‘Stop Your Sobbing’, a cover of the Kinks hit and a song that Chrissie had loved ‘Sas a teenager, became the Pretenders’ first single. It was produced by Nick Lowe, who had started Stiff Records in 1976 and had worked on Elvis Costello’s My Aim is True album. He was one of the hottest producers around.
Released in 1978, the single made a respectable debut on the charts and paved the way for the band’s first album. The Pretenders’ version of the song obviously impressed the Kinks, who re-recorded it after its newfound chart success. Chrissie, a huge fan, said ‘they used part of our arrangement! Which was just the thrill of my life ... orgasm after orgasm.’
By the time the Pretenders hit the touring circuit to promote the single, Mackleduff had been replaced on drums by Martin Chambers. They performed in pubs and clubs and were well received despite the fact that Chrissie had never played guitar and sung live at the same time before.
the band discovered if you interrupted La Hynde when she wanted a quiet moment, all hell broke loose
The follow-up, ‘Brass in Pocket’, was released in 1980 and shot the Pretenders to number one on the British charts and four on the US Billboard top 100. Seven years after arriving in London, Chrissie was living her dream. But ‘Anything we get we deserve,’ she said emphatically.
The band’s debut album The Pretenders was recorded at Wessex Studios in London where their producer, Chris Thomas, had worked with the Sex Pistols on Anarchy in the UK. The Pretenders featured what would become classic Hynde songs, including ‘Precious’ and ‘Kid’, which was also released as a single. Chrissie’s lyrics were fresh and uninhibited. The band’s sound was a mix of 1960s British rock and the newer punk influences set to Chrissie’s individualistic beat, which even Honeyman-Scott admitted he found hard to follow at times. It gave the Pretenders a sound all their own.
The press praised the first album, many grappling to define Chrissie’s vocal delivery, which at times was more like talking than singing. Her voice was distinctive and deceptive. At one turn she was a rough, tough rock’n’roll chick, and then she was a vulnerable young woman with a broken heart.
Her American frankness took many an unsuspecting journalist by surprise. ‘I’m drunk a lot of the time and I’m out of order a lot of the time’ she said of herself, a description that others readily accepted. She was loud, and some thought temperamental and aggressive. She made journalists nervous and didn’t cut them any slack. There was something fascinating about a woman who lived so brazenly on the edge of society. She was like a man in her fearlessness and her lack of desire for the comforts of life.
For a woman who enjoyed her own company, often more than that of others, she found the confines of touring with a band suffocating. She insisted on her own room—she had shared too many times and it drove her insane—where she could be quiet, where there was no radio, no television and no one talking. It didn’t take her fellow band members long to discover that if you interrupted La Hynde when she wanted a quiet moment, all hell broke loose.
The trappings of her newfound success did have some benefits, she conceded, including the luxury of having her own bath. After all those years of living in rundown hotels and on the move, Chrissie had become fanatical about bathing, often taking a soak two or three times a day.
Six months after the album topped the British charts, the Pretenders made their assault on America, undertaking a forty-city tour. Part of their rapid rise in the USA was due to the pick up on both FM and AM radio of ‘Brass in Pocket’. The DJs loved Chrissie and the boys. Chrissie was always referred to in the press as the lead singer and leader of the band. Despite her protests, there was no denying that she was the Pretenders, just as Debbie Harry was Blondie.
On stage Chrissie, clad in tight black pants, a high-necked ruffled shirt, and waistcoat, sized up the audience through kohl-rimmed eyes shaded by a fringe of dark hair—a look she has kept throughout her career. She gave the impression of being tough yet vulnerable, an enticing cocktail that prompted love letters from fans.
In San Francisco they supported the Irish band the Boomtown Rats, who hadn’t enjoyed the kind of chart success the Pretenders had, prompting one journalist to assert ‘man smart, woman smarter.’
Their debut album sold over two million copies and charted around the world from Australia to Japan, the USA and throughout Europe. Not a bad effort for a woman who didn’t give a toss about anything other than writing songs and playing—all the other trappings of success were irritants except the money which, Chrissie conceded, gave you the freedom to do whatever the hell you liked.
she was over the moon at the thought of meeting her idol. She thought Davies was a brilliant songwriter and musician
During the US tour Chrissie took the opportunity to take her political views on the environment out for an airing. In an interview in Detroit she spoke about the need to find an alternative form of transport. The environment wasn’t her only cause. A vegetarian since the age of seventeen, Chrissie told anyone who would listen about the evils of eating meat. At concerts she thanked the vegos for coming and told the meat-eaters to ‘fuck off ’.
Chrissie met Ray Davies of the Kinks while on the US tour. She was over the moon at the thought of meeting her idol. She thought he was a brilliant songwriter and musician—in one of her NME articles she had called Davies the only songwriter who could invest intense emotion into his songs, despite the brevity of the lyrics. They quickly became lovers despite Davies being married.
Shuffled back into the studio by the record company a week after ending the gruelling six month tour, the band struggled to come up with material. Chrissie was less than thrilled that the label had assumed she’d been penning songs for the next album in her spare time on the tour. In between playing, doing publicity and partying there was little time left for sleeping let alone writing.
The band headed to Paris to put down tracks for Pretenders II, which was recorded at Pathe Marconi Studios and at Wessex Studios. The vibe in the studio was anything but conducive to creativity and it was a chore to get tracks down.
The tour excesses—the booze, drugs, late nights and general raucous behaviour, including an overnight stay in jail for Chrissie for being drunk and disorderly—had taken their toll. Everyone was running on empty. Tempers were frayed and the band members couldn’t stand the sight of each other.
Released in 1981, the album wasn’t a patch on their debut offering, despite the singles—‘I Go to Sleep’, another Ray Davies cover, and ‘Talk of the Town’—making it into the British top ten. One of the band’s staunchest supporters, Van Gosse from the Village Voice slammed it. ‘Pretenders II sucks every which way it possibly can ... If the Pretenders can make a record as rotten as this, it raises the question of whether they were ever as good as they once seemed.’
Whatever impact the critics may have had on the band’s reputation, it was nothing compared with what was going on inside the Pretenders. During their extensive world tour in 1982, Pete Farndon’s drug abuse and whisky drinking had escalated to the point where it was impacting on his ability to perform. As the tour drew to a close the band were at breaking point.
The band determined to fire Farndon, a hard decision, but one Honeyman-Scott and Chambers insisted on. At a meeting they voted against Chrissie, who didn’t want to make the call even though she knew that Farndon had become a liability. It tore Chrissie apart to see her friend and former lover shooting his life down the toilet.
In June 1982, two days after Farndon left the band, Honeyman-Scott was found dead. The official verdict was that he died from a cocaine-induced heart attack. Chrissie, pregnant at the time to Ray Davies with whom she was now living, was rocked by the death. ‘No one saw that coming,’ she said.
Always the pragmatist, and believing it would have been what Honeyman-Scott wanted, she and drummer Chambers soldiered on. They recruited guitarist Robbie McIntosh, bassist Tony Butler
and guitarist Billy Bremner and recorded ‘Back on the Chain Gang’, which Chrissie wrote shortly after Honeyman-Scott’s death. The single was released to critical acclaim and chart success in both the USA and Britain.
The heartache continued for Chrissie. Not long after the birth of Natalie, her daughter with Davies, Farndon was found dead from a cocktail of cocaine and heroin. The last time she’d seen him or spoken to him was at Honeyman-Scott’s funeral. No doubt Chrissie’s new bundle of joy saved her from being consumed by the blackest moments of this period. She also drew strength from channelling her pain and sorrow into song.
they had intended to marry, but the London registrar refused to grant a licence because the pair wouldn’t stop arguing
The next album from the Pretenders—now Chrissie and Chambers with Robbie McIntosh and Malcolm Foster on bass—was Learning to Crawl, which was released in January 1984.
Chrissie’s maturity as a songwriter was evident on this album, which dealt with the gamut of life experiences—birth, death, love, faith.
During the crisis in the he band Chrissie was also warring with Davies. They had intended to marry, but the story goes that the London registrar refused to grant a licence because the pair wouldn’t stop arguing. Chrissie has said that ‘nobody ... can get angrier faster than I can. I’m like a phenomenon.’
Davies and Chrissie split shortly after the birth of Natalie, which must have niggled at Chrissie’s belief that families should stick together. Years earlier she had lamented the fact that there were so many women who had children to different fathers. It wouldn’t be long before she joined their ranks.
Learning to Crawl was as supported by a massive world tour in 1984, with major dates in New York at Radio City Music Hall, Nashville, Los Angeles, Dallas and her native Cleveland.
Within twelve months of splitting with Davies, Chrissie was married to Jim Kerr, lead singer of Simple Minds, who she had met in Australia during the Learning to Crawl tour. In 1985 their daughter, Yasmin Paris, was born. Over the next two years Chrissie slowed down, devoting time to her daughters and her relationship with Kerr, although she did perform at the Live Aid concert.
By the time 1986’s Get Close was released, Chrissie was the only original Pretender left standing. Rumours abounded that she and Chambers had fallen out, but the truth was they just needed a creative break from each other. Chambers played on one track, a cover of Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Room Full of Mirrors’. Get Close featured the singles ‘Don’t Get Me Wrong’, which reached the top ten in the USA, and the folksy rock ballad ‘Hymn to Her’. The album was almost too slick to be a Pretenders record.
The Pretenders toured the US in 1987, but it was fraught with internal fighting. Keyboardist Bernie Worrell and TM Stevens, who had played bass on the album, were fired mid-tour. There were more personnel changes to come before the tour reached South America. For all intents and purposes the Pretenders didn’t exist anymore.
The disintegration of her marriage to Kerr collided with the 1990 release of Packed! When the album was recorded, Chrissie said, she was not functioning as a musician—she needed a band. It were as if the hands of time had turned back to pre-1978 and she was searching once again for the right group of musicians.
Chrissie began devoting more time to causes close to her heart—animal rights and vegetarianism in particular. Words can be powerful as Chrissie found out when she glibly suggested that she’d firebomb a McDonald’s restaurant in the animal liberation cause. She copped some flack when a fan took her up on the suggestion.
Despite being most famous for her work with the Pretenders, she believes that saving animals is what she’s here to do. ‘This animal rights thing is my life’s work ... that gives me more satisfaction than anything I’ve done in the music business.’ She has left instructions that when she dies a full-page ad is to be placed in newspapers with the words: ‘Dead meat should be buried not eaten. Take it from Chrissie Hynde.’
Four years elapsed before Chrissie was ready to go into the studio again. Last of the Independents, released in 1994, was received with open arms by most music critics. The band returned to the British top ten with the ballad ‘I’ll Stand by You’. Recorded in Bath and London, the album was produced by Ian Stanley and featured a number of session musicians, as well as Martin Chambers who played drums on several tracks.
when she dies a full-page ad is to be placed in newspapers with the words: ‘Dead meat should be buried not eaten. Take it from Chrissie Hynde’
Another album followed the next year. The Ilse of View was recorded as a live performance with the Duke String Quartet and Damon Albarn from Blur on piano in front of a small studio audience. The album included previously unrecorded tracks and some of the band’s greatest hits, including ‘Brass in Pocket’ and ‘Back on the Chain Gang’. Although not strictly unplugged, it did have acoustic elements that gave it an unusual feel, especially for a Pretenders offering. Rolling Stone was prompted to compare Chrissie to Joni Mitchell.
Viva El Amor! would have been titled Biker if Chrissie had had her way. But the record company didn’t think it conveyed the right message
In 1997, aged forty-six, Chrissie married Colombian sculptor Lucho Brieva, fourteen years her junior, at a London registry office. The bride and groom wore jeans and later adjourned to a local pizza parlour to celebrate with close friends.
The Pretenders’ 1999 album, Viva El Amor! would have been titled Biker if Chrissie had had her way. But the record company didn’t think it conveyed the right message. Here the band was back to its truest form, with many likening guitarist Adam Seymour to Honeyman-Scott. Jeff Beck guest-starred on guitar on the track ‘Legalise Me’ and the Duke String Quartet made another appearance on the song ‘Biker’. Vive El Amor! showed Chrissie in fine form as a songwriter and musician.
By the time she was on the road promoting 2002’s Loose Screw, her marriage to Brieva was over. Alone again and hitting the big five-oh didn’t daunt her. ‘I’ve got pretty good at being on my own. It’s better than feeling lonely with other people.’ In 2005, along with U2 and Percy Sledge, the Pretenders were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the Waldorf Astoria in New York.
Physically, the Chrissie Hynde of today isn’t that different to when she first hit the stage. She may show some signs of wear and tear but she still has the same fringe, kohl-rimmed eyes and slim physique.
But ‘Being in a rock and roll band is not my life. It’s my hobby. I’ve got a life thanks.’
MADONNA
An Immaculate Creation
Born in 1958, Madonna Louise was the third child and first daughter of the Ciccones. Tony was a first-generation Italian-American, his model wife Madonna of French-Canadian descent. The Catholic family lived comfortably in a middle-class suburb in Detroit where Tony worked as an automotive engineer.
Three more children followed, two girls and a boy, then Madonna senior died of breast cancer.
Five-year-old Madonna reacted with anger and defiance, refusing, along with her siblings, to co-operate with the numerous nannies her bewildered father employed. But one nanny was different. She didn’t take their cheek or rudeness. Tony Ciccone married Joan Gustafson six months after she started working for him.
Madonna was devastated. Despite her young age she had assumed the role of woman of the house, She saw the marriage as a betrayal on many levels. It took a long time for her to accept that her stepmother was there to stay.
A precocious child, always wanting to be the centre of attention, Madonna was prone to dancing on table tops. She was an outrageous flirt from a very young age. She excelled at school, a straight A student with a grizzly determination to succeed no matter the cost. She had few friends and seemingly no interest in trying to fit in, although she was a cheerleader—they always drew a crowd.
Former classmates claimed Madonna was p
romiscuous. The reality was she had one steady boyfriend at Rochester Adams High. Perhaps her reputation for putting out came from the fact that she liked to kiss boys and girls indiscriminately—and did so at every opportunity. ‘I did a lot of bad things because I knew I could go to confession at the end of the week and all would be forgiven,’ she said.
‘I did a lot of bad things because I knew I could go to confession at the end of the week and all would be forgiven,’ Madonna said
After haranguing her father, the fourteen-year-old Madonna replaced her piano lessons with dance. She was transformed. Suddenly she was doing what she felt she’d been born to do. Her teacher Christopher Flynn saw something in the young girl—she screamed ‘star’. He gave her consistent praise and support over the next few years.
Madonna was impatient. She wanted to get her life started. At twenty she dropped out of university, where she was studying dance, and took off to New York. It was 1978. Landing at La Guardia airport with a few bucks and a trunk load of self-conviction, Madonna didn’t have a concrete plan. She just knew she had to dance.
Control was core to her being. She loathed drugs and excess alcohol—and hated not being in charge of her body. She was known to have a drag on a joint occasionally, but no substances were going up that pert nose or into those steely blue veins. Madonna had enough adrenaline coursing through her body to satiate any addiction.
For a time she studied with Pearl Lang, the renowned dancer and choreographer. According to Lang, Madonna was undeniably talented and committed, but also young and reckless. She didn’t like being told what to do.
In those early New York days Madonna eeked out a living working in fast-food outlets and passing out cloakroom tickets. Sometimes she posed as a nude model for artists and photographers. She had moved seamlessly from her safe middle-class suburban home to the seedy streets of the East Village, living in rundown tenements without utilities or furniture. She loved being deep in Bohemia.
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