Pretenders

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Pretenders

Pretenders, The , one of the most successful groups to emerge from the British New Wave scene of the late 1970s. Membership : Chrissie Hynde, lead voc, rhythm gtr. (b. Akron, Ohio, Sept. 7, 1951); James Honeyman-Scott, lead gtr, kybd., voc. (b. Hereford, England, Nov. 4, 1956; d. London, England, June 16, 1982); Pete Farndon, bs. (b. Hereford, England, June 2, 1956; d. London, England, June 16, 1983); Martin Chambers, drm. (b. Hereford, England, Sept. 4, 1951). James Honeyman-Scott was replaced by Robbie McIntosh and Pete Farndon was replaced by Malcolm Foster in 1982. Foster and Martin Chambers left in 1984, to be replaced by bassist T. M. Stevens and drummer Blair Cunningham. Various musicians played with Hynde in different combinations between 1985 and 1993. In 1994 the entire group was reconstituted with Hynde, Chambers, Adam Seymour on guitar, and Andy Hobson on bass.

The Pretenders were fronted by American-born singer-songwriter Chrissie Hynde. Building on the tradition started by Patti Smith, Hynde redefined the role of women vocalists in contemporary rock by offering provocative, aggressive songs of desire, defiance, and autonomy from a distinctly female perspective as well as traditional seductive songs of romance. One of the most compelling female singers in rock, Hynde served as an inspiration to the so-called riot grrrls of the 1990s such as Courtney Love of Hole and Liz Phair.

Chrissie Hynde taught herself to sing and play guitar and wrote songs as a teenager. She studied art at Kent State Univ. for a time, and performed on the Cleveland rock circuit before moving to London in 1973. There she worked as a rock critic for the New Musical Express while attempting to join various bands, including two with musicians who later formed the Clash and the Damned. Finally, in 1978 she formed the Pretenders with three Hereford-based musicians, James Honeyman-Scott, Pete Farndon, and Martin Chambers. The group recorded a demonstration tape, and Nick Lowe offered to produce their first single, “Stop Your Sobbing,” written by the Kinks’ Ray Davies. The song became a British hit, as did the follow-ups “Kid,” written by Hynde, and “Brass in Pocket (I’m Special),” cowritten by Hynde and Honeyman-Scott.

The group toured extensively around Great Britain in 1979 and recorded their debut album under producer Chris Thomas. The Pretenders became an instant bestseller, staying on the charts for a year and a half while yielding a major American hit with “Brass in Pocket.” The stunning debut, often regarded as one of the finest rock debut albums ever, included “Kid,” “Stop Your Sobbing” (a minor hit), the aggressively autonomous “Precious,” and the embittered “Up the Neck,” as well as “The Wait” and the ballad “Lovers of Today.”

Touring incessantly and becoming a major American concert attraction by 1980, the Pretenders issued a five-song mini-album before completing Pretenders II. The album included the British hits “Talk of the Town” and “Message of Love” as well as “The Adultress,” “Bad Boys Get Spanked,” and Ray Davies’s “Go to Sleep.” The group again toured America in 1981 and 1982, but Pete Farndon was dismissed from the band only days before James Honeyman-Scott was found dead in a friend’s apartment on June 16, 1982. Hynde and Chambers recruited Bill Bremner and Tory Butler to record “Back on the Chain Gang,” and the song became a smash hit in late 1982.

Shaken by the drug-related deaths of Honeyman-Scott and then Pete Farndon, Chrissie Hynde withdrew from music for a time after the birth of her daughter by Ray Davies. Hynde and Chambers reconstituted the Pretenders with guitarist Robbie McIntosh and bassist Malcolm Foster, yet their next album, Learning to Crawl, was largely recorded with session musicians. The album included four hits: “Back on the Chain Gang,” “Middle of the Road,” “Show Me,” and a powerful remake of the Persuaders’ 1972 hit “Thin Line Between Love and Hate.”

The Pretenders resumed touring in 1984, but personnel changes continued with the departures of Martin Chambers and Malcolm Foster, and Hynde dismantled the band in 1985. She performed solo at Live Aid in 1985 and scored a major hit that summer with a remake of Sonny and Cher’s “I Got You Babe,” backed by UB40. In 1986 she reconstituted the Pretenders with Robbie Mclntosh and Americans T. M. Stevens and Blair Cunningham for the rather mellow Get Close. Dominated by love songs, the album produced a major hit with “Don’t Get Me Wrong” and a minor hit with “My Baby.” Other tracks included “When I Change My Life,” “Tradition of Love,” and “How Much Did You Get for Your Soul,” the album’s only angry song. In 1987 Hynde again toured, this time with Mclntosh, Foster, and keyboardist Rupert Black, with Iggy Pop as her opening act.

In 1990 Chrissie Hynde recorded the inconsequential packed! album. She eventually reconstituted the Pretenders in 1994 with guitarist Adam Seymour, bassist Andy Hobson, and former drummer Martin Chambers for Last of the Independents and her first tour in seven years. With the songs largely cowritten by Hynde and Seymour, the album, hailed as the Pretenders’ most cohesive in years, featured the major hit “I’ll Stand by You,” “Night in My Veins,” and the vehement “Money Talk” and “I’m a Mother.”

Discography

The P. (1980); The P. (mini) (1981); P. II (1981); Learning to Crawl (1984); Get Close (1986); The Singles (1987); packed! (1990); Last of the Independents (1994); Isle of View (1995).