The Pretenders are a British–American 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 and Farndon in 1982 and 1983, the band experienced numerous personnel changes; Hynde has been the band’s only consistent member.
The band’s first single, a cover of the Kinks song “Stop Your Sobbing” was released in January 1979 and gained critical attention. It was followed by “Kid” in June 1979. In January 1980, the band reached No. 1 in the UK with “Brass in Pocket”, which was also successful in the US, reaching No. 14 on the Billboard. Their debut album was released in January 1980 and was a success in the United Kingdom and the United States both critically and commercially. It is regarded as one of the best debut albums of all time, and has been named one of the best albums of all time by VH1 (no. 52) and Rolling Stone (no. 155).
During March 1981, the EP was released, containing the UK and US success “Message of Love” and “Talk of the Town”, “Porcelain”, “Cuban Slide” and a live version of “Precious”, recorded in Central Park. The second full-length album, Petenders II, was released during August 1981. It included the Extended Play singles, the MTV video success “Day After Day”, and popular album-radio tracks “The Adultress”, “Birds of Paradise”, “Bad Boys Get Spanked”, and “The English Roses”.
On 18 September 1981, the Pretenders were the musical guest on the US late night sketch comedy show Fridays. The band performed “The Adultress”, “Message of Love” and “Louie, Louie”. Andy Kaufman was the guest host of the programme on that night. In the Autumn of 1981, The Pretenders cancelled their US+Canada Tour as Chambers had cut his hand, and the injury was so bad that he could not play for a number of weeks. The band decided to postpone the tour rather than replace Chambers.
Due to escalating drug abuse, Farndon was fired from the band after a meeting between Hynde, Honeyman-Scott, and Chambers on 14 June 1982. Two days later, on 16 June 1982, Honeyman-Scott died of heart failure as a result of cocaine intolerance. Farndon was in the midst of forming a new band when he was found dead on 14 April 1983 by his wife. After taking heroin and passing out, Farndon had drowned in his bathtub, leaving the Pretenders with only two living members.
Hynde and Chambers continued the band after Honeyman-Scott’s death. During July 1982, a caretaker team of Hynde, Chambers, Rockpile guitarist Billy Bremner, and Big Country bassist Tony Butler was assembled to record the single “Back on the Chain Gang”. The song was released in October and became their biggest success in the US, staying at No. 5 for three consecutive weeks.
ynde then set up a more permanent lineup for the band, keeping Chambers and adding Robbie McIntosh on guitar and Malcolm Foster on bass. “Middle of the Road” was this line-up’s first single, released in the US in November 1983 and reaching the Top 20 there. The US B-side, “2000 Miles”, was released as a single in the UK. The third Pretenders album, Learning to Crawl (featuring the new lineup with Foster and McIntosh), was released in January 1984. As well as the three recent singles, the album included a cover version of The Persuaders’ “Thin Line Between Love and Hate”, which featured Paul Carrack on keyboards. For the next bout of touring, Rupert Black joined the live band on keyboards.
In July 1985, the band (including Black) played at Live Aid. Soon after recording sessions for the next album began and one track had been completed, Hynde declared that Chambers was no longer playing well and dismissed him. Discouraged at the loss of his bandmate, Foster quit. Hynde and McIntosh recorded the rest of the album in various sessions with assorted session musicians.
Towards the end of the sessions, Hynde hired two of the guest players–bassist T.M. Stevens and drummer Blair Cunningham—as the new Pretenders rhythm section. The Get Close album was released in 1986; the disc included the Top 10 singles “Don’t Get Me Wrong” from the movie Gung Ho (helped by a popular video homage to the television series The Avengers) and “Hymn to Her” a No. 8 success in the UK. In the US, both “Don’t Get Me Wrong” and “My Baby” reached #1 on Billboards Mainstream Rock chart.
By 1993, Hynde had teamed with guitarist Adam Seymour to form a new version of Pretenders. The team of Hynde and Seymour then hired a number of session musicians to record Last of the Independents that year, including ex-Smiths bassist Andy Rourke, bassist Andy Hobson, and former Pretender and drummer/writer/producer James Hood. The Last of the Independents was released in 1994, it rated gold in the US. The second single was the album’s centrepiece ballad “I’ll Stand By You”; this track received substantial airplay, and was a top 10 success in the UK, and top 20 in the US and in Canada. By the end of the album sessions (and for the subsequent tour) the official band line-up was Hynde, Seymour, Hobson, and returning drummer Martin Chambers. This line-up endured for over a decade with no changes.