She's a musician, she's a creator and she's not "pretending" at all.
Chrissie Hynde was born on September 7, 1951
Friend, the famous tennis player John McEnroe claims that apart from Janice Joplin she is the greatest rocker !!
So let's get to know the woman behind The Pretenders.
1. Her full name is Christine Ellen Hynde and she was born in Arkon, Ohio.
2. When she was in high school she did not go out to parties or dates, she spent most of her time going to band shows. She was mostly in love with Brian Jones and Iggy Pop.
3. She attended Kent State University of the Arts where she deepened her love of painting and at the same time began playing in a band called "Sun. Mon. Mat."
4. In 1973 she moved to London, she met music reporter Nick Kent and he arranged for her a job at music magazine NME.
5. To get a work permit in England she applied to marry Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious from the Sex Pistols but apparently, it did not work out.
6. In 1976 she moved to France and tried to form a band but it did not succeed and a short time after she returned to London just at the beginning of the crystallization of the punk movement.
7. Although she learned to play the acoustic guitar as a child, in London she acquired her true playing abilities and became a talented guitarist.
8. She responded to a newspaper ad and joined a band called "999", she felt the band was not taking off (it has released 11 albums to date) and tried to form a band together with Mick Jones from The Clash but it also failed.
9. She continued to travel the world and tried several other bands until 1978 when she made a demo tape, and gave it to Dave Hill the owner of the Real Records label and he went in to manage her career.
10. That same year she joined bassist Pete Farndon and the two formed a band with James Honeyman-Scott on guitars and keyboards, Martin Chambers on drums and gave themselves the name "The Pretenders" inspired by the song "The Great Pretender".
11. One of the people who influenced her the most and also connected her to the band's drummer Martin, is Lemmy Kilmister from the band Motörhead. Chrissy said that Lemmy was a role model for her, he represented everything rock and roll. Without whom the Pretenders would not exist.
12. In November 1979 the band released their first official single "Brass In Pocket" which reached straight to number one in January 1980 along with the debut album bearing the band name.
13. The name of the band's third album "Learning to Crawl" which was released in 1984 was given by Hynde after her baby daughter, Natalie Ray Hynde, had just learned to crawl while the band was looking for a name for the album.
14. Over the years, Chrissy has released 10 albums with the band, with the largest gap between albums being between 2008 and 2016. The band's 11th album "Hate For Sale" was released in 2020, yes, yes 2020 !!
The first single from the album:
15. You're sure you heard the band name as part of the rock classics but did not always know how to associate the songs, so here are some of the highlights: "I'll Stand By You", "Brass In Pocket", "Don't Get Me Wrong", "Back On The Chain Gang "," Hymn to Her "and many more !!
16. Throughout the life of the band to this day the band members have all changed frequently except for Chrissie who is the band's sole writer, creator, singer, and leader.
17. Apart from her career with the band Chrissie has collaborated with many artists, here are some of the standouts among them:
18. She collaborated with the band UB40 on the cover of the song "I Got You, Babe." Of Sony and sang in 1985
19. She was a guest on INXS '"Full Moon, Dirty Hearts" album released in 1993.
20. She recorded a duet with Frank Sinatra on the duet album he released in 1994 called "Duets II".
21. In 1999 she organized with Carla Lane a charity show in memory of her close friend Linda McCartney, the show was led by Chrissie and was called "Here, There and Everywhere - A Concert for Linda".
22. Chrissie also started a solo career alongside the band and released two albums. In 2014 she released the album "Stockholm" and in 2019 she released the album "Valve Bone Woe".
23. On the album "Stockholm" she hosts her friend John the tennis player (this is top notch) as the guitarist who plays on the album.
24. Chrissie is a vegetarian since the age of 18 and is very active in the PETA and Animal Rights Association.
Listen to the band's last album on: Spotify, Apple Music