The Pretenders

Living in London and occasionally contributing to music paper NME, uncompromising Chrissie Hynde from Akron, Ohio (USA) also worked in future Sex Pistols' manager Malcolm McLaren's clothes shop, Sex. 

In 1978 she put together her first regular backing band, dubbing them The Pretenders after The Platters' song The Great Pretender.

In January 1980, with their single Brass In Pocket topping the charts, The Pretenders embarked on a 30-day British tour to coincide with the release of their self-titled debut album. It entered the UK charts at Number 1. While touring the US in April, Chrissie Hynde met an old idol of hers in a New York nightclub; Ray Davies of The Kinks. Romance ensued.

June 1982 was an awful month for The Pretenders. On the 14th they fired bassist Pete Farndon because of his drug problem. Two days later, guitarist James Honeyman-Scott, aged 25, died of a drug overdose. Chrissie Hynde fled to the US where boyfriend Ray Davies was touring with The Kinks.

In 1983 Chrissie Hynde gave birth to a daughter by Ray Davies. Returning to work almost immediately, she put together a new line-up of The Pretenders and released a new hit single, Back On The Chain Gang. On April 14, Pete Farndon (who had been fired from the group a year ago) died in his bathtub after a drug overdose. He had been in the process of forming a new band with Topper Headon of The Clash.