Chrissie Hynde
The voice of pop icons The Pretenders
The voice of pop icons The Pretenders, Chrissie Hynde’s uncompromising attitude to putting good music first makes her headline performances as powerful as those with her band.
The Pretenders were formed in 1978 and continues to work together. To date they have released 10 studio albums and have had a string of worldwide hit singles including ‘Brass In Pocket’, ‘Back On The Chain Gang ‘, ‘I Go To Sleep’ and ‘I’ll Stand By You’. The Pretenders were inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005.
BIOGRAPHY
Singer, songwriter and guitarist Christine Ellen Hynde was born on September 7, 1951, in Akron, Ohio. Hynde was one of the leading women in rock in the 1980s and ’90s as the lead singer of the Pretenders. After studying art at Kent State University for a time, she took off for London, England, where she discovered the emerging new rock genre called “punk.”
The Pretenders got together in the late 1970s and released a self-titled album in 1980. Hynde and bandmate James Honeyman-Scott penned the group’s first hit, “Brass in Pocket.” Subsequent releases produced the hit songs “Middle of the Road,” “Show Me” and “Back on the Chain Gang” (from 1984’s Learning to Crawl); and “Don’t Get Me Wrong” (from 1986’s Get Close); as well as 1994’s “I’ll Stand by You.”
Chrissie is a champion for animal rights and has been an active supporter of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) for over 20 years. A long time vegetarian, in 2007 Hynde and her business partner opened a vegan restaurant, The VegiTerranean, in downtown Akron, Ohio. The award-winning restaurant was voted among the top 5 vegan restaurants in America by Business Week.
Asked about her commitment to animal welfare and environmentalism Chrissie has said: ‘I love justice and life. And truth.’
VIDEO