Chrissie Hynde Biography, Photos and Posters

Chrissie Hynde

Biography

Born: September 7, 1951
City and Country of Origin: Akron, Ohio
Music Background:
Awards:
Top Recordings: "Brass in Pocket," "Talk of the Town," "I Go to Sleep," "Back on the Chain Gang," "2000 Miles," "Don't Get Me Wrong," "My Baby," "I'll Stand by You"
Chrissie Hynde Biography: Singer songwriter, guitarist Christine Ellen Hynde is the lead singer of the American rock group The Pretenders. She has been witht he band since its inception. She is a vegetarian, animal rights activist and member of PETA.

This daughter of a Yellow Pages Manager was graduated from Firestone High School in Akron, where she neither dated nor showed much interest in school activities. Her main interest was viewing rock bands. Early on she experienced the hippie counterculture drug scene, eastern mysticism and vegetarianism. Her first band experience was with a group called Sat. Sun. Mat. which included future Devo member Mark Mothersbaugh.

As an art major at Kent State, she was there during the infamous Kent State shootings. By 1973 she had earned enough money waitressing to move from Ohio to London. While living in London she used her art training to secure a job working in an architectural firm, but left after 8 months. It was then that she met rock journalist Nick Kent and landed a writing position at the magazine NME. This did not last long and Hynde soon found herself working at the clothing store SEX, where she was fired for fighting with a customer.

After a futile attempt to start a band in France she returned to Cleveland in 1975. During the punk movement whe found her way back to London where she became involved with Sid Vicious and the Sex Pistols. All of the people she knew were in bands except her.

After short stints with a couple of bands her luck was about to change when a demo tape she had cut made its way to the desk of Dave Hill, owner of the Real Records label. He helped her pay her back rent and advised her to take her time putting together a band. Hynde first met Pete Farndon (bass guitar / vocals) then they hooked up with James Honeyman-Scott (guitar / vocals / keyboards), and Martin Chambers (drums / vocals / percussion). Inspired by the Platter's hit single "The Great Pretender" they chose the name The Pretenders.

The groups first hit single "Stop Your Sobbing/The Wait" was released in January 1979 and quickly hit the Top Thirty in UK. Later that spring (1979), The Pretenders recorded their eponymous first album and hit the charts in UK and US with the song "Brass in Pocket." The band rode the wave of their first successful album for quite some time as their next efforts an EP and Pretenders II were not well reviewed although they they did contain the hit singles "Talk of the Town" and "Message of Love." After these setbacks the band was rocked by internal conflict and deaths due to drug abuse which resulted in several lineup changes. After Farndon was released from the band Honeyman-Scott died of heart failure in June 1982. Farndon also died from drug related causes the following year, and Chambers left the band in the mid 80s.

Hynde chose to go with session and professional musicians rather than making permanent replacments, but chose to keep the name The Pretenders. During this time she had a daughter who was fathered by Ray Davies of The Kinks. In 1984 she married Jim Kerr of the band Simple Minds with who m she had another daughter Yasmin. They divorced in 1990. She married artist Lucho Brieva in 1997 and lived in London until they were divorced in 2002.

Hynde was featured on the 1994 Frank Sinatra album Duets II singing "Luck Be A Lady." In 1995 she appeared on the hit TV series Friends.

In 2004 she moved to Sao Paulo, Brazil for a couple of months to play with Brazilian musician Moreno Veloso in an informal tour that lasted until December 2004. In 2007 she opened a vegetarian restaurant VegiTerranean in her native Akron, Ohio.

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