The Pretenders

The Pretenders are a British rock band formed in March 1978. The original band consisted of founder and main songwriter Chrissie Hynde (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), James Honeyman-Scott (lead guitar, backing vocals, keyboards), Pete Farndon (bass guitar, backing vocals), and Martin Chambers (drums, backing vocals, percussion). Following the deaths of Honeyman-Scott in 1982 and Farndon in 1983, the band experienced numerous personnel changes; American-born Hynde has been the band's only continuous member.

The band's hit songs include "Kid" (1979), "Brass in Pocket" (1979), "Talk of the Town" (1980), "I Go to Sleep" (1981), "Back on the Chain Gang" (1982), "Don't Get Me Wrong" (1986), and "I'll Stand by You" (1994). The Pretenders were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005.

History

Background

Hynde, originally from Akron, Ohio, moved to London in 1973, working at the weekly music paper NME and at Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood's clothes store. She was involved with early versions of the Sex Pistols, the Clash, and the Damned and played in short-lived bands such as Masters of the Backside (1976) and the Moors Murderers (1978 lineup), but failed to find a regular or equal partnership in the bands she joined.

Hynde's own provocative band project, centred around her own songwriting, was initially called (Mike Hunt's) Dishonorable Discharge and featured former London SS and future Damned members, along with Mick Jones and Sid Vicious (where Hynde taught Vicious to play guitar), but failed to get managerial backing from either Malcolm McLaren or Bernie Rhodes, despite them both poaching her band members for, or asking her to fill in, in their pet projects.

The Pretenders formed in 1978 after Dave Hill at Anchor Records heard some demonstration tapes of Hynde's music. He arranged a rehearsal studio in Denmark Street, London, where a three-piece band consisting of Hynde, Mal Hart on bass (he had played with Hynde and Steve Strange in the Moors Murderers), and Phil Taylor of Motörhead on drums played a selection of Hynde's original songs. Hill was impressed and arranged a day at Studio 51 to record another demo. Although it was rough, he felt he had seen and heard enough "star potential" to suggest that Hynde form a more permanent band to record for his new label, Real Records.

Hynde then formed a band composed of Pete Farndon on bass, James Honeyman-Scott on guitar, and Gerry Mcilduff on drums. This band, then without a name, recorded five tracks at Regents Park Studio in July 1978, including a cover of the Kinks' song "Stop Your Sobbing". Shortly thereafter, Gerry Mcilduff was replaced on drums by Martin Chambers (of the Vacants). Hynde named the band the Pretenders after the Platters song "The Great Pretender", which was the favourite song of one of her former boyfriends.

Original band (1978–1982)

The band's first single, a cover of the Kinks' "Stop Your Sobbing" (produced by Nick Lowe and recorded at the July Regents Park sessions) was released in February 1979 and gained critical attention. It was followed by "Kid" in June 1979. In January 1980, the band reached number 1 in the UK with "Brass in Pocket", which was also successful in the US, reaching number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100.