The Pretenders – The Best off Music

The Pretenders are an English-American rock band formed in Hereford, England, in March 1978. The original band comprised initiator 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 drug-related deaths of two original members, the band has experienced numerous subsequent personnel changes, with Hynde as the only consistent member, and Chambers returning after an absence of several years. The band’s hit songs include “Kid” (1979), “Brass in Pocket” (1979), “Talk of the Town” (1980), “Message of Love” (1981), “My City Was Gone” (1982), “Back on the Chain Gang” (1982), “Middle of the Road” (1983), “2000 Miles” (1983), “Don’t Get Me Wrong” (1986), “My Baby” (1986) and “I’ll Stand by You” (1994). The Pretenders were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005. 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. See for more..