CHRISSIE HYNDE
Name: Chrissie Hynde
Birth name: Christine Ellen Hynde
Born: 7 September 1951 Akron, Ohio, United States
Chrissie Hynde (born Christine Ellen Hynde, 7 September 1951, Akron, Ohio) is an
American rock musician, best known as the leader of the band The Pretenders. She
is a singer, songwriter, and guitarist, and has been the only constant member of
the band throughout its history because of Martin Chambers (drums / vocals /
percussion) departure for a few years before returning.
Daughter of a part-time secretary and a Yellow Pages Manager, Hynde graduated
from Firestone High School, admitting "I was never too interested in high school.
I mean, I never went to a dance, I never went out on a date, I never went steady.
It became pretty awful for me. Except, of course, I could go see bands, and that
was the kick. I used to go to Cleveland just to see any band. So I was in love a
lot of the time, but mostly with guys in bands that I had never met. For me,
knowing that Brian Jones was out there, and later that Iggy Pop was out there,
made it kind of hard for me to get too interested in the guys that were around
me. I had, uh, bigger things in mind."
Hynde experimented with hippie counterculture, psychotropic drugs, eastern
mysticism, and vegetarianism. Hynde joined a band called Sat. Sun. Mat. (which
included Mark Mothersbaugh from Devo) while attending Kent State University's
Art School for three years. Hynde was on the campus during the infamous "Kent
State shootings".
Hynde also developed an interest in the magazine NME when she wasn't waitressing
or working various other jobs to support herself, eventually saving enough money
for the move from Ohio to London in 1973. With her art background, Hynde landed
a job in an architectural firm but left after eight months. It was then that
Hynde met rock journalist Nick Kent and landed a writing position at NME.
However, this proved not to last and Hynde later found herself working at
Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood's then-unknown clothing store, SEX, where
Hynde was summarily fired for a fight with a customer in which Hynde was hit
with a bell from the store. Hynde then made a fruitless attempt to start a band
in France before her return to Cleveland in 1975.
Hynde resurfaced in France in 1976 for another stab at forming a band. Finding
her way to London in the midst of the punk movement, Hynde tried to start a
group with Mick Jones from The Clash. After the band failed to take off, Malcolm
McLaren placed her as a guitarist in Masters of the Backside, but she was asked
to leave the group just as the band became The Damned. After a brief spell in
the Johnny Moped band, Mick Jones had invited Hynde to join his band on their
initial tour of Britain. Hynde's recollection of that period: "It was great, but
my heart was breaking. I wanted to be in a band so bad. And to go to all the
gigs, to see it so close up, to be living in it and not to have a band was
devastating to me. When I left, I said, 'Thanks a lot for lettin' me come along,'
and I went back and went weeping on the underground throughout London. All the
people I knew in town, they were all in bands. And there I was, like the real
loser, you know? Really the loser." Hynde states these words in The
Pretenders Greatest Hits DVD documentary extra titled No Turn Left Unstoned.
Name: Chrissie Hynde
Birth name: Christine Ellen Hynde
Born: 7 September 1951 Akron, Ohio, United States
Chrissie Hynde (born Christine Ellen Hynde, 7 September 1951, Akron, Ohio) is an
American rock musician, best known as the leader of the band The Pretenders. She
is a singer, songwriter, and guitarist, and has been the only constant member of
the band throughout its history because of Martin Chambers (drums / vocals /
percussion) departure for a few years before returning.
Daughter of a part-time secretary and a Yellow Pages Manager, Hynde graduated
from Firestone High School, admitting "I was never too interested in high school.
I mean, I never went to a dance, I never went out on a date, I never went steady.
It became pretty awful for me. Except, of course, I could go see bands, and that
was the kick. I used to go to Cleveland just to see any band. So I was in love a
lot of the time, but mostly with guys in bands that I had never met. For me,
knowing that Brian Jones was out there, and later that Iggy Pop was out there,
made it kind of hard for me to get too interested in the guys that were around
me. I had, uh, bigger things in mind."
Hynde experimented with hippie counterculture, psychotropic drugs, eastern
mysticism, and vegetarianism. Hynde joined a band called Sat. Sun. Mat. (which
included Mark Mothersbaugh from Devo) while attending Kent State University's
Art School for three years. Hynde was on the campus during the infamous "Kent
State shootings".
Hynde also developed an interest in the magazine NME when she wasn't waitressing
or working various other jobs to support herself, eventually saving enough money
for the move from Ohio to London in 1973. With her art background, Hynde landed
a job in an architectural firm but left after eight months. It was then that
Hynde met rock journalist Nick Kent and landed a writing position at NME.
However, this proved not to last and Hynde later found herself working at
Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood's then-unknown clothing store, SEX, where
Hynde was summarily fired for a fight with a customer in which Hynde was hit
with a bell from the store. Hynde then made a fruitless attempt to start a band
in France before her return to Cleveland in 1975.
Hynde resurfaced in France in 1976 for another stab at forming a band. Finding
her way to London in the midst of the punk movement, Hynde tried to start a
group with Mick Jones from The Clash. After the band failed to take off, Malcolm
McLaren placed her as a guitarist in Masters of the Backside, but she was asked
to leave the group just as the band became The Damned. After a brief spell in
the Johnny Moped band, Mick Jones had invited Hynde to join his band on their
initial tour of Britain. Hynde's recollection of that period: "It was great, but
my heart was breaking. I wanted to be in a band so bad. And to go to all the
gigs, to see it so close up, to be living in it and not to have a band was
devastating to me. When I left, I said, 'Thanks a lot for lettin' me come along,'
and I went back and went weeping on the underground throughout London. All the
people I knew in town, they were all in bands. And there I was, like the real
loser, you know? Really the loser." Hynde states these words in The
Pretenders Greatest Hits DVD documentary extra titled No Turn Left Unstoned.