders!

...and it all started with an Ohio girl...

Born on September 7, 1951, in Akron, OH, Hynde was into rock'n'roll as far back as she could remember. She was exposed to records from Elvis, as well as many other novelty rockers. However, when she reached adulthood, she really wanted life to get going (didn't we all?). So what did she d? She made a long trip across the pond to London. Of course, life for young Chrissie wasn't easy. She worked for a then massive department store chain owned by Vivianne Westwood and Malcolm McLauren - the latter of which got her exposed to the rising punk sounds in the area. Hynde also wrote weekly publications for the popular British music magazine NME.

Before The Pretenders, there a few smaller bands:

Hynde once joined forces with Mick Jones in a VERY early version of The Clash. Apart from that she was in a band called the Mass Murderers (who changed their name to The Damned) to avoid being banned by the BBC (let me tell you the BBC really liked to censor things). This made Hynde a pocketful of money in the mid 70s, so something had to happen...and it did.

A ray of hope...

And sure enough, something DID happen. In early 1978, a businessman amed Dave Hill wanted to manage a band for his new-formed label, Anchor Records. He tracked down none other than Chrissie Hynde and hooked her up with Phil Taylor of Motorhead fame and Hynde's former bandmate Mai Hart joined in. The trio compiled a demo tape of some of Hynde's latest writings. Hill liked what he heard, so he suggested another recording session be scheduled. This one wasn't as easy as expected, but Dave Hill finally decided that Hynde had talent enough to start her own band and record for Rell Records (later Sire).

Hynde first turned to bass player Peter Farndon who brought on his collegue, James Honeyman-Scott as guitarist. This lineup recorded a demo in the summer of '78, albeit still unnamed, with Gary Mcclidif seated at the drum throne. It was now that Hynde named the band The Pretenders, after the 1955 record by the Platters, The Great Pretender, that one of her boyfriends really liked. About this time, their second long-stander, Martin Chambers took to the drum throne.

A rise to stardom..

Here is a picture of the Hynde, Chambers, Farndom, Honeyman-Scott lineup performing. In earlyl 1979, they released a cover of the Kinks' Stop your Sobbing produced by their protege, Nick Lowe. In the summer of 1979, they released Kid, but it was in October of '79 when they released one of their signature songs, "Brass in Pocket". By 1980, the single came out on top in the UK, making it to #15 in the US. It's then that their self-titled debut album dropped being both commercially and critically successful proving the Pretenders were off to a good start! It was at this time that Hynde discovered one of the most remembered reggae bands, UB40. In 1986, she recorded a cover of Sonny and Cher's I Got You Babe.

In 1981 they dropped their Extended Play EP (Clever name, isn't it?) featuring The Talk of The Town and Message of Love. Late that summer they released The Pretenders II featuring these two singles, a cover of the Kinks' I Go to Sleep and Day After Day. From September of 1981, to June of 1982, the Pretenders were on the road, and most notabely played on the American comedy Fridays.

Tragedy strikes...

Despite a good taste of success, Hynde called a meeting with Dave Hill, and Farndon to tell him that because of his high cocaine dependance, he was being let go. However, this wasn't all, two days later, precisly on June 16, 1982, guitarist James Honeyman-Scott died due to a heroine intolerance. Farndom also passed in mid April of 1983 from a heroin overdose as he drowned.

...but tragedy becoms triumph:

Around the summer of 1982, it felt like the Pretenders were over after only two records in the books, but that wasn't rightly so. Hynde, who had then married Ray Davies of the Kinks, got together with Chambers and the recruited Billy Bremmer as the new guitarist, and Tony Butler of Big Country fame on bass. The Hynde-Chambers-Bremmer-Butler setup was a mere "band-aid" while Hynde auditioned full-time successors for Farndon and Honeyman-Scott. That July, the band had a hit with "Back on the Chain Gang." Inspired by the Sam and Dave song The  Chain Gang, and dedicated to Farndon and Honeymann-Scott, it made it into the top 20 in the UK and the top 5 in the US.

By 1983, Robbie Macintosh became the new guitarist and his old friend, Malcolm Foster became the bass player. This configuration made Middle of the Road - inspired by 60s rock that Hynde grew up to, and sounding (rather simillarly) like John Cougar's R.O.C.K. in The USA. In early 1984, their third album, Learning to Crawl came out. It included a Christmas song, 2000 Miles, Show Me, and a cover of the Pursueder's Thin Line Between Love and Hate featuring Paul Carrack of Ace and Squeeze fame. Because he had to join Mike Rutherford of Genesis fame in Mike and the Mechanics, Carrack was unavailable for the road, which resulted in Rupert Black joining as an offstage keyboard player on the side. They closed their tour in the summer of 1985 with a performance at Live Aid in Wembley Stadium.

In the fall of 1985, making of their next record started. Hynde made an executive decission to let Chambers go. Foster also left feeling that without Chambers, the bass role was negligible - it didn't matter who played bass.

Their 1986 record Get Close featured another one of their signature songs, "Don't Get me Wrong," its signature four-note chord composed after the aircraft intercom Hynde had been hearing. The supporting album and tour featured Hynde, Chambers, Blair Cunningham of Haircut 100 fame on drums, T.M. Stevens on bass, and P-Funk's Bernie Worrell on keys. During the tour, Hynde fired Stevens and Worrell and brought back Foster and Black.

In 1987, Macintosh left and was replaced with Johnny Marr of the Smiths. Marr's tenure was short-lived, and the following year he started The The. Meanwhile, the Pretenders released The Singles consisting of all their singles from the past ten years. In 1989, Foster joined Simple Minds, whose leader, Jm Kerr, Hynde had recently married.

In 1990, Hynde released Packed. It was recorded as a solo artists (a la with prebooked session players), but was nonetheless, counted as a Pretenders album. Even recent Blair Cunningham was given session status, and the album flopped. However, in 1993 Hynde hooked up with a few new members, noteably Primitives bass player Andy Hobson and brought back Martin Chambers. This led to their 1994 album Last of The Independents featuring their ballad, I'll Stand by You. Through intense airplay in 1994-95, it re-established the Pretenders and let to a massive comeback tour. They continued with a few more albums since, to be inducted into the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame in 2005.