NEW ITEMS
Welcome to Pretenders 977 Radio this site is
a celebration of the music of The Pretenders
and Chrissie Hynde

Christine Ellen Hynde was born 7th
September 1951, born and raised in Akron,
Ohio Chrissie admits to being "Joe normal" in
her early school days. Knowing that Brian
Jones was out there and later Iggy Pop would
make it hard for her to be interested in guys
and going to dances. At the age of sixteen
she would take up the Baritone Ukulele. Too
shy to get involved in any of the local bands
she would spend her days learning to play
and writing songs.

After a one-gig alliance with a band called
Sat. Sun. Mat. which included Mark
Mothersbaugh, later of Devo and three
listless years of art studies at Kent State
University where she got caught up in the
1970 National Guard riot, Chrissie knew she
needed a change so working as a waitress
and various other jobs she scraped enough
money together and grabbed a few vinyl
albums and headed off to London in 1973 a
place she had read about in the British music
paper NME. After getting a lowly paid job with
an architectural firm that would last just a few
months, then selling cheap handbags on the
local London markets Chrissie was pretty
pissed off with London, but a chance meeting
at a party which she had been invited to
would change all that, a guy sitting in the
corner would say "Yeah I know Iggy Pop" this
would grab Chrissies attention and that
person would turn out to be Nick Kent [pic] a
writer from the NME, that night Nick would say
to Chrisse that he needed a place to crash
and the very next day a Uhaul van turned up
with Nick's yogurt covered albums in and he
ended up staying a full year with Chrissie.
One day while bemoaning an album to one of
Kent's editors he invited her to write a review
for the NME[video PLAY ]. After reviewing a
Neil Diamond album and doing a piece on
Roxy Music's Brian Eno [article] she would
end up staying with the NME [pic]until around
the summer of 1974.

Knowing that music journalism was not for
her she would then go to work in Malcolm
McLaren and Vivienne Westwood boutique
Sex [pic]on the Kings Road, London this
wouldn't last long,after an incident in the
shop that led to Chrissie being let go by
McLaren, Chrissie would years later admit
that this incident was where the inspiration
for the song 977 [video PLAY ] came from.

She quickly left London and headed for Paris
where she would hook up with a band called
The Frenchies [pic], and would tour with them
playing guitar [audio PLAY [Lola Cola] and
doing vocals. They would support the Flamin'
Groovies at the Olympia in Feb 1975, she
would also do the Red Festival in Paris.
Being fed up with The Frenchies slot being
moved she heard Chris Spedding was in
town recording and the next day she finds his
hotel and ends up hanging around with him
and his crowd while he's recording.

Feeling fed up with France she would make a
journey back to Ohio to join a band called
Jack Rabbit which didn't last long, so after a
short stay back in France and a phone call
from Malcolm McLaren she would return to
her Clapham digs in London in 1976 just at
the start of the burgeoning punk movement
in the UK. Malcolm would then recruit her into
a band called "Masters Of The Backside" with
Dave Vanian, Captain Sensible and Rat
Scabies the band never performed or
recorded and after getting fed up with
McLaren the boys would go on and form the
Damned along with Brian James.

She would try and start a band with a young
guy called "Mick Jones" but this would never
go any further than writing a few songs
together.Then a card in a shop window would
lead her to Fred Mills (bass) and Dave
Batchelor (drums), whom she christened the
Berk Bros. In late '76 she would answer an
advert in the Melody Maker and go for an
audition with a band called "999". Also
Chrissie would be at the "100 Club Punk
Festival" which took place on September
20-21st 1976 which would include such
bands as the "Sex Pistols, Clash, The
Damned, The Buzzcocks, Chris Spedding
and the Vibrators and many other punk
bands. After doing 1 gig with "Johnny Moped"
Chrissie [aka cissy bar] in February 1977 she
would be replaced by Slimey Toad.
She was invited to join the Clash on their White Riot
tour which started in May of 1977.In June 1977 Chris
Spedding would go back into the studio to finish off his
album "Hurt" on which Chrissie would do backing
vocals on 3 tracks "Wild In The Street" "Hurt By Love
and "Lone Rider" [audio PLAY].She would also provide
backing vocals on Mick Farren solo album "Vampires
Stole My Lunchbox".

She then met up with Steve Strange at the Vortex he
asks if she fancies playing guitar in a band called the
"Moors Murderer's" [pic]she agrees having no
knowledge of what the name means, Strange then
asks if she will help out with a photo session and
asked her to put a black plastic bag over her head like
the rest of the band, the picture would then end up in
Sounds with shock headlines. Listen to what Chrissie
had to say PLAY. This would be around January 1978.
She would later make a statement saying that
although she was in the Sounds pic that she was not
in the group and had only rehearsed with them and
liked some of the songs that Strange had written [pic].

In June of 1978 she would provide backing vocals for
"Subway Train" [audio PLAY ] on Johnny Thunders
solo album "So Alone" Steve Jones and Paul Cook
were also there and it's here she is rumoured to have
recorded "Do I Love You" with Cook & Jones
[audio PLAY ]

Just before she got The Pretenders together she
recorded this song "Chose Sauvage" [audio PLAY ] a
french version of "Wild Thing" with Real stablemates
Strangeways with whom The Pretenders would play
thier first ever gig at Unity Hall [pic], Wakefield [pic]UK.

To be continued
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