Chrissie Hynde

Chrissie Hynde had a relationship with Ray Davies of The Kinks and their daughter Natalie was born in 1983.

In 1984, she married Jim Kerr, a Scottish musician and lead singer of the band Simple Minds. Their daughter Yasmin was born in 1985. Hynde and Kerr divorced in 1990.

She married artist Lucho Brieva in 1997 and separated in 2002.

Chrissie Hynde was born on September 7, 1951, in Akron, Ohio, the United States, to Dolores and Melville, an ex-model and an employee of the Ohio Bell Telephone Company.

Although she was not much interested in studies, she graduated from Firestone High School in Akron and studied art at Kent State University for three years. While attending the university, she joined a band named Sat. Sun. Mat.

She had a deep regard for rock music and pop stars as a young woman. She frequently drove to Cleveland to see her “heroes” perform live. Soon she got into drugs, booze, bikers, and rock and roll. Eventually, in 1973, she left for London and discovered the emerging new rock wave called ‘punk’.

In London, Chrissie Hynde worked in an architectural firm for eight months. Soon she met journalist Nick Kent and landed a job in the UK music magazine ‘NME’, where she wrote articles half-heartedly. Not satisfied with the job, she quit it and worked at a clothing store called SEX.

She visited France in 1976 and tried to form a band, which did not work out. She then joined the band The Frenchies. After the band’s original singer left, she took over as the lead singer. She eventually left the band and returned to London and got involved in the punk movement. In late 1976, she cleared an audition for band members for a new band that was named 999.

When the band 999 failed to take off, she joined Masters of the Backside as a guitarist. For some time she also played with the band Johnny Moped. In 1978, she joined the band The Moors Murderers for a short time.

She prepared a demo tape and gave it to Real Records owner Dave Hill in 1978. Impressed by her talent, he advised her to form a band. Soon she met bassist Pete Farndon and together they formed the band ‘The Pretenders’ after recruiting a couple of other musicians.

They produced and released the single ‘Stop Your Sobbing’ in January 1979, and performed their first gigs in a Paris club. The single reached the top 30 in the UK.

In the first week of its release, ‘The Pretenders’ debut album ‘Pretenders’ peaked at number 1 on the UK Albums Chart and stayed there for four consecutive weeks. It reached the top 10 on the Billboard 200 and was certified platinum by the RIAA in 1982. The album was listed one of the best albums of all time by VH1.

’The Pretender’s’ fourth album ‘Get Close’, which was released in 1986, contained two hit singles ‘Don't Get Me Wrong’ and ‘My Baby,’ which reached number 1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.