Chrissie Hynde wasn't the first tough-chick rocker. But she has embraced the role better, and longer, than anyone else. Where many other "bad girls" in rock have been groomed to titillate male fans, Hynde has always seemed absolutely, even defiantly, her own woman. Her best songs have a smoky cool about them, and she sings them with a semi-detached, ironic amusement that constantly puts her personality, or at least her persona, at the forefront.
Hynde is a rock icon, so much so it's easy to forget the Pretenders started out as a true band rather than an ever-shifting assortment of backing musicians for its dominant frontwoman, which is what it steadily became over the years. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is honoring the original lineup of the Pretenders, which created what is widely agreed to be the band's masterpiece, its 1980 debut, "The Pretenders."
The Pretenders began to take shape in 1978, and the following year they had a UK hit with their first single, the Lowe-produced "Stop Your Sobbing," a Ray Davies (Kinks) song. The band's eponymous debut followed in 1980, which climbed to number one in the UK and broke the Top 10 in the United States. "Brass in Pocket," a single off the album, was a hit in both countries.
The group's second album, appropriately entitled "Pretenders II," was released in 1981. Though commercially successful and containing one of the band's most beloved hits, "Talk of the Town," it was not as critically well-received as the debut.
The original Pretenders lineup disintegrated rapidly after that. Farndon was kicked out of the band in June 1982 for excessive drug use. Two days later, it was Honeyman-Scott who died of a drug overdose. Hynde and Chambers, the only two original members of the band, released "Back on the Chain Gang" in his memory. Within a year, Harndon had also died of drug-related causes.
The Pretenders regrouped with new members and in 1984 released "Learning to Crawl," considered one of the band's better albums. The lineup shifted again for "Get Close," released in 1986, which produced the Top-10 hit "Don't Get Me Wrong."

Contact a Pretenders Agent now to book The Pretenders to appear at your next corporate, private or special event!

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